At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Zou won China's 50th gold medal of the tournament by winning the final of the light flyweight event, winning China's first ever gold medal in Olympic boxing. During the final, Serdamba, his opponent from the final of the 2007 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships, was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury.[2] After Serdamba was not able to continue, Zou burst into tears in compassion for his fellow boxer's injury. Zou did not compete in the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships, but he came back to win gold at the 2010 Asian Games. He also won his third straight gold at the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships. Zou won gold again at the 2012 Summer Olympics by beating Kaeo Pongprayoon 13–10, but several critics regarded his victory as controversial.[3]
After the 2012 Summer Olympics, aged 32, Zou decided to switch from amateur boxing to professional boxing.
Olympic Games results
Beijing – 2008
Round of 32: Defeated Eduard Bermúdez (Venezuela) on points, 11–2
Round of 16: Defeated Nordine Oubaali (France) on points, 3–3
Quarterfinal: Defeated Birzhan Zhakypov (Kazakhstan) on points, 9–4
Semifinal: Defeated Patrick Barnes (Ireland) on points, 15–0
After winning gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Zou decided to turn professional. On 23 January 2013, he signed a contract with boxing promotion company Top Rank and was subsequently trained by Freddie Roach. Zou debuted on 6 April 2013, beating Eleazar Valenzuela by unanimous decision. Zou's professional debut generated an estimated 300 million viewers in China.[4] After a win over Jesus Ortega,[5] Zou fought on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios on 23 November 2013, beating Juan Tozcano.[6][7] He recorded his first knockout win of his professional career on 22 February 2014, beating Yokthong Kokietgym in the seventh round.[8]
World title pursuit
Zou vs. de la Rosa
On 19 July 2014, Zou beat Luis de la Rosa by unanimous decision with scores of 97–93, 99–91 & 99–91 at the Cotai Arena in Macau, to win his first ever professional title, the WBO International flyweight title. The fight was on the undercard of the world super-bantamweight championship fight between Guillermo Rigondeaux and Sod Kokietgym.[9][10][11]
Zou vs. Ruenroeng
After retaining the title against Prasitsak Phaprom on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Chris Algieri, Zou fought IBF flyweight championAmnat Ruenroeng at the Cotai Arena in Macau on March 7, 2015. This marked the seventh straight fight Zou would fight at the venue since turning professional. Like Zou, Ruenroeng also fought at the Olympics, and lost to Zou at the 2010 Asian Games. Ruenroeng shattered Zou's dreams of becoming world champion and gifted him his first professional loss when he scored a unanimous decision win after 12 rounds and retained his title in the process. Roenroeng won the bout comfortably with all three judges scoring it (116–111 x3), despite being controversially knocked down in round 2 as he lost his balance. Each time Zou tried to get on the inside, Ruenroeng used his jab and counterpunch to keep control of the fight. Following the loss, Zou was ranked #7 by the IBF and WBO and #9 by the WBC.[12]
WBO flyweight champion
Zou vs. Phaprom II
After Zou beat Brazilian boxer Natan Santana Coutinho by technical knockout to win back the WBO International flyweight title,[13] and retained the title at Madison Square Garden in New York City against contender Jozsef Ajtai, he was ranked as the classified contender for the vacant WBO world title vacated by Juan Francisco Estrada, who decided to move up to super flyweight.[14]
On November 5, 2016, in a rematch from November 2014, Zou defeated Prasitsak Phaprom (39–1–2, 24 KOs) via a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO flyweight title on the Vargas-Pacquiao undercard at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Zou consistently landed quick and effective combinations from the opening bell and used his footwork to avoid punches. A knockdown was recorded in round 2 after Phaprom's gloves touched the canvas after being hit with a hard right. The three judges at ringside scored the fight 120–107, 120–107 and 119–108 all in favour of Zou.[15]
Zou vs. Kimura
On June 27, 2017, it was announced that Zou would make a voluntary defence of his WBO title against Japanese underdog and WBO #7 Sho Kimura (14–1–2, 7 KOs) on July 28 at the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China.[16] Zou parted ways with promoter Top Rank and decided to promote the fight himself. He decided not to train with his hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach. In a shocking upset, Kimura, who was behind on two scorecards at the start of round 11, knocked Zou out to win the WBO flyweight title. Two judges had the fight 96–94, 97–93 for Zou, whilst the third judge had it 96–94 for Kimura.[17] Zou used his movement throughout the fight which had Kimura chasing him trying to land shots. He landed a right hook then followed by a combination. Zou dropped to the ground after a flurry of punches. He failed to get up, but referee did not count him out, calling off the fight.[18][19]
