Looking for the next Zou as 4 pugilists head to US
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 8, 2017
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Four Chinese boxers are being rewarded with a trip to the United States for training and to compete against American counterparts following their promising performance in the League of Fists, China's professional boxing tournament.
Xu Que, Qu Peng, Liu Yongcai and Li Tonghui will receive a two-month training in Las Vegas, organized by American boxing promoter Top Rank. The four will learn from experienced coach Derrick Harmon, a former WBC intercontinental champion who boasts a professional record of 25-7-0. Freddie Roach, celebrated coach of eight-division world champion Manny Pacquio, will also give guidance.
Boxing promoting firm SECA, which is also the promoter of China's two-time Olympic champion Zou Shiming, hopes the four boxers will upgrade their skills during their stay in the US.
All of the four boxers are born between 1989 and 1991, and participated in last year's League of Fists. Qu, an Inner Mongolia native, and Xu, who is from Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, won WBO China Champion belts in their weight categories.
"All of them are between 25 and 30 years old, which we regard as the golden age for boxers," a SECA staff told Shanghai Daily. "They are among the best in their age groups in China, but still have potential for improvement. We offer them the opportunity to learn from foreign experts and hope one of them will become the next Zou Shiming."
Xu and Li used to be boxers in the country's national system — they have represented local teams and China in national and international competitions where their basic costs were covered by the sports administration. Talking about the major changes they feel after turning professional, both boxers mentioned back-up support and self-discipline.
"Compared to the days in local teams, lack of back-up is one of the major differences, including coach, nutritionist, recovery expert, etc," said Li, of Anhui Province who turns 27 this week. "Also, since we are training and fighting for ourselves, self-discipline is very important."
Xu, also 27, comes from an impoverished family. Having taken up the sport 15 years ago, he cherishes the US training opportunity and hopes boxing will change his life one day. "I want to learn about the boxing culture in the US, as well as their training methods and medical support for boxers and use that in my future training," said Xu.
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