CHINA DAILY Monday, February 1, 2016 SPORTS 23 BOXING Digest SOCCER ‘Auba’ lifts team Zou punches in with masterpiece with double strike Borussia Dortmund No sign of ring rust trimmed Bayern Munich’s lead in the Bundesliga with as flashy flyweight a 2­0 win over Ingolstadt on Saturday as Pierre­ claims WBO title Emerick Aubameyang scored twice to reach the By MURRAY GREIG 20­goal plateau in league [email protected] play. ‘Auba’ — the 2015 African Zou Shiming rediscovered player of the year — headed his roar on Saturday night. second­place Dortmund In a comeback fight billed into a 77th­minute lead at as ‘The Return of the King,’ home, but replays showed China’s two­time Olympic he was offside when he gold medalist came through took a cross from Lukasz with a command perform­ Piszczek. ance, scoring an eighth­ “I didn’t score last week round TKO over previously­ (against Moenchenglad­ unbeaten Natan Santana of bach), so it was important Brazil to claim the World to stay focused,”said Aub­ Boxing Organization’s Inter­ ameyang national flyweight title at the Oriental Sports Center in Messi, Suarez Shanghai. Zou improved to 7­1 in his fire up Barca first professional match on the Barcelona took control of mainland after all his previous the La Liga title race as bouts were in Macao. Santana goals from Lionel Messi dropped to 12­1. The eight­ and Luis Suarez inspired a bout card was promoted by come­from­behind 2­1 win Las Vegas­based Top Rank. against nine­man Atletico “The homecoming was Madrid on Saturday. great,” Zou said afterwards. “I Koke handed the visiting really fed off the energy of the side an early lead, but Bar­ crowd.” ca turned the game thanks Unlike in his last outing — a to two goals in eight min­ distance loss to Thailand’s utes before the break. Amnat Ruenroeng for the IBF Atletico’s hopes of salvag­ world title last March — the ing a point were then 34­year­old punching pride of ruined as Filipe Luis and Zunyi, Guizhou province, Zou Shiming celebrates Saturday’s TKO victory over Natan Santana for the WBO International flyweight title at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai. JOHANNES EISELE / AFP Diego Godin were sent off wasted no time going on the for rash challenges either offensive, using a sharp jab to side of halftime. set up crisp combinations. tion, landing with both fists 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold “I took 10 months off to rest, “Zou was really impressive. their prelims: light heavy­ Zou’s two­fisted attack before adroitly slipping out of medalist. spend time with my family I want to test him again with weight Qu Peng of Dalian GOLF belied any hint of lingering range. After punishing his shorter and even found a little reality another top contender in the beat Australia’s Aaron Lai in a Grace repeats damage from the torn rotator Late in the fifth, a six­punch opponent with an impressive TV fame, but my heart never spring,”said Arum. “If he pass­ six­rounder; flyweight Ma victory in Qatar cuff he sustained against flurry by Zou sent Santana barrage in the neutral corner, left the ring,” Zou said at the es that, we will have him fight Yiming of Dalian took a six­ Ruenroeng, and the 21­year­ reeling backwards into the Zou elicited a roar from the post­fight media conference. for a world championship by round split decision over Fili­ South African Branden old Santana spent most of the ropes and the raucous crowd crowd with his rendition of “Tonight I fought patiently the end of the year.” pino Jaymar Diama; debuting Grace retained his Qatar first three rounds in retreat took up a chant of “KO! KO!”, the Ali shuffle at the bell. and got into a rhythm. (San­ featherweight Mai Qingxian Masters title in Doha on mode. but the gutsy Brazilian The end came in the eighth, tana) is young and has a pow­ PUNCH LINES: In the semi­ of Danzhou, Hainan province, Saturday, winning by two The Brazilian was more regained his composure and after Zou drilled Santana into erful right hand, but once I got main event, 2012 Olympic won a four­rounder over Fili­ shots and making tourna­ aggressive in the fourth, responded with a flurry of his the ropes with a lead right, into a rhythm I was able to middleweight gold medalist pino Marjo Borres (6­5); and ment history in the process. landing two solid rights to own. then landed 16 unanswered control the fight.” Ryota Murata of Japan super middleweight Zulpikar The world No 11 fired a Zou’s head early in the round, By round six Zou’s straight punches before referee Saw­ Top Rank boss Bob Arum, improved to 8­0 by stopping Maimaitiali of Urumqi, Xinji­ last­round 69 in the Euro­ but Zou never lost his focus. rights had raised a sizeable aeng Thaweekoon moved in to who watched from ringside, Argentina’s Gaston Vega ang autonomous region, pean Tour tournament to He moved in and out of the mouse over Santana’s left eye, wave him off. gave the Chinese champion (24­10­1) in two rounds … stopped Australia’s Steve go with previous rounds of pocket with smooth delibera­ and it became a target for the The time was 2:17. two thumbs up. Four Chinese fighters won Moxon in three rounds. 70, 67 and 68 to finish at 14 under. In doing so he became the first player to win back­ to­back Qatar Masters’ Kovalev hands Pascal a lopsided beatdown titles, despite describing his chances of winning again in Doha as “slim” at the By AGENCE FRANCE­ round because he was worried beginning of the week. PRESSE in Montreal about Pascal’s health. As well as the trophy, “It just wasn’t your night,” Grace also received a win­ World light heavyweight Roach finally told the 33­year­ ner’s check for $416,660. champion Sergey Kovalev suc­ I wanted to fight old as the fighter slumped on cessfully defended his three his stool with a vacant look in NFL titles on Saturday, demolish­ more rounds and his eyes. Manziel under ing challenger Jean Pascal in a Pascal, who struggled to win investigation rematch of their March 2015 punish him more. a 10­round decision over Yuni­ fight. Give him more eskiGonzalezinhismostrecent Troubled Cleveland The 32­year­old Russian fight, came in as a heavy under­ Browns quarterback John­ dominated every round, mas­ pain.” dog. He dropped to 30­4­1. ny Manziel is being investi­ terfully cutting off the ring and Kovalev notched his eighth gated by police in Texas following a disturbance landing left jabs at will before Sergey Kovalev, after defending title defense since winning his during which he might Pascal’s trainer, Freddie his titles against challenger Jean first belt with a fourth­round have assaulted his ex­girl­ Roach, put a stop to the Pascal in Montreal on Saturday KO of Nathan Cleverly in 2013. slaughter before the start of After destroying Pascal, friend. round eight, giving Kovalev a Kovalev now plans to fight Manziel, who has had seventh­round TKO. either former super middle­ two tumultuous seasons in This was Pascal’s first fight with Pascal, who is black, weight champ Andre Ward or the NFL, was identified by with six­time trainer of the accusing the Russian of being WBC light heavy titleholder Fort Worth police after year Roach, but the outcome racist and Kovalev question­ Adonis Stevenson. they were called early on was virtually the same as his ing the Haitian­born Canadi­ He taunted Stevenson in his Saturday to investigate a March fight against Kovalev, an’s character. Sergey Kovalev nails Jean Pascal with a straight left during their WBO, WBA and IBF light heavyweight address to the crowd: “I would report of a possible assault which ended with an eight­ Inapost­fightringaddressto title bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday. Kovalev won by TKO in the seventh round. like to fight Adonis Chicken­ at an apartment complex. round technical knockout for the crowd of 9,866 at the Bell MINAS PANAGIOTAKIS/GETTY IMAGES/AFP son,”he bellowed. The officers did not find the Russian. Centre arena, Kovalev said he Stevenson, who watched the the person who called, but Kovalev retained his World purposely prolonged the fight Kovalev dropped Pascal in will against Pascal, whose only Roach warned Pascal at the fight from ringside, had they spoke to an unidenti­ Boxing Association, Interna­ to make Pascal suffer more. the first round with a straight hope was to land a lucky end of the fifth and sixth already climbed through the fied 23­year­old woman tional Boxing Federation and “He doesn’t respect any­ left jab but the referee ruled it knockout punch. rounds that he was going to ropes and was jawing at Koval­ who said she was World Boxing Organization body,” Kovalev said. “I don’t a slip. Knockdown or not, it Pascal’s legs were already step in and stop the fight, but ev but kept his distance. “involved in a disturbance titles as he improved to 29­0­1, respect him and I never will. was a foreshadowing of what going and he looked wobbly as Pascal talked him out of it. Kovalev then gave Steven­ with her ex­boyfriend” ear­ with 26 stoppages. “I wanted to fight more followed. he tried in vain to get away Roach even asked the refer­ son the middle finger before lier that night in Dallas.