'Sixty million watched Zhang Zhilei fight' - heavyweight boxer becomes an overnight star in China.

[War Room]

then why is he boxing in the uk and not in china?
they should have a ppv market over there that would put all other territories around the world to waste.

Because the dollar is 8:1 and a great expanse of China has never seen a white man still.

Google Foxconn Suicide Nets.

[WholeSoul75]

NBA has a heavy presence in China spending and making bank. Wonder if big **** can can trickle in a tiny fraction of that 450 million fan viewership. A couple photos with Kyle Anderson n ish... haha

[Willow The Wisp]

Some pretty good racism going on here.
Seems we haven't come too far from the days of Jack Johnson.

China has a centuries-old boxing history.

The history of China's boxing dates back 3,700 years, when China was in the Late Shang Dynasty, and the sport was one of the subjects for military training conducted by aristoc****.

By the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), boxing became the mandatory subject for soldiers.

Unlike boxing of the early-times in western countries which was a mixture of both the boxing and some wrestling, boxing in China was apparently distinct from wrestling as early as 3.7 thousand years ago.

The book, The Combat Arts of Two Hands, which was written exclusively for boxing, appeared around 2,000 years ago.

In this style, the feet and legs were not used for sweeps and kicks, but instead put to use for better balance, leverage and mobility, in the same fashion as how the Greek culture understood stand up combat.

Moreover, wearing boxing gloves and protection started in China approximately 700 years ago.

The above shows that China has a long boxing tradition.

Modern day boxing in China, which was initially called "western boxing", was first introduced in the 1920s in the port city of Shanghai, along with a book, titled The Technique of Western Boxing, which was then translated into Chinese. Boxing then became China's first large scale professional sport, as boxing overtook traditional Chinese martial arts due to repeated demonstrations of it's greater effectiveness in street fights, and shows could be attended in locations throughout Shanghai and other large cities every Friday and Saturday night.

In the '30s, some sports academies put boxing classes in their major curriculum and fostered a number of Chinese boxing talents.

At this stage, the sport of boxing was mainly carried out in the city's western rental area, where the majority of players were western sailors, soldiers and merchants, only a handful of Chinese took part.

Before the Anti-Japanese War, boxing became prevalent in some port cities of China when the middle schools and colleges founded by Christian and the Catholic Church listed boxing as one of the major subjects in their physical education classes.

In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, China assigned 69 participants, two of which participated in the boxing competitions. However, they were all eliminated in the qualifying matches.

By the start of the Japanese invasion, western professional boxers began to withdraw from China, and the number of local fighters grew.

The professional bouts at the time were limited to four, six, eight or ten rounds, at maximum, which was for the championship fight.

In the early 1940s, boxing agents began to show up.

It was reported that one local fighter received a maximum premium of 4,000 yuan (approximately $570 US ) for a single bout.

After the liberation war, various forms of boxing matches were held in such big cities as Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

Probably one of the grandest boxing pageants in Chinese history — 20-city boxing championship with the total number of competitors of 142 was staged in Beijing in 1958.

Judging from the case in this period, the number of athletes taking part in assorted boxing matches was growing, and the host region of boxing was becoming larger and larger.

Although there were no international Chinese boxing champions up until the '60s, the national tournaments held in this period laid the foundation in China for future development of the sport.

In 1959, the first National Games — which was the biggest domestic sports event in China — was held, and the Committee once listed boxing in the National Games' lineup.

However, due to the Great Leap Forward of this sport and its violent nature, a number of incidents concerning serious physical injuries of participant occurred. After several incidents, the committee felt that it was not the right time to develop boxing in such a large scale. Consequently, they temporally removed boxing from the National Games.

In March of the same year, boxing was outlawed by the government as a result of several unannounced reasons.

As Hong Fan, a scholar who specializes in China's athletic history, puts it, "People believed that boxing was very brutal, very ruthless. So it was banned."

Two decades later, boxing was revived in China. The philosophy of the "Ping Pong Diplomacy" triggered the restoration of the fight game.

In December 1979, the former undisputed heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali paid a visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Chairman Xiaoping Deng. The little giant man hugged the boxing titan. They sat, and the word that boxing could also be the factor to push for the understanding and friendship between the Chinese and the Americans went out.

Right after that, boxing began to regain its status and exhibition matches were carried out.

The year 1986 and 1987 are two significant years for Chinese western boxing.

In March 1986, boxing officially returned to validity. The next year in April, the China Boxing Association was officially founded. In May, the first national boxing championships was held and in June, the China Boxing Association was officially admitted into the International Amateur Boxing Association as the 159th member.

From then on, China began to appear on the international boxing stage.

Another two decades has passed and China has experienced even more great changes in the sport of boxing.

The hidden Eastern Dragon finished the evolution and is now set to soar into the heaven!

Today, Chinese heavyweight champion Zhilei Zhang is closing in on the prestigious heavyweight championship of the world. It is no coincidence that this historic event that has captivated a nation as no other western sport ever has, coincides with China's overtaking the US as the largest economy in the world.

Inside the gladiatorial world and outside of it as well, the era of global Chinese rule has officially begun.

[hugh grant]

Can't believe how criminally overlooked Zhang has been over years. He was always seem as talented but never expected to go all the way. But I wonder if Zhang thinks he should have got moving faster, or if Zhang is better now than he's ever been?

[Dr. Z]

Zhang stands out in China. Literally. He is nearly a foot taller than the average Chinese man. And he is by far the best heavyweight China has ever produced. As such he is a Unicorn or better stated a mythical Chinese dragon.


He is one of the five best heavyweights in the world today. And he has 60 million fans watching him. I don't know how long he will be near the top. Likely 1-2 years. According to legends Dragons are most powerful in their old age, like Zhang is on boxing.

[Willow The Wisp]

That right hand that took out the Juggernaut is a BIG PROBLEM FOR ANYONE ON EARTH.

[takenotes]

China doesn’t promote strong males

they do the opposite. They want slave population. They want small beta males who will do as they are told.

So a defiant giant like Zhang is not an ideal role model for the Chinese population.

110% this. They want weak, obedient workers who will slave away at Foxconn making iphones and other electronics. Zhang is probably like superman to these people...they cannot believe the guy is this big and strong. I'm actually surprised the people were allowed to even watch that fight....it might make them question why they are slaving away their lives.

[jaded]

China viewership went from 30 million for the first Joyce fight to 60 million for the second. The way he won yesterday can only make his popularity now much higher...especially for a Fury, Usyk, Wilder or Joshua fight. I just hope those fights can happen before he gets too old...he's already too old by boxing standards, even though he still looked especially great yesterday. China has a huge middle class, and can make a Fury showdown potentially a historic PPV.

[eco1]

China doesn’t promote strong males

they do the opposite. They want slave population. They want small beta males who will do as they are told.

So a defiant giant like Zhang is not an ideal role model for the Chinese population.

****! You just described us in the USA.

[HeadShots]

****! You just described us in the USA.

you guys getting there for sure. not quite there yet tho