Bangkok--20 Jan--Jigsaw Communication
Olympic Gold Medalists
Zou Shiming, Ryota Murata and Egor Mekhontsev
To Be Featured in Ring of Gold
World Championship Event
Saturday, February 22
Cotai Arena at The Venetian Macao
Tickets Now On Sale
(Macao, Jan. 21, 2014) – The Year of the Horse will get off to a galloping start when Olympic gold medalists ZOU SHIMING, RYOTA MURATA and EGOR MEKHONTSEV, from China, Japan and Russia, respectively, plus International Boxing Federation (IBF) world lightweight champion MIGUEL “TITERE” VAZQUEZ, of Mexico, return to the ring Saturday, February 22, at The Venetian® Macao's Cotai Arena. It is unprecedented for so many Olympic gold medalists to be featured on the same boxing card – a spectacular event not to be missed.Promoted by Top Rank and Sands China Ltd.,Ring of Gold will also feature undefeated Hong Kong super flyweight sensation REX “THE WONDER KID” TSO going up against MAKO MATSUYAMA of Tokyo, with the World Boxing Council (WBC) Asian super flyweight title at stake. And local sensation “THE MACAO KID” NG KUOK KUN will be shooting for three-for-three as a pro, following an impressive unanimous decision win against his more seasoned opponent at November’s The Clash in Cotai, fought in front of an energized capacity crowd.
Tickets for Ring of Gold are on sale now via Cotai Ticketing; prices start at HKD/MOP 80, with ferry and hotel packages also available.
Zou (3-0), from Guiz hou, China, and trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, won his professional debut at Fists of Gold April 6, 2013, via a dominant four-round unanimous decision over gritty Eleazar Valenzuela. He followed that up with six-round unanimous decision victories over Jesus Ortega and Juan Toscano on July 27 and November 24, respectively, at the Cotai Arena’s Fists of GoldII and The Clash in Cotai events last year. One of the most popular Olympic athletes in China, Zou was the world's greatest amateur light flyweight, capturing gold medals in the World Amateur Championships in 2005, 2007 and 2011, along with gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He also owns an Olympic bronze medal from the 2004 games, making him his nation's first Olympic medallist in boxing as well as its first boxing gold medallist in the World Amateur Championships and the Olympics. He will be graduating to an eight-round flyweight bout when he faces Yokthong Kokietgym (14-3, 11 KOs), of Roi Et, Thailand, in what is likely to be his most challenging pro matchup to date. The vastly more experienced Thai enters this fight having won six of his last seven bouts, with two of these victories coming by way of knockout.
Vazquez (33-3, 13 KOs), of Guadalajara, Mexico, captured the IBF lightweight title in 2010 when he won a 12-round unanimous decision over Jihoon Kim. Since winning the world title, Vazquez has successfully defended it five times during his four-year reign. Vazquez will be facing undefeated top-rated contender Denis “Genghis Khan”Shafikov (33-0-1, 17KOs), from Chelyabinsk, Russia. A southpaw with an aggressive style, good skills and movement, the former European junior welterweight champion Shafikov has good punching power and is not afraid to use it.
Murata (2-0, 2 KOs), from Tokyo, a sensational prospect at 160 pounds, captured the Olympic gold medal in the middleweight division at the 2012 Olympics held in London. It was the first gold medal won by a Japanese boxer since Takao Sakurai in 1964, and also is the first-ever boxing medal in a weight class other than bantamweight or flyweight. The six-foot-tall Murata also became the 100th gold medalist in Japanese Olympic history. He made his pro debut last August, knocking out OPBF middleweight champion Akio Shibata (21-7-1) in the second round. Murata followed up that victory on December 6 with a fourth-round stoppage of David Peterson (13-1). He will be facing battle-tested slugger Carlos Nascimento(28-3, 22 KOs), of Brazil, who enters this fight having won 12 of his previous 14 bouts, nine by way of knockout. Their fight is scheduled for eight rounds at middleweight.
Mekhontsev (1-0, 1 KO), of Asbest, Russia, won his pro debut December 4, knocking out Peter Cajigas in the third round. Trained by his father Leonid, Mekhontsev captured the Olympic light heavyweight gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and as a heavyweight he won gold at the 2009 World Amateur Championships and the 2010 and 2008 European Amateur Championships. He'll be battling fellow undefeated prospect Atthaporn Jaritram (3-0, 1 KO), of Bangkok, in a six-round light heavyweight bout.
Tso (11-0, 7 KOs), is the pride of Hong Kong. This will mark his third time fighting at the Cotai Arena, where he has begun to develop a very big following. In his last bout, on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios The Clash in Cotai event last November, Tso scored a first-round knockout of SusuSithjadaeng. Tso will be facing Matsuyama (7-7-1, 3 KOs) of Tokyo, who enters this fight having won a unanimous decision victory over Masatoshi Nakamura last November. They will be facing each other in a 10-round bout for the WBC Asian super flyweight title.
The undercard will also feature Chinese favourites Ik Yang (Yang Lianhui)(13-0, 8 KOs), of Dalian, China and local boxer “The Macao Kid”Ng Kuok Kun (2-0), from Macao, who will be in a six-round super featherweight and a four-round super welterweight bout, respectively.
Tickets for the 4:30 p.m., Feb. 22 Ring of Gold multi-bout boxing extravaganza are on sale now at all Cotai Ticketing box offices, and can be purchased in one of seven categories: HKD/MOP 4,680 (Gold), 1,680 (Silver), 1,280 (Bronze), 980 (A Reserve), 580 (B Reserve), 280 (C Reserve) and 80 (D Reserve). Packages with round trip Cotai Water Jet ferry tickets between Hong Kong and Macao are available for HKD/MOP 4,768 (Gold), 1,768 (Silver), 1,368 (Bronze), 1,068 (A Reserve), 668 (B Reserve) and 368 (C Reserve). Hotel packages are also available. Tickets can be booked online at www.CotaiTicketing.com, or by phone at +853 2882 8818 (Macao) / +852 6333 6660 (HK) / 4001 206 618 (China). Tickets are also available through Hong Kong Ticketing (customer service fee applies), online at www.HKTicketing.com or by phone at +852 3128 8288; and through Macao Kong Seng Ticketing Network, online at www.macauticket.com, by phone at +853 2855 5555, or in person at selected retail outlets (for locations, visit www.macauticket.com/TicketWeb/
ServiceStations.aspx).
Bouts and times subject to change
Photo caption: China’s Zou Shiming, Japan’s Ryota Murata and Russia’s Egor Mekhontsev headline the latest multi-bout boxing spectacular coming to Macao, Ring of Gold, promoted by Top Rankand Sands China Ltd. The Feb. 22 event of Olympic proportions also features a world championship bout between Mexico’s Miguel Vazquez and Russia’s Denis Shafikov; tickets are on sale now through Cotai Ticketing.