Chinese boxing.

...continuation from the deleted thread. (Gr, by the way, fellow mod or admin - look at threads please before deleting based on a title, it was actually 100% boxing talk in there...)

:yikes

First and to date only Chinese male boxing world champion.

...meaning he's more important to Chinese boxing than hype-job Zou. (at least in terms of history, if not revenue generated)

 

Original posts:

 

Posts that don't currently show up on the Google cache of the deleted thread:

Boxing Prospect, replying to me, said "aren't they all pretty much Wang Ya Nan people? :hey" (http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=357436&cat=boxer)

Vigilance777, also quoting me, explained that most Chinese fans get (or got, previously) very little exposure to boxing and most knew Zou from his amateur days, and that most do like Zou.

I replied to Vigilance777 asking if most Chinese fans were despite liking him still capable of critiquing Zou objectively and freely admitting that he did not deserve his last gold medal, and that he received many other questionable decisions throughout his amateur career even before the London Olympics. I used as example the fact that many Brits are quick to dismiss Anthony Ogogo's bronze medal at those same Games as meaningless since he required two consecutive robberies (over Khytrov & Härtel) to get it.

 

Yeah, but he arguably deserved just 1x, or even 0x.

 

Zhong may have been a very brief and not very strong world titlist but at least he earned his WBC straw title, without any of the controversy surrounding both of Zou's medals.

He also legitimized his reign with his 1st defense, over the very good Denver Cuello. (and it would've been a UD, not a MD, but for a very strange rule of the WBC causing accidental headbutts to result in point deductions)

Not to mention, years before, Zhong had, despite giving up massive size, given Daisuke Naito his toughest ever world title contest besides Koki Kameda and Pong I/II/IV. Much harder than then-unbeaten Daiki Kameda.

That's more than Zou (who on my card earned just one round against Ruenroeng) has done.