Home Boxing News Asian Faces – Xiang Xiang Sun

Asian Faces – Xiang Xiang Sun

The Chinese fight scene likely waved good bye to a veteran this past week, with sources reporting that Yi Ming Ma (13-7, 7) was likely to retire at the age of 36. His career had never been the best, and in fact it had been a very limited career with very few highlights, but it had been a remarkable one in some ways. In fact given Ma began his career 0-3, with all 3 losses by stoppage in the first 2 rounds, the fact he’s even worth talking about is amazing.

Although Ma’s career likely ended this past week the same show saw a compatriot of his announce himself as one to watch, and could well turn out to be one of the most promising Chinese fighters for the new generation.

That fighter is 24 year old Lightweight hopeful Xiang Xiang Sun (12-0, 9)*, who notched up his third win of the year on Thursday.

Dubbed “Pretty Boy” the Chinese fighter is a really promising talent who has climbed up the rankings with little fan fare, but has started to slowly get attention in his homeland, courtesy of a string of good wins, wins that have earned him some genuine plaudits.

Sun made his professional debut back on December 22nd 2012, at the age of 20. He defeated fellow Chinese fighter Kun Wang with a 6 round decision before and was slow to really get any career momentum going. Although Boxrec isn’t the most accurate when it comes to Chinese records, due to the fractured nature of the Chinese scene, it looks like he only fought once in 2013 and once in 2014 as his career simply faltered and faltered again.

Thankfully in 2015 Sun began to get some drive in his career, officially going 4-0 (4) during the year. Whilst his competition wasn’t the strongest he did score a very notable win over Filipino visitor Argie Toquero, who would later give Rikki Naito fits in Tokyo and had gone 7-0-1 (6) in his previous 8.

The win over Toquero should have been the one to get Sun some attention, but with it taking place just after Christmas it was easily over-looked by fight fans in the West. Less than 6 months later however Sun opened more eyes, stopping Campee Phayom in 2 rounds to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Lightweight title. That was Sun’s first title win, and it was a win that swiftly became more impressive with Campee out pointing Yoshimichi Matsumoto later that same year.

In his next fight Sun claimed the interim WBO Asia Pacific Lightweight title as he stopped Tabthong Tor Buamas in 2 rounds to claim his second title and record a 6th straight stoppage win.

In 2017 we saw Sun’s stoppage run come to an end, as he was taken 8 rounds in a rematch against Kun Wang in Macao, on part of a Chinese New Card featuring a female world title bout won by Zong Ju Cai. Despite hearing the final bell Sun dominated the bout, taking a near shut out over the 8 rounds. The win over Wang was followed by a 7th round KO win against Filipino veteran Cristian Abila.

In his most recent bout Sun beat former world title challenger Roy Mukhlis in 4 rounds to defend his “interim” WBO Asia Pacific Lightweight title, in what was a dominant win for Sun, who dropped Mukhlis in round 3 before stopping him the following round.

The wins over Toquero, Campee, Wang and Mukhlis may not mean much on the world stage but they are good wins on the regional stage and suggest that Sun may well be on his way to becoming a notable fighter. There is still a lot of work to do but with his heavy hands and physical strength he can certainly be a fixture on the Oriental scene in the years to come.

*It should be noted that although Boxrec have one record for Sun the figures are very much in dispute, with a number of bouts not recorded despite being filmed. There is also a “cross-code” loss with Diao Jianhao, a WSB fighter, from a Chinese New Year show in 2016, which Sun lost. This article hase focused solely on the record boxrec have at the time, though the CNWPBU state that he is 17-0 (7) which I suspect is more accurate given some of the footage of Sun’s and list him as having won won titles in 2009 and 2010. Regardless everyone seems to agree he is unbeaten and a genuine talent.

Scott Graveson covers the Asian boxing scene for www.asianboxing.info