Flyweight Zou Shiming (2-0) proved tonight that he’s better than Jesus Ortega (3-2, 2 KO’s) in beating him by a 6 round unanimous decision but that’s all he proved at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Shiming looked nothing short of mediocre and nowhere near good enough to compete with the major players at flyweight or even the contenders. Shiming looked better than Ortega and that’s about it. The judges scored it 59-55, 59-55, 59-55.
Shiming’s former Olympic credentials didn’t help him in this fight, as he was hit constantly by Ortega and nailed in the body with a hard shots. Shiming’s trainer Freddie Roach no doubt told him to use a lot of head and upper body movement to keep from getting hit in the head by Ortega, but that didn’t keep him from hitting Shiming with a lot of shots that seemed to weaken the Chinese fighter as the fight went on.
Shiming took the fight in close in the last couple of rounds; no doubt because he wasn’t getting hit as much by Ortega when they were close. However, he was still nailed a lot and he didn’t show the kind of potential that you’d like to see from a former two-time Olympic gold medalist.
For a fighter as old as the 32-year-old Shiming, he has got a lot of work to do in order to beat contenders in the flyweight division. Forget about the champions. He’s no match for any of them, but if he works hard he might end up as a contender one of these days. That’s about all I can see Shiming accomplishing.
Bob Arum of Top Rank better be extra skillful in his match-making for Shiming because one false move and he’s going to have a badly beaten former two-time Olympic gold medalist on his hands. If I was Arum, I’d keep matching Shiming against 3rd tier fighters and keep him far, far away from 2nd and 1st tier guys. Shiming doesn’t have the power right now to compete with anyone even halfway good and his defense and speed aren’t good enough to make up for what he lacks in power.
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In easily the best fight on the card, WBA/WBO flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (23-2, 17 KO’s) out-boxed and out-punched the tough Filipino contender Milan Melindo (28-1, 11 KO’s) in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision. This was one of the more competitive fights you’ll ever see. Estrada won the fight by the scores 118-109, 117-109 and 118-109. He had Melindo down in the 11th courtesy of a right hand to the head, and he also hurt him in the 12th with a hard right uppercut. The fight was very close in rounds 1 through 10.
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In other close fight, IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich (17-0, 8 KO’s) remained unbeaten with a hard fought 12 round unanimous decision win over Mauricio Javier Munoz (26-4, 12 KO’s). Munoz matched Gradovich punch for punch in almost every round, but he didn’t have the power to get the better of the Russian fghter.
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Big hitting, big body heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr. (20-0, 14 KO’s) stayed unbeaten with a 4th round stoppage win over Joe Hanks (21-1, 14 KO
s). Ruiz Jr. dropped Hanks twice in the 4th round before the referee moved in and halted the fight.
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Other action on the card:
Genesis Servania TD 9 Konosuke Tomiyama
Rex Tso MD 6 Rusalee Samor
Dave Penalosa KO 3 Wisaruth Wor Khunkhiri