"I hope he can spread his reputation in the US, so it will be great for him to go international," Jiang said.

"I learned about this match from Chinese news about two days before, then I ordered two tickets immediately for me and my dad to support Zou, said Li Zhi, a post-doctoral researcher at NYU. "My dad came to visit me from China; he is a fan of boxing."

"The vibe here is really good, which is kind of different from China's," said Li's father.

The Chinese fans got a taste of boxing New York-style, as two of the bouts before the raucous crowd paired fighters from Puerto Rico and Mexico.

In the main event, Vasyl Lomachenko delivered a devastating fifth-round knockout over Roman Martinez for the WBO junior lightweight world championship.

Before the title bout, the Garden presented video highlights of Muhammad Ali's heavyweight boxing career. The Greatest died on June 3 at age 74, after a long battle with Parkinson's - a disease that Zou's trainer, Freddie Roach, 56, has been coping with since he was 27. It was at the Garden where "The Greatest" had perhaps his most ballyhooed heavyweight fight, the 1971 classic against Joe Frazier.

Zou said Saturday after the bout that he could not go to Ali's funeral in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday with his colleagues as he was preparing for the fight. "I hope I have the opportunity to lay a wreath at Ali's tomb. But my biggest wish now is to visit him after I get the WBO golden belt,"he said.