Zou Shiming (right) of China, punches Prasitak Phaprom, of Thailand, during their WBO flyweight title boxing match
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming of China won his first professional flyweight title Saturday night, taking a lopsided 12-round decision over Thailand’s Prasitak Phaprom.
Zou knocked down Phaprom in the second round and dominated the entire fight in a rematch of their bout two years ago in Macau. He won every round on two of the ringside scorecards, and all but one round on the third.
The fight for the WBO’s vacant 112-pound title was one of three title fights on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Jessie Vargas.
Zou, who won gold medals in 2008 and 2012, was fighting for only the 10th time as a pro. He improved his record to 9-1, with the only loss coming last year in his only previous title fight.
“Now my dream is finally complete,” Zou said. “I’m a pro champion, an Olympic champion and now I’m a world champion.”
Zou was in such command of the fight that he began showing off in the middle rounds, much to the delight of the crowd. But Phaprom never gave up, and Zou did not have the power to put him down.
There were two other title fights on the undercard, with Jessie Magdaleno taking the 122-pound crown held by Nonito Donaire, and Oscar Valdez of Mexico stopped Japan’s Hiroshige Osawa to retain his WBO featherweight title.
Magdaleno, a hometown favorite, threw more punches and landed more than Donaire in taking a unanimous 12-round decision for the WBO version of the super batamweight title. He controlled most of the early rounds, but Donaire came on strong in the final rounds, landing a number of hard rights to the head.
Magdaleno, who had never gone past the eighth round in winning his first 23 fights, leaped on the ropes in the corner with his arms raised in victory as the fight ended.
“I worked so hard for this,” Magdaleno said. “I don’t have words to describe it.”
Two judges scored the bout 116-112, while the third had Magdaleno ahead 118-110.
“I thought I got control of the second half of the fight,” said Donaire, who fell to 37-4. “Losing never crossed my mind.”
Valdez was simply too strong for Osawa, dropping him in the fourth round with a left hook and consistently landing hard punches to the head. He finally stopped Osawa with a flurry of punches in the seventh round.
Valdez moved to 22-0 with 19 knockouts, while Osawa fell to 30-4-4. AP
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