iamasadlittleboy Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 American promotional powerhouse Top Rank have been making a name in the past few years thanks to their contingent of Asian fighters (including Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, both of the Philippines). Earlier this year they moved in to the very lucrative Chinese market signing 2-time Olympic gold medal winner Zou Shiming and using him to launch their operations in Macau, a venue that looks likely to become the new boxing hub of the east. Although Shiming failed to really impress on his debut (a decision victory over Eleazar Valenzuela) the Chinese fighter still earned $300,000 dollars and drew notable attention from around the world. At 32 years old Shiming is expected to be fast tracked to a world title fight though is unlikely to kick start the Chinese boxing movement single handedly (in fact the best chance at doing that is IK Yang, a Chinese based Korean who has started fighting in the US). Top Rank have now signed another Olympic gold medal winner in Japanese fighter Ryota Murata, a fighter who has looked "made for the pros" for the past few years. Murata was Japan's 100th Olympic gold medal winner but their first in boxing since 1964 (when Takao Sakurai claimed the gold in the Bantamweight division) as he added to his silver medal from the 2011 World Amateur Championships in Baku (where he lost to Ukrainian Evhen Khytrov). With a genuinely exciting and professional style there is little doubting Murata's long term potential. He has proven to be an aggressive, hard hitting and tough fighter who lacks the classical "amateur" mindset instead preferring to force a fight and is the type of fighter who has massive potential in Japan. Although yet to officially debut as a professional, Murata was featured in an exhibition bout recently on Fuji TV (as part of an undercard for the prodigal Naoya Inoue) in which he looked like he was raring to take off the head gear and go full tilt. His poor "opponent" took a bit of a shellacking late in the bout as Murata started to show off a complete range of punches and looked every bit a star in the making. It's expected that Murata will fight at Middleweight in the professional ranks and will make his professional debut at the beginning of August and be co-promoted by Japanese boxing powerhouse Teiken promotions. A venue, specific date, opponent and even television network are yet to be confirmed (though with him going with Teiken it's unlikely to be Fuji TV who have, since 1992 only actually shown shows featuring Naoya Inoue). With the likes of WOWOW, TBS, Nippon TV and TV Tokyo also showing fights it could well see a bidding war between the channel as to who can show arguably the most exciting talent in a generation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top Rank will be putting on at least 2 more shows in Macau later this year. The first of those shows is scheduled for 27th July as Zou Shiming again headlines. Shiming (1-0) will be moving in to 6 round action as he faces Jesus Ortega (3-1, 2). Despite Shiming being the headline act as far as the promotion goes, many international fans will be more interested in the rest of the card which features the return to the ring of Juan Francisco Estrada (24-2, 18) who is coming in on the back of a FOTY 2012 contender with Roman Gonzalez and a shock upset victory over Brian Viloria (on the same card as Shiming's debut). Estrada will be defending both the WBA "Super" and WBO Flyweight titles for the first time as he takes on unbeaten Filipino Milan Melindo (29-0, 12). It's not just Estrada who defends his title for the first time but also Russian Evgeny Gradovich (16-0, 8) who upset Billy Dib for the IBF Featherweight title. Gradovich will be facing mandatory challenger Mauricio Javier Munoz (26-3, 12). In a highly attractive Heavyweight clash the rotund youngster Andy Ruiz Jr (18-0, 12) faces the touted Joe Hanks (21-0, 14) in a bout that will see someone's "0" go. Bob Arum has packed the rest of the card with Asian fighters trying to draw from the always loyal Filipino fan base with unbeaten trio Genesis Servania (20-0, 8), Dodi Boy Penalosa Jr (11-0, 11) and Dave Penalosa (6-0, 4). The Penalosa's have yet to have their opponents named but Servania will be matched against Japanese fighter Konosuke Tomiyama (23-5-1, 8), himself a former world title contender. The only other listed bout sees Aussie Paul Fleming (18-0, 13) taking on Mike Tawatchai (29-7-1, 20) of Thailand. This will be Felming's second successive bout in Macau. The second card, scheduled for November 23rd, sees the return to the ring of Filipino boxing god Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38) who was last seen getting knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao will be facing the always fun to watch Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23) who will be looking to bounce back from his first loss, a decision to Mike Alvarado. The details for this card are sketchy other than the main event. It's expected that multi-time world title challenger Gretchen Abaniel (12-4, 3) will return to the ring for the first time in a year and fellow Filipino Ricky Dulay (6-0, 4) will appear on the card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davemurphy Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Re: Top Rank Continue to muscle in on Asia When Top Rank sets their mind on something, it's often hard to change it. They'll push this Zou Shiming on us until it's almost laughable, but guys like Murata are no joke and the other major promoters should take heed and start looking at expanding into that area also, it's unexplored territory and rich with some talent to exploit. Hardcores like Scott (and modestly speaking myself) have known about this part of the world for years, but now the "global business of boxing" has grown to the point where it's going to finally be appreciated in the west. It's a nice frontier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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