18 Friday, February 6, 2015 SOCCER Philippe Coutinho could help Liverpool make up for the SPORTS departure of Luis Suarez > P20 CHINA DAILY » CHINADAILY.COM.CN/SPORTS Boxing Mayweather Zou focused on world title shot not welcome Double Olympic gold medalist fulfilling lifelong Down Under dream on March 7 By AGENCIES in Melbourne ing on Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to reject May­ By AGENCE FRANCE­ The Australian tour of the weather’s visa application PRESSE in Hong Kong world’ s best pound­for­pound reached 40,000 signatures boxer, Floyd Mayweather, was within two days of its creation Double Olympic flyweight indefinitely postponed on on Jan 29. champion Zou Shiming has Wednesday after the Ameri­ Mayweather was the world’s vowed to put China on the can, who has a history of vio­ highest­paid athlete last year global boxing map by winning lence toward women, was after his two fights earned him his first professional world unable to secure a visa from $119 million. title in Macao next month. immigration authorities. The 2008 and 2012 Olympic The undefeated five­divi­ Hopes dampened gold medalist was a three­time sion world champion was Over last weekdnd, May­ world champion in a glorious booked for dinner and night­ weather dampened talk of a amateurcareer,buthebelieves club appearances in Melb­ possible mega­fight agree­ that if he beats undefeated ourne and Sydney on ment with Filipino boxer Man­ ThaiAmnatRuenroengforthe Thursday and Friday. ny Pacquiao, a day after the International Boxing Federa­ The Immigration Depart­ Asian star’s promoter said a tion crown on March 7 he will ment was still to give a deci­ deal was near. finally bring Chinese boxing to sion on Mayweather’s visa Mayweather posted a mes­ the world’sattention. application when promoter sage on his Shots account that “I swore to fulfil my dreams Max Markson announced the said in part: “While they con­ to become a professional fight­ China’s Zou Shiming competes against Thailand’s Yokthong Kokietgym in their flyweight bout in Macau in February 2014. Double Olympic events, including the dinners tinue to lie about making the er, to achieve world titles and flyweight champion Zou has vowed to put China on the global boxing map by winning his first pro world title in March. ALEX OGLE / AFP FILE costing between $150 and fight... I’m just going to contin­ to bring China into the world­ $750, were unable to go ahead. ue to travel and explore the wide boxing family,” Zou told Arum. “He’s the poster boy.” the past 15 years. professional years earlier “Floyd will be announcing world on my private jet. AFP in an interview in Los Zou’s last outing in Novem­ than me. This should bring new dates soon,” Markson #FightNotMadeYet #Jamaica.” Angeles. Superstar status ber — second on the bill to Pac­ me new challenges.” posted on his website on Zou is currently training Zou is quickly assuming quia’s demolition of Chris The one downside of Zou’s Wednesday. for the fight at legendary superstar status following a Algieri—sawhimgo12rounds victory over Kwanpichit was a The original organizers had million trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild­ cameo appearance in the lat­ As a boxer, you for the first time and batter nasty gash over his left eye, already pulled out citing con­ $119 card gym in the US city. est Transformers movie and another experienced Thai, which delayed the world title stant date changes by the box­ Floyd Mayweather’s earnings last The boxer denied that after starring in advertise­ will always taste Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym, fight by a month to give him er’s representative. year in two fights, making him fanatical support in his home­ ments for Beats headphones blood. Cuts and in a runaway points victory. time to heal. TheDepartmentofImmigra­ the world’s highest­paid athlete. land — where up to 300 mil­ with NBA icon LeBron James Zou (6­0, 1 KO) expects a “The eye problem has been tion is continuing to deliberate lion are expected to watch his and tennis legend Serena injuries are much tougher battle against fixed,” said Zou. “As a boxer, whether Mayweather should challenge for the IBF belt — Williams. Amnat (14­0, 5 KOs) who is you will always taste blood. be allowed into the country Pacquiao promoter Bob was heaping pressure on him. His soaring popularity back common. If they making his third defence of Cutsandinjuriesarecommon. despite a series of criminal con­ Arum told the New York Post “The pressure doesn’t come home will hit the stratosphere the IBF flyweight title. If they scare you, you will nev­ victions for domestic violence on Friday that he was optimis­ from my home country, but should he win at the Venetian scare you, you The pair fought three times er become a good fighter.” and assault committed against tic a Pacquiao­Mayweather comes from myself and that Macao casino in the southern in their amateur careers with Zou says his ultimate several women. deal for a May 2 fight in Las made me enter the pro ring in Chinese gambling hub. will never become Zou winning the last two dream is to make it big in the The 37­year­old spent two Vegas would be completed in my thirties,” said the 33­year­ In just two years since Zou’s encounters. US and headline in Las Vegas months in a US jail in 2012 aft­ the next couple of days, with old who is from Guizhou prov­ first professional fight at the a good fighter.” “He is as determined as me for a world title. er pleading guilty to assaulting only a few final details to be ince in southwestern China. Venetian’s Cotai Arena, the Zou Shiming to win this fight. He is a tough “Las Vegas is always the big his former partner in front of settled between rival telecast­ Veteran promoter Bob venue has become the home fighter, and the professional stage that all professional their children. ers HBO and Showtime, the Arum has dubbed Zou “the of boxing in Asia. experience should give him a boxers dream of,”he said. In 2004, he received a one­ rights holders for Pacquiao poster boy” for the rise of Chi­ It has hosted all of Zou’s six bit of an advantage,” said the “At the moment I am only year suspended jail sentence and Mayweather respectively. nese professional boxing, professional fights and two soft­spoken Zou. focused on March 7. I am not and was ordered to undergo Mayweather, who turns 38 where it was banned for dec­ world title cards featuring the going to hang up my gloves no counseling for “impulse con­ on Feb 24, left England’s Amir ades for being too Western Filipino eight­weight world Fearless fighter matter what result. I will try trol” after being convicted for Khan hanging for months and too violent. champion Manny Pacquiao, “I have fought Amnat three hard to make different kinds punching two women in a until announcing on his birth­ “Zouistheenginebehindall regarded by many as the best times and I am familiar with of breakthroughs. Fighting in nightclub. day last year that he would of this activity in China,” said pound­for­pound fighter of his style. However he turned Las Vegas is one of them.” The department has previ­ fight Argentina’s Marcos Mai­ ously overlooked the criminal dana instead. convictions and dubious char­ Mayweather wound up acter of international celebri­ beating the South American ties, such as Mike Tyson and twice in 2014, but has yet to Snoop Lion (formerly known test himself against Pacquiao Stone­faced Holyfield stars in road rage spot as Snoop Dogg). or Khan. However, more recently, the Filipino southpaw Pacquiao department revoked the visa is 57­5 with two drawn and 38 By ASSOCIATED PRESS tinted windows, he was thinking I can’t fight. I was a of Julien Blanc, a “pick­up art­ knockouts while Mayweather in Atlanta immediately recognized and good fighter. I was an ama­ ist” who advocated emotional­ is 47­0 with 26 knockouts. the motorist backed away, teur champion.” ly manipulating women into Fans have sought a showdown Flashing the same stone­ mumbling “I didn’t know it Holyfield said he “did the sex, after public protests. between the two for five years, faced glare that once was so was you.” wise thing” by remembering A Change.org petition call­ thus far in vain. familiar in the boxing ring, It was an example of how advice from his mother to Evander Holyfield appeared road rage can lead to unex­ “just chill.” headed toward another fight. pected big trouble — and it “But,youknow,inamoment This time the challenge wasn’t real. Holyfield and his IwasupsetandIknewtheman came from a hot­tempered misguided antagonist were couldn’t whup me and I could motorist who felt he had been only acting in a short public have got out there and fought, cut off as Holyfield pulled out service announcement. but I was embarrassed because of a driveway. The closing message: “Avoid my car was raggly and it The driver, unaware he was road rage. You never know stopped,”he said. about to encounter the who you might run into.” Evander Holyfield, the former world heavyweight champion, is Holyfield, 52, officially former four­time heavy­ Holyfield had no speaking seen in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, last month. Holyfield is retired in 2014 after having no weight champion, forced line in the new PSA, which taking part in a Georgia campaign to curtail road rage. fights since 2011.