Zou, Pacquiao produce entertaining floor shows

Zou Shiming showed Rocky and The Terminator that he too knows something about dramatic flair.

And Manny Pacquiao was no slouch in his role, either.

With Hollywood heavyweights Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger at ringside and millions watching the worldwide television feed, Zou scored three knockdowns while dealing with a nasty eye injury en route to a 12-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym of Thailand at Cotai Arena in Macao on Sunday.

Zou's defense of his World Boxing Organization international flyweight crown was the semi-main event on the undercard of Pacquiao's distance drubbing of Chris Algieri, which saw the WBO welterweight champ floor the American challenger six times.

With his sixth straight win since turning pro last year, Zou, the double Olympic gold medalist from Zunyi, Guizhou province, becomes the mandatory challenger for IBF world champion Amnat Ruenroeng in 2015.

Beyond his total dominance in terms of ring generalship - the official scores were 119-106, 119-106 and 120-103 - what made Zou's performance so impressive was that he fought the last four rounds with his left eye all but swollen shut, thanks to an accidental clash of heads in the eighth.

With blood streaming from the wound, Zou still managed to step up his punch volume and dropped Onesongchaigym (27-1) for the third time with a short right hook 30 seconds from the final bell.

In the lead up to the fight, trainer Freddie Roach said Zou was making subtle adjustments to open up punching angles while concentrating on making better use of the full ring to dictate the pace.

Both strategies paid off in spades as Zou outpunched the shorter Onesongchaigym by a wide margin through the first half of the bout, utilizing his superior reach and speed to establish a rhythm the Thai found increasingly difficult to deal with.

The first knockdown came midway through the second round when Zou landed a sharp counter left to Onesongchaigym's forehead. Moments later the Thai took another tumble off a chopping right hook, barely beating the count at the bell.

In the sixth, the referee deducted a point from Onesongchaigym for repeated low blows, and for the next few rounds Zou looked to be tiring. By the time his eye blew up in the eighth, he was fighting mainly on instinct.

Over the final four rounds Zou showcased the full spectrum of skills that have brought him to the brink of a world title shot: slick lateral movement, accurate punching and an innate talent for knowing exactly when to slip and clinch.

At age 33, he'll need every weapon in his arsenal to realize his dream of a world championship.

"My eye really bothered me but I fought through it," Zou said at the post-fight media conference.

"This was the toughest bout I have ever had. Now I want to fight for the world title and win it for China ... and I want to do it right here."

Pacquiao's steamrolling of Algieri (20-1) wasn't as dramatic as Zou's triumph, with the iconic Filipino congressman improving to 57-5-2 and coming within a heartbeat of notching his first stoppage in five years.

The initial knockdown came in the second round off a three-punch combination. Algieri, who was in survival mode almost from the opening bell, was floored again in the sixth (twice), ninth (twice) and 10th.

In the weeks leading up to the fight Algieri repeatedly described himself as a "master boxer" and vowed to dominate Pacquiao, who is five years older and five inches shorter than the American.

"He was all talk," said Roach, who also serves as Pacquiao's trainer.

"I was disappointed in Algieri's performance; all he did was run. The 'master boxer' was given a master class by professor Pacquiao today."

QUICK JABS: Zou pocketed $700,000 for his win ... In other undercard bouts, Hong Kong super flyweight Rex Tso improved to 15-0 with an eight-round unanimous decision over Espinos Sabout (11-2-1); Macao junior middleweight Kuok Kun Ng moved to 5-0 with a six-round decision over Steve Attard (5-1-2); WBA junior welterweight champ Jessie Vargas (25-0) kept his title with a 12-round nod over Antonio DeMarco (31-3); and WBO featherweight champ Vasyl Lomachenko beat Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo in their 12-round title match.

murraygreig@chinadaily.com.cn