“The right hand can take you around the block, but a good jab will take you around the world”. That phrase epitomises the journey of featherweight contender Runqi ‘Fists of Fury’ Zhou.
Born and raised in China, he realised that he would not be able to fulfil his dream of reaching the highest levels in the sport of boxing if he remained there and so he travelled halfway across the world – roughly 4600 miles away- to Australia to pursue his dream.
With a record of nine wins, two losses and a draw, Runqi is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Tony Ingram of Australia. That took place on the undercard of Jai Opetaia vs David Nyika on January 25th in Queensland.
Off the back of this, Runqi’s team applied for him to enter the WBC Grand Prix, which will take place in Riyadh starting in April 2025, as the first tournament of its kind.
“I am very thankful to my team and sponsors for ensuring I made it to this point, said Zhou.
“For a kid who was fighting on the streets after leaving school with no direction, I owe everything to the sport of boxing. It taught me discipline, respect and gave me a home.
“I had some issues in China that forced me to look elsewhere to continue my journey as a professional and I am happy with the progress so far and this huge opportunity that has come my way”.
China has had notable success at the Olympics in recent history. The likes of Zhilei Zhang won a silver medal in the super-heavyweight category at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Their most decorated amateur, Zhou Shiming, won the bronze medal at Athens 2004 and back-to-back gold medals in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. However, there has not been as much success on the professional front.
The government’s main priority is funding amateur boxing, so professional boxing is not given as much support and limelight. This also explains why professional boxing is not considered a big sport in China, and notable fight nights rarely occur.
When boxing fans think of big fight nights in China, Manny Pacquiao’s bouts against Brandon Rios in 2013 and Chris Algieri in 2014 in Macau may come to mind.
“The resources here from the government are focused on amateur boxing so much because they value the Olympics massively and would much rather have an Olympic medallist than a professional world champion,” added Zhou.
“This is just how it is in China. I feel like this must change, with more support and resources, we could have so many world champions with the amount of undiscovered talent we have there.
“We can look at someone like Zhilei Zhang, who is from the same province as me by the way. He was an Olympic medallist 17 years ago. He had to leave China and train in the United States for 10 years before, only recently in the last two or three years having success at the elite level of the heavyweight division. This just goes to show that for us to be able to have any real success as professionals, we must sacrifice almost everything we know to be able to chase our dreams.
“Just like Zhilei, I have had to give up many things to try and achieve something in professional boxing. I stay motivated by remembering icons in the sport like Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran who not only made history in the sport but made history in their home country and inspired people for generations to come.
“I would love to be able to do the same for my people and that is why I am taking this tournament very seriously and putting in a lot of extra work to make sure I am at my best”.
Runqi has revealed that his wife, April, and manager Tony have been researching other announced fighters who are participating in the WBC Grand Prix at featherweight and studying their styles in preparation for the tournament as potential future opponents. They have been studying multiple opponents via tape available on YouTube and putting together strategies to deal with their respective styles should they be drawn against them in the tournament at any stage.
“There is a Chinese saying, ‘know your enemy and you will know yourself’ – this is very important to me when in training camp as it keeps me focused and training to a high standard.
“I feel better prepared going into this tournament as well knowing I have my wife and manager helping me to pinpoint certain things my potential opponents do in the ring that I can look to take advantage of if our paths cross.
“I also owe a lot to my wife, April as she is the reason I made it to Australia. April and I met in China several years ago and she was formerly a student here in Australia. She came back here and managed to sponsor me to come and live in Australia to chase my dreams.
“Without her, none of this would be possible and I am fighting to not only make my own dreams come true, but to give her the best standard of life possible. She supports me every single day and I hope to repay her faith and belief in me by winning this tournament and going on to bigger things in the sport”.
