A total of twelve Chinese boxers advanced to the Final Four during the on-going China Open boxing tournament in Guiyang, Guizhou Province when all of the quarterfinal matches came to a close on Thursday. The Chinese brigade, led by Shiming Zou and Zhilei Zhang, is set to contend for championships in 10 out of 11 weight classes.
The highlight of quarterfinals was a solo show in flyweight category, under the spotlight of the grand slam champion native Shiming Zou, with him facing Rey Saludar, a fighter from the homeland of Manny Pacquiao. Zou, the two-time world champion and 2008 Olympic gold medalist, put on a one-man show by sweeping his Philippine foe in a 10-0 shutout.
Another "heavyweight" show in the quarterfinals was a slugfest in super heavyweight division on Tuesday, with the 2008 Olympic silver medalist Zhilei Zhang pitted against Olympian Ruslan Myrsatayev, a puncher from the boxing powerhouse Kazakhstan. However, this fight was far from impressive for the Chinese Giant in terms of dominant variety. He squeaked by in a thrill to move on in the tournament, outperforming his antagonist with merely one-point edge. The final score was 7-6.
Zhang is about to confront the little-known Erik Pfeifer from Germany for a berth in the final later in the day while Zou will match against the Olympic silver medalist Andris Laffita Hernandez of Cuba on Friday.
In addition to Zou and Zhang, there are other ten Chinese boxing athletes who managed to advance to the semifinals. As China only failed to qualify in the bantamweight category, the nation is now in a position to compete for 10 out of 11 gold medals in the top-level international boxing event.
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Zhenyu Li.
As a Beijing-based bilingual sports and culture writer with the People's Daily in China, Zhenyu Li has covered a wide range of topics, including the international cultural exchange affairs, cultural creative industry and sports business, yet his main thrust is combat sport. A contributing columnist for such publications as SecondsOut.com (U.K.) and TheSweetScience.com (U.S.), Li is committed to bring the PhilBoxing.com boxing coverage of the best quality fights from China.
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