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Wen 丨 Zhi on the Qingqiu
Editor丨芷上清autumn
In July 2017, a "China-Japan boxing showdown" caused an uproar in Shanghai, featuring Chinese boxing champion Zou Shiming and Japan's Sho Kimura.
Zou Shiming threatened to "knock out Japan's Sho Kimura within 4 rounds" before the match, but ended in a crushing defeat for Zou Shiming.
The result of the competition not only disappointed the audience, but also caused an uproar in China.
Some people questioned Zou Shiming's intention to "release water", and some people suspected that Zou Shiming's injury and withdrawal after the game was "evading the pressure of public opinion".
So, what is the truth?
26 million liquidated damages
Zou Shiming was once a legend in the Chinese boxing world, he was determined to fight the invincible hand all over the world since he was a child, and after years of hard training, Zou Shiming finally got his wish and became a multiple champion of the World Boxing Championship, and he also joined the Shengli family and became its spokesperson.
In 2017, Zou Shiming accidentally lost to Japan's Sho Kimura in an important world boxing championship match, and this defeat not only hit Zou Shiming, but also caused the Shengli family to suffer reputational damage.
After the race, Zou claimed that he accidentally hit his eye while boarding the plane, resulting in vision loss, and eventually lost the race.
Zou Shiming received a huge public opinion impact afterwards, perhaps for the sake of his own health, or perhaps to evade responsibility, he chose to retire.
Zou Shiming's retirement had a great impact on the Shengli family, not only the early termination of the contract, but also the loss of a lot of advertising money and market share, but both seem to know the "real reason", in order to protect each other's face, they still maintain a superficial harmony.
In 2012, Zou Shiming and Sheng Li Family maintained a cooperative relationship, the two sides signed a 5-year cooperation agreement, Sheng Li Family is responsible for helping Zou Shiming arrange all business activities, the two sides have supported each other for many years, and have been "safe and sound".
In 2017, 36-year-old Zou Shiming announced his retirement.
Netizens and fans were shocked by the news, but what shocked them even more was the recording released by Zou Shiming's wife Ran Yingying, and the attitude of the Shengli family towards Zou Shiming.
A recording exposed by Zou Shiming's wife Ran Yingying directly revealed the Shengli family's oppression and exploitation of Zou Shiming over the years.
In the recording, Ran Yingying silently accused Shengli Family of withholding Zou Shiming's salary for many years, and the salary owed alone was as high as 10 million yuan.
Not only that, the Shengli family also restricted Zou Shiming's commercial resources, forcing Zou Shiming to fight with injuries, resulting in his eye disease continuing to recur.
After the incident, Shengli Family quickly issued a statement to refute it.
Shengli Family claimed: "In May 2017, while the contract between the two parties was still valid, Zou Shiming suddenly set up his own door, signed a contract with a new company and participated in the competition, which was a blatant breach of contract.
Shengli family negotiated with Zou Shiming for breach of contract compensation many times, but failed, because of this, Shengli family chose to resort to law, demanding that Zou Shiming pay 26 million yuan in liquidated damages! ”
After a court trial, Zou Shiming lost the lawsuit and was sentenced to pay 14 million yuan in liquidated damages, and in the end, Zou Shiming's assets were frozen, and he also announced the end of his boxing career.
Zou Shiming actually had a decision to retire before playing against Kimura Sho, but unfortunately, he lost to his opponent Kimura Sho in this match.
Spectators who watched the game at that time knew that there were problems with the venue, unfair penalties from the referee, and entangled interests between the staff and the event, and Zou Shiming protested against these, but the organizers ignored his protests.
The outside world originally thought that Zou Shiming's retirement was caused by injury, but the recording exposed by Ran Yingying revealed another version to everyone, that is, Zou Shiming was actually forced by the "cold violence" of the Shengli family.
A good athlete should have retired in the arena with dignity, rather than being forced to leave the field in the prime of life. The cold violence of the Shengli family for many years made Zou Shiming pay a huge price.
Looking back at Zou Shiming's career, you will find more "catty" and moving.
contract
After the 2012 Olympics, Zou announced his retirement from the national team, and the 29-year-old double Olympic gold medalist was not satisfied with his past achievements, and decided to turn professional in search of a bigger challenge.
Zou Shiming understood that from amateur to professional, the road is difficult, he needs a strong background as support, Zou Shiming after careful consideration, finally chose to join Shengli Family Sports Agency.
Shengli Maison signed a cooperation agreement with the world boxing giant TOP RANK, providing Zou Shiming with the opportunity to participate in the tournament hosted by TOP RANK.
Over the next six years, Zou Shiming shined on the TOP RANK professional platform, where he achieved great results in boxing, leaving countless scars on his body and accumulating a wealth of professional experience.
According to Zou Shiming, these six years were the most brilliant period of his career, and he felt an unprecedented sense of accomplishment, although the frequent competitions and high-intensity training made him physically and mentally exhausted, but when he stood on the podium and heard the cheers of the audience, all exhaustion would disappear.
In 2016, Zou Shiming reached the pinnacle of his career by winning the WBO Flyweight World Championship belt, and at this moment, he finally realized his childhood dream of becoming the king of professional boxing.
According to the agreement, Zou Shiming was responsible for the competition, Shengli Family was responsible for funding, TOP RANK provided the stage, and the three parties cooperated smoothly and mutually beneficially, but when Zou Shiming's contract expired, Shengli Family did not let Zou Shiming leave.
For a fighter, the confinement of the contract means the lack of freedom, and Zou Shiming wants to control his career, not just be led by the agency and the organizer, he wants to choose his favorite fight, without the restrictions of the contract.
Zou Shiming couldn't stand this anger and insisted on leaving the Shengli family, and his decision cost him, losing the stable financial support of the Shengli family, and estranged from it, but Zou Shiming did not regret it.
Zou Shiming believes that his career is still long and he still has unlimited possibilities, but he has forgotten the true face of "capital".
Establish your own portal
After Zou Shiming became famous, he could not stand the constraints brought by the contract and chose to set up his own portal.
Zou Shiming unilaterally announced the termination of the contract with Shengli Family before the end of the contract period, which is undoubtedly "disrespectful" to Shengli Family.
After Zou Shiming announced the termination of his contract, he soon found a new owner and signed a contract with TOP RANK, a top foreign boxing company, and the reason why he was able to sign with TOP RANK quickly was because of his long-standing fame.
TOP RANK has high hopes for Zou Shiming, hoping that he can become a rising star of the company in the Asian market, in order to give Zou Shiming the opportunity to exercise, TOP RANK specially held an important competition in Shanghai and arranged for Zou Shiming to face Japan's Sho Kimura.
However, unexpectedly, in this originally optimistic game, Zou Shiming unexpectedly lost to Kimura Sho and suffered a crushing defeat, which is undoubtedly Zou Shiming's first explanation after joining TOP RANK, making him lose face in front of his new owner.
The result of this defeat made all the audience at the scene fall through the glasses, and people were originally full of expectations for Zou Shiming, thinking that he could easily defeat Kimura Sho, but who knew that the result was completely the opposite, which made everyone extremely disappointed with Zou Shiming.
In the face of doubts from the outside world, Zou Shiming shirked in every possible way, trying to explain that this failure was purely accidental.
The former owner, Shengli Family, seized the opportunity to issue a statement clarifying that they had been working hard to cultivate Zou Shiming, and there was no lack of salary or overtraining.
Zou Shiming and Shengli Family each insisted on each other, and also produced "strong evidence" to prove that the other party had obvious breach of contract, and after more than two years of trial, Zou Shiming needed to compensate Shengli Family for a total of 14 million liquidated damages.
Today, 42-year-old Zou Shiming has a truly free body, he is no longer bound by any contract, and can live the happy life he wants.
Although Zou Shiming left the ring, he still continued his love of boxing, Zou Shiming was elected president of the Shanghai Boxing Association in 2019, and he is still shining for the boxing career.
epilogue
Zou Shiming is a legend who is an Olympic double champion who left the national team and turned professional boxing with amazing achievements.
Zou Shiming's career path was bumpy and tortuous, but he finally retired due to an "eye disease", and fell into a 2-year confrontation with his old employer.
Now that he has worked hard, I believe that Zou Shiming will continue his passionate boxing career in the days to come and continue to shine.