"Western boxing in China is now revived!"
“中國拳擊運動現在正式恢復！”
More than two decades ago when Menghua Li, the Director of National Sports Committee declared in a resonant voice filling up the sky, it turned a whole new chapter in the story of Chinese western boxing.
20多年前，當國家體委主任李夢華宣布這一響徹云霄的決定后，中國拳擊從此掀開了嶄新的一頁。
By the turn of the year 2006, China has depicted a tale of two decades since the rebirth of the sweet science, two decades of renaissance and reforms, two decades of smiles and tears, two decades of challenges and achievements.
及至2006年，中國拳擊運動自恢復以后經歷了20年滄海桑田——20年的復興與改革，20年的歡笑與淚水，20年的挑戰與成就。
International Debut
亮相國際舞臺
The year 1986 and 1987 are two significant years for Chinese western boxing.
In March 1986, boxing officially returned to validity. The next year in April, the China Boxing Association was officially founded. In May, the first national boxing championships were held and in June, the China Boxing Association was officially admitted into the International Amateur Boxing Association as the 159th member.
From then on, China began to appear on the international boxing stage.
1986年與1987年對中國拳擊運動而言是兩個極具歷史意義的重要年份。1986年3月，拳擊運動正式恢復。1987年4月，中國拳擊協會成立。同年5月，首屆全國拳擊錦標賽在南京成功舉辦。6月，中國拳擊協會被國際業余拳擊聯合會正式接納為第159名會員。自此，中國開始在國際拳擊舞臺上正式亮相。
The Chinese national boxing team had taken part in a number of international boxing events during this period of time including the Pyongyang International Invitational Boxing Tournament in August in which China reaped two bronze medals.
這段時期，中國拳手頻頻亮相國際賽場。在1988年的漢城奧運會上，中國拳擊運動員劉棟還殺進了八強。但這段時期，無論是在國際大賽還是洲際大賽上，中國運動員仍未能斬獲一枚獎牌。
The Calm before the Storm
風暴前的寧靜
The first ray, golden 24k, shined in the darkness of Chinese western boxing after a three-year slump.
Light heavyweight Chongguang Bai bagged the first gold medal for China at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. It greatly elevated the morale of boxing professionals in China.
三年的沉寂在1990年被打破。在1990年的北京亞運會上，憑借東道主之利，來自哈爾濱的20歲小將白崇光奪下81公斤級冠軍，為中國贏得了第一枚洲際拳擊大賽上的金牌。這極大地鼓舞了中國拳擊界的士氣。此后，中國拳手在洲際大賽上捷報頻傳。在1993年的亞洲拳擊錦標賽上，江濤獲得了91公斤級冠軍。在1994年的廣島亞運會上，中國拳擊隊奪下1銀2銅。
However, this perfect storm was followed by a grilling tranquility. China suffered a 16-year gold drought in Asian Games ring. In the meantime, boxing had undergone a stage of stillness in China for the first decade.
盡管如此，這場“中國旋風”過后，是一片寧靜與沉寂。白崇光的個人突破并未在整體上改變中國拳擊的落后面貌。在此后的16年里，亦即2006年的多哈亞運會之前的3屆亞運會里，中國拳手再也沒有獲得過一枚拳擊金牌。
At the 1992 Olympic Games, competitors were delighted to face off against Chinese opponents. The best that the Chinese coaches hoped for was that each fighter might stay on his feet a bit longer than the one before him.
在1992年的巴塞羅那奧運會中，中國拳手被認為是“非常受歡迎”的對手。那時，中國教練只是希望，后一位拳手在場上堅持的時間能比前一位更長一些。
The reasons for this are both simple and complex.
First and foremost, in the 90s, China was still on the road to glory lacking the fundamental support for the sport of boxing.
Equally important is that China had never won a worthy medal in any prestigious international boxing tournament.
出現這種落后羸弱的狀況，個中原因既簡單又復雜。首先，90年代的中國仍處在經濟急速發展的階段，對西洋拳擊這項起步較晚，且期間中斷了20多年的運動缺乏基本的支持。并且，那時中國選手還從未在任何一場國際大賽中獲得過一枚成色十足的拳擊金牌。
Besides, pugilism was mainly carried out in the military and rural areas practiced by a very limited number of people, mostly the poor. It lacked adequate participation and attention of a large fan base.
此外，拳擊運動當時主要還是在部隊中及農村地區開展，從事這項運動的人數非常有限。拳擊運動缺乏足夠數量的參與者、受眾與關注。
Last but not least, there had been little support for the Noble Art from government, media people and promoters for the first 10 years since the revival of this combat sport in China.
最后，自拳擊運動恢復后的十年間，無論是政府、媒體還是市場都沒有給予這項運動足夠的重視與支持。
But as it turned out, the stillness was temporary. Maybe it was the calm before the storm.
但沉寂只是暫時的，或許它正是風暴前的寧靜。
Historic Breakthroughs
歷史性的突破
Amateur light flyweight Zou Shiming, the most popular boxing athlete in China, achieved a series of historic breakthroughs for Chinese western boxing, as he seized three medals in a row by 2006.
Zou captured the silver medal for the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships, the bronze medal of 2004 Athens Olympic Games and a gold medal from the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships.
中國最杰出的奧林匹克拳擊運動員鄒市明橫空出世，一舉斬獲2003年世界拳擊錦標賽銀牌、2004年雅典奧運會銅牌和2005年世界拳擊錦標賽金牌，為中國打破了在國際大賽中的“獎牌荒”與“金牌荒”，實現了歷史性的突破。
Admittedly, at that time, the talent pool of Chinese boxers was lacking, with Zou playing the solo and the others lagging far behind. The second best the Chinese achieved in the 2005 World Boxing Championships was two boxers entering the quarterfinal.
不可否認的是，那時中國拳擊人才十分稀缺，鄒市明一枝獨秀，其他拳手與他水平相去甚遠。在2005年的拳擊世錦賽中，次于鄒市明的二號人物僅將將打進四分之一決賽。
The talent-sparse predicament ended in Doha one year after when China bagged five boxing medals in the 2006 Asian Games.
In Doha, Zou broke a 16-year gold drought in Asia boxing by completely outshining Thailand's powerhouse Suban Pannon with an impressive 10-1 lead in the first round before the referee stopped the contest in the second. Lightweight Hu Qing added another gold medal to China's drought-breaking haul when he used some powerful combinations to beat Mongolia's Munkh Erdene Uranchimeg 38-22. China finished with two gold and three bronze medals in the Doha 2006 Asian Games, which exceeded the mighty Manny Pacquiao's home country of the Philippines with one more bronze medal advantage. Yang Bo, Hanati and Zhang Jianting were the other three Chinese counterparts who captured the three bronzes, respectively in the 51kg, 69kg and 75kg division.
With boxing powerhouses such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in line, China still secured five medals from five separate weight classes, indicating that the ancient nation had integrally reached a whole new level in amateur boxing.
It showed, as early as 2006, that the Chinese could also compete with such Asian boxing powerhouses as Thailand, the Philippines and Korea on the international battle field.
2005年世錦賽結束一年后，一枝獨秀的窘迫局面被打破。在2006年的多哈亞運會中，中國拳手開始“全面開花”。鄒市明和胡青以兩枚金牌結束了中國拳擊16年來無亞運金牌的歷史。中國以2金3銅的優異戰績躋身亞洲奧林匹克拳擊強國之列。中國拳擊水平自此達到了一個新的高度，開始能夠與泰國、菲律賓、日本、韓國等傳統拳擊強國分庭抗禮。
When the chapter was closed, two decades after the rehabilitation of the fight game, China had produced two world champions and two intercontinental champions in the square ring.
And the best is yet to come...
當翻過歷史的這一頁，中國已然誕生了一位無可爭議的奧林匹克世界拳王，中國拳擊已駛入了發展的快車道。更令人期待的是，這只是時代交響前的序曲，好戲還未上演，新的時代即將開啟。
（作者厲振羽，系國際拳擊歷史學家、國際主流媒體拳擊專欄作家、國際拳擊研究會會員、世界拳擊協會會員、世界拳擊組織中國區職業裁判，報道過三屆奧運會）
來源：人民網
