By Ryan Burton
Earlier this week, hall of fame promoter Bob Arum introduced his new Chinese sensation Zou Shiming to the media in Las Vegas at The Venetian Hotel and Casino. The 31-year-old two time Olympic gold medalist will be training in Las Vegas under the tutelage of Freddie Roach and Miguel Diaz. He is scheduled to make his professional debut on April 6th at The Venetian in Macau.
Arum said that the plan is to move the accomplished amateur along quickly. I asked if he plans on creating a path similar to the one that Top Rank created for Guillermo Rigondeaux. The two time Cuban Olympic gold medalist fought and won an interim title in just his 7th pro fight.
"Yes that is the plan. These guys who are accomplished amateurs, not only Rigondeaux but guys like (Yuriorkis) Gamboa we moved along very fast. Also another guy we promoted, Leon Spinks, for all of is problems out of the ring, fought and beat Muhammad Ali in just his 8th pro fight. He was a light heavyweight Olympic gold medalist. With these guys with the big amateur backgrounds it can be done," Arum stated.
I also asked Arum if he planned on putting Shiming on a Manny Pacquiao undercard in the future to introduce him to the Filipino's deep fan base that includes many Asians.
"Absolutely. That is a dream of his, to fight on a Manny Pacquiao card. That is something we will definitely look at doing," Arum told Boxingscene.com.
Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com Follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter and tune in to The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene's official audio on Tuesdays. The show is hosted by Ernie Gabion, Luis Sandoval and Ryan Burton
