This one’s for mum, says ‘poor’ Sho Kimura ahead of world title showdown against Zou Shiming
Japanese boxer, driven by the death of his mother, is the massive underdog against Chinese star, who makes his first world title defence in front of his home fans in Shanghai
Chinese star Zou Shiming will be fighting for a larger piece of the pie as a boxer turned promoter, while Japanese underdog Sho Kimura will be fighting in his late mother’s honour in Friday night’s eagerly anticipated WBO flyweight title fight in Shanghai.
Zou recently turned to promoting his own fight after severing links with American promoter Top Rank last year and he will be out to make a good start to this new phase of his career in his first defence of the world title he won in Las Vegas last November.
But Kimura (14-1-2, 7 KOs) warned he will be highly motivated – driven by a desire to honour his mother who died at the age of 44 as he was growing up. He said her passing eight years ago had motivated him to “train harder than before”. The 28-year-old Tokyo-based fighter also said winning was the only way to “get out of poverty” and live a “financially stable life”.
“I come from a poor family. I can’t even afford a new pair of training shoes,” said Kimura, who spent weeks in Thailand to prepare for the fight at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Centre. Zou tipped the scales at 111.9 pounds, while Kimura was a little lighter at 111.6 pounds, well within the 112-pound limit at Thursday’s official weigh-in.
“Zou Shiming will find out that it’s not going to be easy to beat me. I come from Japan and we are tough warriors. Zou is well known in China, but I can be well known and famous if I beat him. I must take this opportunity and win. Once I start, I am not going to stop until I win. The crowd might get behind Zou, but that’s going to motivate me even more,” he said.
Kimura spoke about growing up in poverty and his struggles to make ends meet.
