A little less finesse

China's Zou Shiming throws a left hook en route to a unanimous decision over Mexico's Eleazar Valenzuela in their four-round flyweight bout on April 6 in Macao. Dale de la Rey / Agence France-Presse

Zou Shiming signs autographs before a training session in Hollywood, California, for his upcoming bout with Jesus Ortega. Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Stylish flyweight Zou Shiming will be looking to pack a bigger punch when he makes his second professional appearance on July 27 in Macao.

Power thrills, but speed kills.

That's a mantra for success at the highest level of amateur boxing, where poise usually trumps punching ... and China's Zou Shiming learned it better than most.

But now that he's a full-fledged professional - albeit with just a single punch-for-pay notch on his belt - Zou is trying to unlearn it.

En route to winning three world amateur titles and two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012), the 32-year-old flyweight from Zunyi, Guizhou province, relied primarily on speed and mobility. But that was then and this is now.

Zou won his pro debut with a workmanlike four-round decision over Mexico's Eleazar Valenzuela on April 6 at the Venetian Casino & Resort in Macao. On July 27 he'll be gunning for a more satisfying ending when he squares off with another Mexican, Jesus Ortega (3-1, 2 KOs), in a six-rounder at the same venue.

Zou's trainer, Freddie Roach, wants to see less finesse and more ferocity.

"He has to really learn how to sit down on his punches more, get rid of that amateur style that he's had for such a long time," Roach told the Los Angeles Daily News on media day at Zou's Hollywood training camp last week.

"It's just getting him used to the pro style and getting him to do it. On the mitts, he's beautiful. But in sparring, we're not quite there yet. It's a process, and it takes time to change people."

Roach, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, has seen this movie before. He transformed a young Manny Pacquiao from a pedantic sharpshooter into a two-fisted, all-action brawler - and he sees a similar challenge in Zou.

"He's a very good talent with a great amateur background," Roach said in an interview with The Ring. "I know people are saying that he doesn't have punching power, but I've found that he has surprising power in both fists. And he has good defense. He's the complete package.

"Zou's a fast learner, like Manny. He picks up on things quickly, especially when you're explaining technical moves. You just have to show it to him one time and he's got it and he's ready to move on."

In his pro debut - which aired on nationwide television in China - Zou repeatedly loaded up on the 18-year-old Valenzuela but couldn't make him kiss the canvas. Of bigger concern was a propensity to slap his punches, combined with an intermittent defense that allowed the Mexican to score on the inside.

Those lessons haven't been lost on Zou.

"There is a big difference between amateur boxing and professional boxing," he told the Daily News through an interpreter.

"In the amateurs I was successful and had many rich experiences. But now in professional boxing I'm still a freshman, so I need to try fighting more the professional style, where they win by knockout.

"I will try my best to do that. I need to set up how to use my punching, my power. That is what I really want to learn.

"My first fight, I wanted to announce to the whole world that I'm coming to the professional boxing stage. In this second fight, I want to show what Freddie has taught me."

Zou's biggest supporter is his promoter, Top Rank's inimitable Bob Arum. He paid Zou a staggering $300,000 for the April fight - unheard of money for a four-round debut.

Against Ortega, he's thought to be guaranteed $500,000. Not exactly chump change ... but a relative pittance compared to what Zou could command as a world champion a year or two down the road.

"All I know is there are 1.4 billion Chinese and 100 million more around the world, and this kid has struck a chord with all of them," Arum told ESPN.com.

"Will he ever be a superstar in the United States? Of course not. But in China? Definitely. I signed Zou because I realized he was so famous in China that I could not only promote him, but I could get the Chinese caught up in the sport of boxing. That's the plan."

Barring injury, Arum and Roach believe Zou will be positioned for a world title shot before the end of 2014, provided he keeps winning. Arum said it would be the crowning achievement of his nearly five decades in boxing that started with Muhammad Ali's world title defense against George Chuvalo in Toronto in 1966.

"This will be the biggest thing that I have ever done in my life, opening up a nation of one billion, 400 million people, monetizing it and having the Venetian as my exclusive partner," the 81-year-old promoter told the ESPN website.

"It was like God knew I had this dream and gave me, with Zou, the means to realize it."

We'll know after July 27 if that dream is still alive.