By Jake Donovan
It’s a sad state of affairs when fair scoring is celebrated in the sport, but such is the boxing world in which we live. Amnat Ruenroeng was properly compensated for the boxing lesson he handed Zou Shiming, earning a 12-round decision Saturday evening at Cotai Arena in Macau, China.
The night was unlike his trip to Japan last May, where Ruenroeng boxed circles around Kazuto Ioka but was forced to settle for a split decision. Shiming never offered enough to justify the judges even thinking about making the fight any closer than it actually was.
In the end, the three judges – Glenn Feldman, Robert Hoyle and Jerry Jakubco, all from the United States – each scored the contest 116-111 in favor of Ruenroeng, who picked up the third defense of his flyweight title.
The judges were in agreement on eight of the 12 rounds, including the first six rounds of action. All three were forced to score round two 10-8 in favor of Shiming, due to a knockdown ruled by referee Mark Nelson, who made a split-second judgment call on what appeared to be a slip. It was a bang-bang call by the third man, who had to work overtime in keeping the peace between the two fighters.
Where the judges began to split was in the second half of the contest. The disparity was to be expected, as Shiming charged forward more often – although throwing few punches – while Ruenroeng began to use every inch of the ring.
Even with the shift, Shiming managed just two of the final six rounds on all three cards. Feldman had the three-time Olympic medalist winning round seven and 12; Hoyle also scored round 12 for Shiming, while giving the 9th round as well. Jakubco saw Shiming winning rounds seven and 10.
Shiming suffered his first career loss with the setback, falling to 6-1 (1KOs). Ruenroeng is now 15-0 (5KOs), and also on a heck of roll, with Saturday’s win adding to victories over Ioka and McWilliams Arroyo all in the span of 10 months.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox