Roach: Zou Could Fight No. 2 Flyweight Next Fight

Apart from a bout of seasickness on a boatride from Hong Kong to Macau, trainer Freddie Roach reports that his trek to oversee Zou Shiming was a smashing success.

The Massachusetts-born tutor told @Woodsy1069 that the facilities in Macau blew him away. “Like Vegas on steroids,” he said. The gambling tables were four deep, Freddie said, and the crowd at the arena was “knowledgable.”

Manny Pacquiao’s trainer (seen with Zou in background in Chris Farina-Top Rank photo) was happy to see a good number of Filipinos present at the April 6 event, with three Filipino fighters on the Top Rank card, which ran on HBO2. “I was told 300 million people watched the Zou fight on TV, it being free in China,” he said. “Zou did OK for his first pro fight. He was a little nervous, in that limelight, and he did some things we were trying to get rid of in training, but it was a very good showing. I’m very happy with it.”

The trainer said he’d love to see Zou step right into an eight rounder, but he’d be OK with a sixer in his next fight. Freddie said Zou was a beast in the gym, hanging right there with Brian Viloria in sparring. His foe in Macau, Eleazar Valenzuela, presented him with some problems, with his height, and yes, the nerves probably sapped him a bit. “I still think Zou will win a title very, very soon,” Roach said. “A Filipino (Froilan Saludar) is No. 2 in the world in the WBO, and we’d fight him next, no problem. Zou will rise to the occasion.”

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