The Fists of Gold card in Macau was reportedly seen by up to 200 million people in China. Here in the United States, fight fans could have checked out the card live on Saturday afternoon on HBO2. But if you missed it, then you can check out our recap of the event right here, including all three televised fights — Roman Martinez defended his title, Brian Viloria suffered another let down, and Shiming Zou made a successful debut to the crowd’s and his country’s delight.
In the first televised fight of the evening, Roman Martinez took home a split decision over Diego Magdaleno. Magdaleno oddly received one widely divergent card in his favor – 116-111 – while Martinez took the others, 115-112 and 114-113.
It was a close bout, but Martinez seemed to do enough to earn the decision, punctuated by a 4th round knockdown on a stiff right hand. Magdaleno was a tough challenger, and displayed solid boxing skills, however he didn’t have enough pop to do any damage or deter Martinez from coming in and landing his more powerful shots.
Next, Brian Viloria was looking to mostly stay busy and defend his titles against Juan Francisco Estrada. Finally with a solid streak of momentum in his career, more recognition, and with big fights on the horizon, nobody expected too much difficulty here.
Of course, if you’ve followed Viloria’s career, then you know that means trouble was on the horizon. Estrada took a deserved split decision from the Hawaiian Punch, winning by scores of 116-111 and 117-111 against 115-113 for Viloria.
As for Shiming Zou, he didn’t experience any trouble in his professional debut. He easily outclassed his opponent to win a 4-round unanimous decision by scores of 40-36, 40-36 and 40-36. Already 31-years-old, and with multiple Olympic gold medals and world championships, you can expect him to be moved along very quickly.
The Macau Fists of Gold event appears to have been a success, we’ll see what else is on the horizon in the future in terms of major events being placed there, or elsewhere in Asia.
