Audience friends who love boxing must know such a name: Xiong Chaozhong. His name is known not only because of his outstanding results in boxing, but also because of his legendary experience from the ordinary class to the podium of the boxer, and he represents a spirit of never accepting defeat.
In 2017, Xiong Chaozhong was enthroned in a boxing match in Datong, Shanxi Province, in which he defeated a boxer from Thailand, Panya Pradasiri. Xiong Chaozhong is not the first Chinese to win the WBC Mini Lightweight International Gold Belt, but he is the oldest of all the gold belt winners. That year, Xiong Chaozhong was already 35 years old.
The grassroots era of boxers
On October 3, 1982, in a small village in Maguan County, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, a peasant couple welcomed their second son, Xiong Chaozhong. In the countryside, having one more son means that the family will have more labor in the future, but it also means that the family has an extra mouth to eat.
Xiong Chaozhong's parents are honest farmers, the level of education is not high, only know to work diligently and earnestly to cultivate the land, and often have a weak heart in the education of their children. The family became increasingly difficult after the birth of Xiong Chaozhong's younger brother, and the parents gradually grew older, but the three big and small men in the family were the most able to eat.
In order to let his brother marry his daughter-in-law as soon as possible, and in order to let his younger brother successfully finish college, Xiong Chaozhong, whose academic performance was not ideal, dropped out of school early after completing the first year of vocational high school at the age of 17.
This young man, who is not yet an adult, in order to earn money early to subsidize the family, dropped out of school and found a job as a miner. Xiong Chaozhong worked in a copper mine that operated 24 hours a day, and he had to pull slag back and forth in the mine for more than ten hours a day, and the long-term high-intensity physical work and malnutrition made his height grow very slowly, shorter than his peers.
Although the heavy physical labor limited Xiong Chaozhong's height growth, he unexpectedly developed a strong muscle. The workers at the mine knew that Xiong Chaozhong's strength was very strong, and often teased him for letting him practice boxing. But Xiong Chaozhong, who has never seen the world since he grew up in the mountains, did not dare to imagine that he would one day come into contact with this sports program that he had only watched on TV.
"Little Tyson" out of the mine
In his sixth year at work in the mine, Xiong Chaozhong inadvertently learned the story of Xu Congliang, the boxing king of Yunnan, and the success of this half-hometown with him from the same province made Xiong Chaozhong feel eager to try. Xiong Chaozhong's cousin encouraged him to learn boxing and contacted the boxing club for which he was training.
In 2006, Xiong Chaozhong began formal boxing training, and Xiong Chaozhong, who became a boxer at the age of 23, can be said to have started relatively late compared to other boxers. But Xiong Chaozhong, who was born with brute force and exercised solid muscles in the mine, seems to have made up for this deficiency through the efforts of the day after tomorrow.
Xiong Chaozhong's first appearance was in Kunming, the first match of his career in boxing. Although the final result was a draw with his opponent, this was already a great encouragement for Xiong Chaozhong, who had just participated in training, and he felt that he could go further on the road of boxing.
In the following time, Xiong Chaozhong trained day and night, and finally won his son a WBC Intercontinental Boxing Champion Gold Belt in 2008. This boxing match between Xiong Chaozhong and Thai player Long Chai Kaser made him the headlines of major media, and for the boxing world, Xiong Chaozhong was like a dark horse that suddenly rushed out.
In the following matches, the increasingly courageous Xiong Chaozhong defeated the Japanese boxing champion Daisuke Naito and the player Yasuaki Sato, two battles that made Xiong Chaozhong famous. Along with Xiong Chaozhong on the WBC Intercontinental Golden Belt Leading Podium, there were tens of thousands of cheers from the audience. The boxer from China, who is only 1.55 meters tall, is standing on the podium like a giant at the moment.
Xiong Chaozhong's defensive and offensive approach in the game is very similar to the world-famous boxing champion Tyson, and his excellent performance and strong momentum in international competitions are also the same as those of the boxers of that year. Therefore, Xiong Chaozhong has gained the reputation of "Little Tyson" by the media and audiences.
Accompanied by honorable retirement
In 2011, Xiong Chaozhong met his current wife, Luo Xiu, a girl 10 years younger than him
Xiong Chaozhong felt the feeling of love for the first time. Luo Xiu, a female anchor of Wenshan Prefecture Television, met Xiong Chaozhong in an interview on the program, and the girl was touched by the warm man's heart buried under Xiong Chaozhong's steel tough man appearance.
Luo Xiu accompanied Xiong Chaozhong to participate in competitions around the world, and often burst into tears when he was injured, but she still strongly supported Xiong Chaozhong. Luo Xiu knows that she is a woman who is the king of boxing, and she must know how to be patient and strong like her husband.
The 2017 match against Thai boxer Pan Ya in Datong, Shanxi, was a turning point in Xiong Chaozhong's life, when he was 35 years old. Although for ordinary people, this age is in the prime of life, for a boxer, 35 years old is already facing the situation of retirement.
In this competition, Xiong Chaozhong defeated his opponent and was called "China's most inspirational boxing king", but he knew in his heart that this battle would not be easy to win. Xiong Chaozhong felt that he was already a little powerless, and instead of being helplessly defeated in the future, it was better to go back and leave the legend to the jianghu.
After perceiving her husband's idea of retiring, Xiong Chaozhong's wife, Luo Xiu, expressed her support for her husband. Although she was initially attracted by the dazzling light of her husband's "boxer", in the day-to-day relationship, she felt the sincerity and kindness of this man from the heart, and Luo Xiu identified Xiong Chaozhong as a man she could rely on for a lifetime.
After Xiong Chaozhong retired, he carefully collected the medals he had won before, and he wanted to start a new life with his wife. From an ordinary miner to a well-known boxing king at home and abroad, only Xiong Chaozhong himself knows in his heart how much blood and sweat he has paid for it along the way.
summary:
In the twelve years from Xiong Chaozhong's first training session to his last game in 2018, Xiong Chaozhong participated in dozens of matches, with a winning percentage of 80%. This small body seems to contain infinite strength, and his record is not only second to none in China, but also an amazing achievement in the world.
It's a pity that the former boxing champion has gone into hiding, and we will never see his performance with passion and strength in the ring again. But in the new life journey of the boxer, we bless this man who has stepped on the thorns all the way, and the life after retirement is a new beginning, and we hope that Xiong Chaozhong can harvest a different kind of wonderful life in the ordinary life.