Zou Shiming vs. Amnat Ruenroeng on 3/7 for IBF flyweight title

By Boxing News - 02/02/2015 - Comments

shimingBy Chris Williams: Top Rank fighter Zou Shiming (6-0, 1 KOs) will be putting his unbeaten record on the line next month in facing 35-year-old IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng (14-0, 5 KOs) on March 7th on HBO2 at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Shiming, #1 WBO, #3 WBC, #4 IBF, #4 WBA, hasn’t done a lot to deserve a world title shot after six fights, but he’ll be getting the fight none the less. Being a two-time Olympic gold medalist from China can’t hurt, even though both of Shiming’s OIympic gold medal victories were controversial in the eyes of some boxing fans.

Since turning pro in 2013, the Freddie Roach trained Shiming has beaten Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym, Luis De la Rosa, and a number of little known fighters to get ranked highly. Shiming has shown little in the way of power in those fights, and there’s questions of what he would do if he were put in with a puncher. Ruenroeng, 35, doesn’t have much in the way of power and that will obviously give Shiming a decent chance of beating him.

With the fight taking place in Macau, China, you would have to think that Ruenroeng is going to need to be especially impressive if he wants to get a decision. Ruenroeng, a 2008 Olympian from Thailand, has little chance of scoring a knockout against Shiming because he lacks the power to hurt his opponents. He’s the perfect guy for Shiming to fight, because if Top Rank had aimed the soon to be 34-year-old Shiming with the division’s best champion in Juan Francisco Estrada, it would likely go very badly for Shiming.

Estrada is a very good fighter, and it was wise of Top Rank to steer Shiming towards safer waters. Estrada has the kind of talent to where he would take the judges out of the affair, so there wouldn’t be any controversy in Macau.

Roach said “Without a shadow of a doubt, Boxing will begin its Shiming Dynasty on March 7 at The Venetian Macao. How appropriate that the Chinese New Year — The Year of the Sheep — begins in a few weeks. Because it would be shear madness to think anyone can stop Zou Shiming from becoming the new IBF flyweight world champion. We may be facing six more weeks of winter, but Shimingtime is right around the corner. Can Amnat Ruenroeng successfully defend his title against Zou Shiming? Russell Wilson had a better shot of completing his last pass to Ricardo Lockette.”

Ruenroeng is coming off of a 12 round split decision win over McWilliams Arroyo in his last fight in his last fight in September of last year in Thailand. Ruenroeng was just busy enough to squeak out a narrow victory over a very good fighter in Arroyo.

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