Wife’s leaked messages claiming Zou Shiming was owed millions and forced to fight is denied by agents

The agent of Chinese boxing star Zou Shiming has rubbished reports it forced the two-time Olympic champion to fight even though they knew Zou had serious health problems.

The accusation was made by Zou’s wife, Ran Yingying, in private WeChat messages leaked to the media by friends of the boxer after it was disclosed Zou was sent to a hospital in Shanghai last week following the sudden loss of the sight in his left eye on a flight from Beijing last week.

Ran said in the conversation that broken bones were found in Zou’s eye socket and doctors also suspected his optic nerve was damaged. According to the messages, Zou suffered similar injuries in 2014 but at the time Zou needed to fight as the bout had been arranged by his agent. After the match, the doctors suggested Zou should stop fighting or the boxer risked becoming blind.

Ran also said the agent owed them money relating to Zou’s career earnings, but declined to go into details.

The other party then accused the agent of not treating Zou as a human being and using him only as a money-spinner.

Mainland media picked up the conversation and also quoted sources among Zou’s friends that the agent had owed the couple millions of dollars.