Last month was a vintage one for boxing with Timothy Bradley’s bout with Ruslan Provodnikov and the rematch between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado both guaranteed to be in the running for “Fight of the Year” honors.
This weekend all eyes will turn to Asia as Top Rank host a card in Macau for the first time, headlined by a WBA and WBO world flyweight title tilt between defending champion Brian Viloria (32-3) and Juan Francisco Estrada (22-2).
Viloria hails from Hawaii, but is of Filipino descent and is coming off a dramatic ninth-round technical knockout win over Hernan Marquez in November last year. His Mexican opponent, Estrada, challenged unsuccessfully for a WBA belt at light flyweight that night, but will be moving up in weight for another world title challenge on Saturday.
Photo: Courtesy of Sands China
Estrada has 18 knockout wins to his name, while Viloria has stopped 19 opponents and Top Rank Promotions presumably hope this will be a recipe for some fireworks when the two men go head-to-head in the main event at the 15,000 capacity Cotai Arena.
The main attraction for the Macau audience will be Chinese two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming, who is making his professional debut, but second on the bill is a WBO super featherweight world title bout between Puerto Rica’s Roman Martinez (26-1-2) and Diego Magdaleno of the US (23-0).
Magdaleno has maintained an immaculate professional record up to this point, but will be taking a serious step up in opposition when he takes on defending champion Martinez, who first won the title in 2009 and has consistently been going up against the best fighters in the division ever since.
The WBO international super bantamweight title, which is not as highly regarded as a world championship, will be on the line when another Puerta Rican, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (22-2), takes on Yasutaka Ishimoto (21-6), with the Japanese fighter providing a much-needed Asian presence on the bill.
Filipinos Milan Melindo, Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr and Dave Penalosa will also be in action, but the card has been built around Zou. He is the most successful amateur boxer in Chinese history and will be welcomed into the professional ranks by Mexico’s Eleazar Valenzuela (2-1-2).
It is not clear exactly where the four-round fight between Valenzuela and Zou will fit in the fight order, but the local fans will be hoping that the three-time world boxing champion arrives with a more aggressive approach than he had in his amateur days, when he was known for his safety-first approach to fighting.
In total there are nine fights on the card, which has been billed as the “Fists of Gold,” and if it is deemed a success there are likely to be further Top Rank events in Macau, with an eventual excursion into mainland China surely beckoning.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set