Macau boxing results: Zou Shiming cruises to win in four-round pro debut

Olympic gold medalists don't lose pro debuts, and two-time podium topper Zou Shiming of China delivered in his first bout without headgear, beating Mexico's Eleazar Valenzuela with ease, 40-36 on all three cards in the main event today from Macau.

A great, six-hour show was capped off by a perfectly entertaining debut for Zou, who didn't really stand out as particularly more impressive than his skeptics were expecting. Personally, I am one of those skeptics -- he is a very good, very talented fighter, no doubt about that. He was a terrific amateur. But at 31, without much power, with leaky defense and a trainer (Freddie Roach) whose worst attribute is teaching defense, and a lot of hype, there are three potential roads for Zou, as I see it:

1. He meets the hype, moves fast, wins a world title in 2014. This could happen, especially if he were able to pick off some fluke paper champion.
2. He is milked for all the money Top Rank can get out of him, fighting in China for big returns against no-hope opponents for a few years.
3. He gets that world title shot next year, but he fails when he steps up against the real top pro fighters.

I don't know what's most likely, but my gut feeling is that No. 1 is the least likely of the options.

Were you impressed with Zou today? How far do you think he'll go as a pro?

Full Results From Macau
Juan Francisco Estrada SD-12 Brian Viloria
Rocky Martinez SD-12 Diego Magdaleno
Yasutaka Ishimoto MD-10 Wilfredo Vazquez Jr
Early undercard: Wins for Milan Melindo, Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr, Paul Fleming, and Dave Penalosa