WBC salutes Zou's global clout

The World Boxing Council (WBC) is honoring China's Zou Shiming for his accomplishments in growing the sport globally.

"The World Boxing Council takes great pride in bestowing upon Zou Shiming, the first one in Asia, the honor of being our latest Ambassador of Peace and Concordance," the organization said in a statement.

The WBC is one of the four major sanctioning bodies for professional boxing, along with the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF).

Zou, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, held the WBO world flyweight championship from November 2016 to July 2017. He won Olympic titles for China in 2008 and 2012 and world amateur crowns in 2005, 2007 and 2011.

"China is emerging as one of the great powers in the world of sport, and much of that has to do with the influence Zou Shiming has had on its worldwide outlook," the WBC said in the statement.

"China and the sport of boxing worldwide have every reason to be thankful for the presence of someone like Zou to carry the banner forward for his great nation."

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Xinhua the honor is well deserved.

"Chinese have shown unbelievable strength and capability in many sports fields, and Zou Shiming was the first one to show that boxing can be for Chinese," said Sulaiman.

"With good administration, the WBC is working hard to make a structure for boxing to be developed and organized with safety, with protection for the athletes."

Zou was gracious, saying: "It's a great honor, not only for me, but for Chinese boxing.

"I hope I can continue to contribute to the development of Chinese boxing, especially to foster talented young Chinese boxers."

Zou won the vacant WBO crown with a unanimous decision over Thailand's Prasitsak Phaprom in Las Vegas, but eight months later he was stopped in the 11th round by Japan's Shimo Kimura in Shanghai.