Shiming Wins His Pro Debut

by Nat Gottlieb

When Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain in 1492, he was looking for a shorter way to China and India in a quest to bring back spices and gold for the King and Queen of Spain. Some 521 years later, another explorer of sorts has also set his sights on China, but this time in quest of a different kind of gold. Gold in the form of a diminutive boxer from China, Zu Shiming, the country’s only Olympic boxing gold medalist and a certified national rock star.

Octogenarian promoter, Bob Arum, still one of the great innovators in the boxing world, trotted out his glittering treasure Saturday in Macau. Shiming, all 112 pounds of him, won a unanimous decision as expected, but failed to generate a lot of excitement for the nearly sold-out crowd in the 15,000-seat Cotai Arena, not to mention a staggering audience of reportedly close to 300 million in China that was watching their legendary fighter on free television. Only in the crazy world of boxing could all this pizzazz have been generated by a 31-year-old flyweight making his four-round professional debut!

Read the Complete Shiming vs. Valenzuela Fight Recap on HBO.com.

Donaire Closes Packed Year Against Arce

by Kieran Mulvaney

This Saturday marks HBO’s final live boxing broadcast of 2012 (as well as a replay of last week’s breathtaking fourth contest between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao, and the season finale of The Fight Game with Jim Lampley). The broadcast is headlined by Nonito Donaire closing out a busy year with a defense of his super bantamweight (122-pound) title against Mexico’s Jorge Arce, in what promises to be an all-action affair. Here’s a capsule summary of the two combatants:

Nonito Donaire
Nickname: The Filipino Flash
Age: 30
Record: 30-1 (19 KOs)

Career Highlights: Donaire is an exciting boxer-puncher who exploded on the scene with a stunning knockout of then-undefeated Vic Darchinyan in July 2007. That win garnered him his first world title, at 112 pounds, and he has since won world crowns at 118 and 122 pounds. The stunning second-round shot that disposed of Fernando Montiel last year not only netted him two bantamweight belts, it was universally regarded as the Knockout of the Year.

2012 in Review: Sometimes criticized for interspersing eye-popping performances such as those against Darchinyan and Montiel with periods of relative inactivity, Donaire has this year been one of the busiest boxers in the sport. After clear, if sometimes difficult, points wins over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Jeffrey Mathebula, he stopped highly regarded Japanese fighter Toshiaki Nishioka in October. A win over Arce would likely make Donaire the front-runner for Fighter of the Year honors.

Jorge Arce
Nickname: El Travieso
Age: 33
Record: 61-6-2 (46 KOs)

Career Highlights: Arce is as well-known for his ring entrances – frequently on top of a horse, with a cowboy hat adorning his head and a lollipop in his mouth – as for his all-action style in the ring. He won his first world title, at 108 pounds, more than 10 years ago, defending it seven times before beginning a rise through the weight classes. Losses to Cristian Mijares, Vic Darchinyan and Simphiwe Nongqayi appeared to have ended his run at the top, but he re-launched himself with a come-from-behind stoppage defeat of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. in May 2011.

2012 in Review: Like Donaire, Arce has been busy in 2012, but against a lesser level of foes and with sometimes inconclusive results. A five-round stoppage of Lorenzo Parra  was followed by a Las Vegas matchup with Jesus Rojas in which Rojas, who had been dropped in round one, landed a rapid fire succession of fouls – headbutt, low blow and shot to the back of the head – that rendered Arce unable to continue and resulted in a no-contest. His most recent outing was a dominant points win over compatriot Mauricio Martinez.

Can Dulorme’s Blinding Speed and Blistering Power Stop Abregu?

by Nat Gottlieb

Thomas Dulorme, Luis Carlos Abregu

Compared frequently to a young Miguel Cotto, Thomas Dulorme is being hailed as the next great Puerto Rican boxer. Whether this is hype or he’s the real deal, Dulorme’s next fight against power-packing Argentinean Luis Abregu should provide some answers, along with some dynamite action as the main event in a highly competitive tripleheader on Oct. 27.

“I’m very thankful to be compared to someone like Cotto, he is a great boxer,” says the 22-year-old native of Puerto Rico. “But I am just starting out, and it is not fair to compare me to someone like that or to Trinidad. They’re my idols, and first I have to prove myself.”

So far, Dulorme has done some fine preliminary work in that regard, winning all 16 of his fights and knocking out 12 opponents, while tantalizing fans with his supersonic hand speed and abundant power.

The comparisons of Dulorme to Cotto and Trinidad have some foundation. Like Cotto, Dulorme fires crisp, precision shots while working behind a thudding jab. He also digs extremely well to the body. The parallel with the great Felix Trinidad stems from the level of excitement Dulorme brings to the ring with his one-punch knockout power, excellent boxing skills, and charisma both in the ring and out of it.

Read More on HBO.com.

A Reformed Brawler Tries to Out-Box His Old Ways in This Stacked Triple-Header

by Nat Gottlieb

A year ago Edwin Rodriguez and Jason Escalera would have made perfect dance partners. Both liked to brawl, neither ever backed down, and they didn’t mind getting dinged up in the process. They were warriors in the “Thunderdome” mold: two men enter, one man leaves.

But a funny thing happened to alpha-warrior Rodriguez on the road to his showdown fight on September 29 with Escalera in a loaded HBO tripleheader. Rodriguez made a pit stop in Houston to get his engine and body worked on and his brain re-wired by trainer Ronnie Shields. What came out of the garage was not a souped up-Dodge Ram, but a sleek Corvette with a lot of muscle under the hood and graceful finesse.

“When I first got Edwin,” Shields says, “he was throwing punches, wild and crazy punches. When he threw his combos, he was off balance. He had like zero defense. We retooled everything.”

Read More on HBO.com

Chavez Jr.-Lee: Tall Order for Chavez

By Nat Gottlieb

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. - Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland

Patient, careful matchmaking by promoter Top Rank has enabled Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to arrive at stardom with an unbeaten record, but one (45-0-1, 31 KOs) that does not include a major challenge. Andy Lee, a tall, highly-skilled boxer-puncher and southpaw, will present the most significant test yet for Chavez. How Chavez deals with Lee in their June 16 clash in El Paso, Texas, will go a long way toward predicting if and when he will finally crawl out from the long shadow cast by his father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., one of the greatest boxers in history.

Make no mistake about it. Lee (28-1, 20 KOs) is a definite step up for Chavez. So much so that some have wondered why Top Rank would even take this fight. "I don't think they had much choice," says Emanuel Steward, the Hall of Fame trainer who has conditioned Lee in Detroit's famed Kronk gym since he turned pro. "Chavez has been well protected, but they ran out of fighters. They must feel he has made enough progress to face Andy. Also, the middleweight division is not all that deep."

The biggest name in the middleweight division right now is Sergio Martinez, and there are some indications that the Argentinean might fight the winner of this bout. That the southpaw Martinez waits in the wings may partially explain why Top Rank chose to fight Lee, says his promoter, Lou DiBella. "They know that if Chavez is ever going to fight Martinez, he needs the experience," says DiBella, who also promotes Martinez. "Andy is one of the top lefty middleweights in the world."

Read more at HBO.com