Professional bouts signal spring of Chinese boxing

‍‍‍‍Tomorrow, the 2015 IBF China Professional Bouts Beijing Tournaments will start as well. This is the first professional boxing event held in the mainland of China. It signals the start of an era where Chinese professional boxing players can play games in their home country.

This year, International Boxing Federation (IBF) is going to build the first professional boxing league across China, of which the first stop will be in Beijing. IBF also aims to establish a ranking system for professional players in China and help them to be listed in Asian and global rankings. 

IBF China will provide millions of prize money to players, to develop good young players, and select from within the league young players to go to America to accept training. They will also launch a series of non-profit events, to help Chinese boxing and sports and cultural industry to further grow. 

Maybe the tide has turned for professional boxing in China. Although there are one or two famous players in China, there are no professional events here. 

Zou Shiming  has made a name for himself as a Chinese professional boxing player in these two years. He is represented by SECA, and his overseas promoter is Top Rank, the company run by Bob Arum, who has successfully promoted Pacquiao, Joe Frazier, and dozens of well-known boxing players in the world. 

Zou Shiming once said that his dream was to renew the current conditions of Chinese professional boxing.Now he doesn’t have to rely on himself regarding that task, as it indeed demands for group efforts. 

Last Sunday, the boxing match between Mayweather and Pacquiao were watched by many people in China. This also created a good public atmosphere for the sport. 

As the Chinese sports reform plan being carried out, boxing will also benefit from the big environment.

To discover and train more promising players, and improve the system, would be the next step for the development of professional boxing in China.