Zou Shiming

Amateur career

Zou Shiming competed in his first amateur boxing competition at the 2004 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships and won silver, losing in the final to Noman Karim but qualifying for the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he won his first match by beating Rau'shee Warren in the round of 32. He lost to eventual champion Yan Bartelemí in the semi-finals and ended up winning bronze. Zou won the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships by beating Pál Bedák in the final, becoming the first ever Chinese boxer to win the tournament. At the 2006 Asian Games, Zou won gold by beating Suban Pannon 21-1 in the final match. He repeated his triumph from 2005 at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, beating David Ayrapetyan early in the tournament and Harry Tanamor in the final; however, Zou had to settle for silver at the 2007 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, losing in the final against Pürevdorjiin Serdamba.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Zou won China's 50th gold medal of the tournament by winning the final of the light flyweight event, winning China's first ever gold medal in Olympic boxing. During the final, Serdamba, his opponent from the final of the 2007 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury. After Serdamba was not able to continue, Zou burst into tears in compassion for his fellow boxer's injury. Zou did not compete in the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships, but he came back to win gold at the 2010 Asian Games. He also won his third straight gold at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships. Zou won gold again at the 2012 Summer Olympics by beating Kaeo Pongprayoon 13-10, but several critics regarded his victory as controversial.

After the 2012 Summer Olympics, Zou decided to make the switch from amateur boxing to professional boxing.

Olympic Games results

2008

2012

World Amateur Championships results

2003

2005

2007

2011

Asian Games results

2006

2010

Early fights

After winning gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Shiming decided to turn professional. On 23 January 2013, he signed a contract with boxing promotion company Top Rank and was subsequently trained by Freddie Roach. Shiming debuted on 6 April 2013, beating Eleazar Valenzuela by unanimous decision. After a win over Jesus Ortega, Shiming fought on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios on 23 November 2013, beating Juan Tozcano. He recorded his first knockout win of his professional career on 22 February 2014, beating Yokthong Kokietgym in the seventh round.

Shiming vs. de la Rosa

On 19 July 2014, Shiming beat Luis de la Rosa by unanimous decision with scores of 97-93, 99-91 & 99-91 at the Cotai Arena in Macau, to win his first ever professional title, the WBO International flyweight title. The fight was on the undercard of the world super-bantamweight championship fight between Guillermo Rigondeaux and Sod Kokietgym.

Shiming vs. Ruenroeng

After retaining the title against Prasitsak Phaprom on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri, Shiming fought IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng at the Cotai Arena in Macau on March 7, 2015. This marked the seventh straight fight Shiming would fight at the venue since turning professional. Like Shiming, Ruenroeng also fought at the Olympics, and lost to Shiming at the 2010 Asian Games. Ruenroeng shattered Shiming's dreams of becoming world champion and gifted him his first professional loss when he scored a unanimous decision win after 12 rounds and retained his title in the process. Roenroeng won the bout comfortably with all three judges scoring it (116-111 x3), despite being controversially knocked down in round 2 as he lost his balance. Each time Shiming tried to get on the inside, Ruenroeng used his jab and counterpunch to keep control of the fight. Following the loss, Shiming was ranked #7 by the IBF and WBO and #9 by the WBC.

Shiming vs. Phaprom II

After Shiming beat Brazilian boxer Natan Santana Coutinho by technical knockout to win back the WBO International flyweight title, and retained the title at Madison Square Garden in New York City against contender Jozsef Ajtai, he was ranked as the classified contender for the vacant WBO world title vacated by Juan Francisco Estrada, who decided to move up to super flyweight.

On November 5, 2016, in a rematch from November 2014, Shiming defeated Prasitsak Phaprom (39-1-2, 24 KOs) via a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO flyweight title on the Vargas-Pacquiao undercard at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Shiming consistently landed quick and effective combinations from the opening bell and used his footwork to avoid punches. A knockdown was recorded in round 2 after Phaprom's gloves touched the canvas after being hit with a hard right. The three judges at ringside scored the fight 120-107, 120-107 and 119-108 all in favour of Shiming.

Shiming vs. Kimura

On June 27, 2017 it was announced that Shiming would make a voluntary defence of his WBO title against Japanese underdog and WBO #7 Sho Kimura (14-1-2, 7 KOs) on July 28 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China. Shiming parted ways with promoter Top Rank and decided to promote the fight himself. He decided not to train with his hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach. In a shocking upset, Kimura, who was behind on two scorecards at the start of round 11, knocked Shiming out to win the WBO flyweight title. Two judges had the fight 96-94, 97-93 for Shiming, whilst the third judge had it 96-94 for Kimura. Shiming used his movement throughout the fight which had Kimura chasing him trying to land shots. He landed a right hook then followed by a combination. Shiming dropped to the ground after a flurry of punches. He failed to get up, but referee didn't count him out, calling off the fight.

Personal life

Shiming graduated with a master's degree from the Shanghai University of Sport. He has been married to Ran Yingying since 2011 and they have two sons.