Zou Shiming of China works out in front of the media at the Venetian Macao hotel in Macau, March 5, 2015. (Photo : REUTERS)
Former two-time Olympic gold medallist and Chinese boxing icon Zou "Fists of Gold" Shiming (6-1, 1 KO) will return to the ring on 30 January at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China to take on unbeaten 21-year old Natan Santana Coutinho (12-0, 10 KO's) of Sao Paulo, Brazil in a 12-round flyweight bout.
The 34-year old Shiming is a resident of Zunyi, China and is responsible for igniting the sport of boxing in the Chinese mainland in recent years. He was last in the ring challenging Thai veteran Amnat Ruenroeng for the IBF World Flyweight title.
Shiming dropped a 12-round unanimous decision despite sending Ruenroeng to the canvas once in round two.
Now, just a little under a year later, Shiming returns to competition to resume his professional boxing career -- one which he hopes would eventually lead to another title shot.
Shiming hones his craft under the tutelage of legendary boxing coach, Freddie Roach, who also trains eight-division world champion Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao.
Pacquiao will soon enter preparations for a third fight against American Timothy "The Desert Storm" Bradley which is slated for April 9 in Las Vegas.
Both Shiming and Pacquiao have shared the stage before, most recently in November of 2014 when the two headlined a spectacular fight card in Macau, China when Pacquiao took on Chris Algieri while Shiming challenged Ruenroeng.
Fans have been quick to criticize Shiming, despite his many accomplishments in amateur boxing. One of the biggest knocks on the Chinese fighter is his lack of knockout power.
Despite beaming with talent, Shiming has been criticized to lack the pop necessary to make fights exciting -- something that he's been working on with coach Roach to improve. As a result of his work with Roach, Shiming has added power to his game as evidenced by his knockout victory over Yokthong KKP of Thailand back in February of 2014.
This time, Shiming comes back to the ring in hopes of picking up where he left off in the winner's circle.
