Boxing’s New Powerhouse?

A new dawn is vast approaching as the most populated country in the world looks to gatecrash the boxing world.

China will look to leave its own mark on the history of boxing, starting with the WBC hosted ‘Night of Champions’ event in Cardiff on July 29-31.

The Chinese amateur boxing team will team with Olympic hopefuls from Germany, Ireland, Kazakhstan and the United States as part of the Rest of the World team against Britain’s own Olympic hopefuls.

Historically the Chinese have never really ‘produced’ in the sport of boxing, but over the last 10 years the Chinese are starting the find their feet in the sport after much funding from the Chinese government.

Zou Shiming’s bronze medal, in the light flyweight division, at the 2004 Olympics in Athens was the countries first ever medal in the sport of boxing.

Following this breakthrough achievement, more recognition was to come, this time on a professional level, as female boxer Zhang Xiyan became China’s first ever professional champion when she beat America’s Alicia Ashley for the WBC women’s lightweight crown.

Then at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, things really took off for China as they claimed four medals in boxing, two of which were gold. Shiming managed to go two steps better as he claimed a gold medal in the light flyweight division, with Zhang Xiaoping claiming their second gold medal in the light heavyweight division. China’s other two medals came through Zhang Zhilei, who won silver in the Super Heavyweight division and Hanati Silamu grabbing a bronze in the Welterweight division.

One man who is no doubt of China’s potential to become the next boxing powerhouse is WBC President Joe Sulaiman.

He said: “It will be a great honour and pleasure for so many previous Olympic champions who later became world champions and household names to offer their advice and support to the champions of tomorrow.

“We are especially excited that the Chinese people will be able to see their best amateur boxers compete with the rest of the world.  In years to come many of the greatest world boxing champions will come from China.

“This year’s Night of Champions is a wonderful opportunity for the boxing community to embrace and celebrate the next generation of champions, united from every corner of our once-divided world.”

Due to the increasing interest among Chinese boxing fans, event organisers are teaming up with a Chinese owned media company, Green Leaf Film Studios, to broadcast the event back to those in China.

Rob McCracken, Performance Director at the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) added: “Preparing our men and women for the 2012 Games is critical.

“The Chinese team are quickly becoming one of the best in the world, and we want to ensure Britain is preparing against the best, to continue building on the outstanding success of the team at the European Championships.

“Sport Wales’ support shows how we are uniting to give the British team every chance possible to win medals at the London Games.”

China will hope this event will increase their chances of adding to their boxing medal collection from previous Olympics, as they step up their preparations for London 2012.

Are we about to witness the newest powerhouse in boxing?

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