Zou Shiming earned about $300 000 (R2.7 million) for making his professional debut in a four-round bout at the weekend.
An audience of about 300 million people in China watched television coverage of his fight in Macau. Now promoter Bob Arum feels China is the future of boxing. He says Manny Pacquiao wants his next fight to be in Macau.
Arum said after the tournament on Saturday night he was hoping Pacquiao would fight in the city next autumn.
Negotiations are taking place for a September rematch between the Filipino and Juan Manuel Marquez, who knocked Pacquiao out last December.
When Arum was asked on Saturday night whether Pacquiao would be fighting in Macau this year, he said: “I hope so. I certainly hope so. I know he’s expressed a desire to fight here, so we are working on that.”
Pacquiao wants his next fight to be outside the United States to avoid high taxes. Dubai and Singapore are also options.
Boxing was banned in China under Mao Zedong but the situation is changing. “It’s a country of 1.4 billion people and it’s emerging economically to be a real super power,” said Arum, founder and chief executive of Las Vegas-based Top Rank Promotions.
“If it’s done right, this will be the premier audience for boxing in the world,” Arum, 81, told reporters after the tournament at the grandiose The Venetian hotel-resort in the casino haven of Macau.
Top Rank estimated that 300 million people in China would tune in live to watch the 31-year-old flyweight.
Zou defeated Mexican Eleazar Valenzuela on points in their four-round bout and, according to reports, earned $300 000 (R2.7 million).
DEBUT GOT TOP BILLING
The match-up got top billing even over a fight for WBA and WBO titles. “You can’t give them (the Chinese) junk. You have to give them quality and do it in a sensational place like The Venetian arena.
“You have to put the event on free television so it reaches the biggest possible audience in China, which is what we did here. It was on CCTV-5, it was on all the regional networks, it was on the internet portal.
“So we reached everybody, and that is what we will continue to do. That’s what we are going to do this summer when we do another outstanding card here.
“Zou Shiming is going to have a six-round fight and we are going to do two title fights. It will be a card that is really interesting and fan-friendly, and don’t insult the people.”
Arum, whose fighters include Pacquiao and three-time world champion Miguel Cotto, added: “People here want to see and feel what we do in Las Vegas, on the biggest possible stage, a Pacquiao fight and so forth.
“And that’s what we gave them tonight. It cost a lot of money to do all those lights and all that sort of stuff, but that’s part of the experience. And the people in China deserve that experience.”
?RIDICULOUSLY LUCRATIVE MARKET?
British promoter Frank Warren has conceded that “it seems the sport has chanced upon an untapped but ridiculously lucrative new market. Initially it will be dependent upon Zou delivering between the ropes,” Warren wrote in a newspaper column.
“But with Hall of Famer Bob Arum pulling the promotional strings, he is primed to hit the outside lane to a world-title challenge as early as 2014.”
REUTERS reports that officials in Macau, the world’s largest gambling destination, are aiming to transform the casino-dominated enclave into an international leisure and tourism destination.
The southern Chinese hub, where gambling revenues reached $38 billion in 2012 ? six times that of Las Vegas ? relies heavily on the casino industry.
