Osaka, Japan In Japan we had a female world title double. The first of those world title bouts saw Japanese veteran Nao Ikeyama (14-3-1, 4) upset the previously unbeaten Filipino Jesseblle Pagaduan (6-1, 4) to claim the WBO Atomweight title and become the first ever holder of the newly established title. Aged 44 Ikeyama also becomes the oldest world champion from Japan and one of the oldest champions in history. The second title fight saw Yuko Kuroki (11-4-1, 6) claim her first title, the WBC female Minimumweight title, as she defeated the defending champion Mari Ando (11-6, 5). Ando, defending her belt for the first time was game though unfortunately for her Kuroki was too clever with her footwork and too accurate with her straight left hand counters. Sadly for Ando this brought her second world title reign to a surprisingly quick end, whilst for Kuroki this was really a career defining victory for he youngster at this stage of her career. Taraz, Kazakhstan In Kazakhstan fans got a domestic double header, albeit it a very low profile one. The more significant of those bouts saw the very highly regarded Roman Zhailauov (12-0, 8) taking a decision over compatriot Omar Marabayev (1-3). On paper this looked like a total mismatch but Marabayev has is a recent PABA Welterweight title challenger and has faced good competition so far with his previous losses coming to Teerachai Kratingdaenggym and Gennady Martirosyan. In reality this was a much more impressive victory than it looks on paper. The other bout saw Faruh Iriskulov (2-1, 1) taking a second 2nd round TKO over the win-less Samat Ordabayev (0-5-1). Ordabayev is as bad as his record looks and this was Iriskulov's second victory over him. Queensland, Australia On a card in Australia we unfortunately saw win-less Thailand's Pramool Boonpok (0-5) lose a 4 round decision to the unbeaten Australian based Hungarian Tommy Szeremi (3-0-2, 1). California, USA World ranked Russian Anton Novikov (29-0-0-1, 10) showed off his skills as he scored a notable decision over the hard hitting but limited Javier Castro (27-7, 22). Novikov's relative lack of power will be a problem but his skills were impressive as he put on a 10 round shut out. This was the 3rd successive defeat for Castro and his 5th loss in 8 though it's still a credible victory for Novikov for the moment. California, USA On a separate US card things were disappointing for the debuting Yuri Trogiyanov (0-1) who was unfortunately stopped by the criminally under-rated Edwin Solis (6-2-3, 4). Solis was simply too much of a test for a debutant Trogiyanov who showed a lot of heart but lacked the experience needed to cope with such a tough and rugged Mexican. We'll admit we want to see Trogiyanov again though hopefully he'll not be put in such a ridiculously difficult bout. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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This past Friday was a busy day with numerous fights involving Asian fighters. Unfortunately a number of results haven't yet reached us though we've included the ones which we have got for now. Nonthaburi, Thailand We had a decent show in Thailand where former world title holder Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (36-5-1, 16) retained his WBC Asian Boxing Council Bantamweight title. Suriyan showed off his class as he became the first man to stop Filipino Fernando Ocon (12-7, 4), though it was a retirement from Ocon rather than a true stoppage. Ocon, who took Suriyan 12 rounds earlier this year, pulled out of the bout at the end of round 7 whilst in a big hole on scorecards. Unfortunately Suriyan wasn't the only man with an early victory and in fact the shows other 4 bouts lasted just a combined 9 rounds. The shortest of the other bouts on the show lasted just a round as Chaiyong Sithsaithong (33-12-4, 24) scored a very quick stoppage over the debuting Chonlatarn Kongnapagym (0-1) in a bout that probably shouldn't have been sanctioned. Whilst we don't consider Chaiyong as a special fighter this really was just a pointless exercise for all those involved. Things weren't much better for Kongfah Nakornluang (13-0, 7) who stopped debutant Atiwat Chaiyonggym (0-1) in the second round. Kongfah has real potential but this bout was totally unnecessary and even though we understand how the system works in Thailand this was really not worth Kongfah getting in the ring for. Another bout that went just 2 rounds saw Kajornsak Sithsaithong (5-1, 5) stop Back Kistkriengkrai (0-1). This was a better match up but still one that was never likely to become competitive. The one other bout on the show saw Non Sithsaithong (12-6, 8) take 4 rounds to defeat yet another debutant, this time Petchbodin Sakpreecha (0-1). This was arguably the most competitive fight on the card and event that wasn't particularly competitive. Nanyang, China The other Asian show of the day was in China as Zovi promotions continued to grow Chinese boxing. The star of the show was the world ranked, and very promising, Qiu Xiao Jun (12-3, 5) who successfully defended his WBC Asia Boxing Council Super Bantamweight title with a 4th round KO over popular Indonesian Rasmanudin (18-5-2, 9). Jun is really blossoming into a very talented fighter and he has now scored 3 successive victories of note after previously beating Johnathan Baat and Jason Cooper. In a second title fight Xu Chun Yan (5-3, 2) made the first defence of her WBC International female Featherweight title as she stopped Thailand's Sriphrae Nongkipahuyuth (12-4-2, 5) in 7 rounds. Although there was two title bouts on the show the biggest name was actually not in a title bout. That was former WBC Minimumweight champion Xiong Zhao Zhong (23-5-1, 13) who bounced back from losing his title to Osvaldo Novoa by stopping Filipino Roilo Golez (15-12-1, 6) in 5 rounds. Zhong is likely looking for another world title bout somewhere down the line though with the loss to Novoa still fresh in everyone's mind it could well be a while before Zhong gets that chance. On the undercard of this show Brandon Ogilvie (6-1, 2) out pointed Indonesia's Eddy Comaro (27-19-5, 11) over 6 rounds and China's very own Zhou Yun Fei (2-0) defeated Gino Dilibero (0-2) in a 4 round decision. Victoria, Australia In Australia we had two bouts with Asian interests, unfortunately both of those bouts saw the Asian fighter coming on the wrong side of the result. The most disappointing of those bouts saw South Korea's Kyung-Suk Kwak (10-10, 7) being stopped in 2 rounds by Australia's promising Zac Dunn (13-0, 11) in a battle for the WBC Asia Council Continental Super Middleweight title. Whilst we knew this would be a tough assignment for Kwak we did expect a bit better from his than a second round loss, however this was the 6th stoppage loss in the career of the 3-weight Korean champion. Whilst Kwak was disappointing the same cannot be said of Thailand's Paitoon Jaikom (1-5) who went 10 rounds with Australia's once beaten Ben Capps (10-1-1, 2) who made the first defence of his WBC Asia Council Continental Light Middleweight title. Although this was the 5th straight loss for the Thai we've got to acknowledge that it's great he's taking decent fighters the distance and proving himself as a capable opponent even if he's unlikely to win too many bouts. Hamburg, Germany Things weren't great in Germany either as talented Romanian Viorel Simion (17-1, 7) out pointed Azerbaijan's Bakhtiyar Iskenderzade (9-4, 2) in a bit of a mismatch. Iskenderzade was dropped in the opening round though show good fighting spirit to battle back, sadly however he was never in the fight and lost a very clear decision to one of the best Featherweight's in Europe (Image, of Suriyan, courtesy of boxrec.com) Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
This past Thursday saw a small televised card on Thai Channel 3. The show only featured a small handful of bouts but the bouts, on the whole, each had something for the winners to gain from them. The main event of this show saw PABA Featherweight champion Thong Sithluangphophun (9-0, 6) successfully retain his title and secure the second defence of the belt. Thong managed to score a 7th round TKO over Indonesia's Jason Butar Butar (16-15-1, 12) who, if you recall his name, was stopped in Macau last November by the fast rising Harmonito Dela Torre. On paper this wasn't as impressive as Dela Torre's victory over Butar Butar but it was, comfortably, the best win the 21 year old Thong has scored so far in his career. Whilst Thong scored his best win Dawuth Sithluangporphun (1-0, 1) scored his first win over-coming fellow debutant Buakhao Or Chanubon (0-1) in the second round of their scheduled 6 round contest. Dawuth's stoppage win was one of two stoppages on the undercard as 22 year old hopeful Yodsingdaeng Jor Chaijinda (5-0, 3) managed to stop the win-less Saichon Or Ounsuwon (0-18) to record his 3rd straight stoppage victory. The only bout n the show which went the distance saw Hanuman Sithluangporphun (3-0) take a 6 round decision over the debuting Farid Mengo (0-1) from Indonesia. Whilst we worry about the power of Hanuman he does look to have a bit of talent and with the right work behind the scenes he could go places. New York, USA In the US fans got to see Dimash Niyazov (6-0-2, 4) score a rare decision victory as he over-came Jose Del Valle (2-6-3). Although on paper this was a mismatch it's worth noting that Del Valle is much better than his record indicates and likely gave the Kazakhstan born fighter a decent test, sadly however details on the bout are scarce. Vladikavkaz, Russia
The Asian action this week is a bit weak though that doesn't mean we have nothing to talk about and on Wednesday we had a small Russian show that featured a world ranked fight and a number of knockdowns. The world ranked fighter was Cruiserweight hopeful Murat Gassiev (16-0, 10) who kept a hold of his rankings with a stoppage over Georgian journeyman Giorgi Tevdorashvili (17-11-3, 10). The opening round close, and if the fight stopped after just 1 round we'd, rather surprisingly, have had a split decision draw. In round 2 however the fight turned and Gassiev decided to show what he was about forcing a stoppage to maintain his unbeaten record. In the show's other bout fans got to see the debuting Soslan Tedeev (1-0, 1) dominate the win-less Eloman Dodonov (0-3) who was dropped 3 times in the opening round before being stopped in round 2. Whilst Dodonov isn't a great test this was still a sensational debut by Tedeev who is perhaps a man who we should be keeping an eye on if he continues to look this impressive. It seems that, in recent weeks, it's been Japanese boxing that has been getting all the headlines. This past Saturday however our main interest was in Filipino fighters with the Philippines hosting two separate shows, both in Metro Manilla. Metro Manila, Philippines The bigger of the two Filipino cards was "Pinoy Pride XXV" a show otherwise known as Nietes Vs Fuentes II. With the name of the show coming from the main event which saw Donnie Nietes (33-1-4, 19) dominate Mexico Moises Fuentes (19-2-1, 10). We had, foolishly, written off Nietes going in to this bout but he looked sensational as he out boxed a fundementally one dimensional Fuentes. The Mexican, who we felt beat Fuentes in their first bout, was tagged from the outside, neutralised up close and eventually stopped in the 9th round by a man who seemed to be wanting to make a statement that he was one of the divisional elite. Unfortunately however it seems unlikely Nietes will get a unification bout though it was said that he'd like a fight with either Juan Francisco Estrada or Roman Gonzalez, we'd love either of those fights. Although the main event was a clear and dominant victory for the Filipino fighter the support bouts were much, much closer. The closest saw a below par Milan Melindo (31-1, 12) struggle past a game Martin Tecuapetla (11-6-2, 8). Tecuapetla did enter as the #5 ranked Light Flyweight, according to the WBA, but this was still a very poor effort from Melindo who was lucky to escape with a majority decision. Things were also close for Rey Bautista (35-3, 25) who defeated Sergio Villanueva (26-4-2, 13) in a competitive bout. Bautista, fighting for the first in over a year, was given a very tough time by Villanueva as ring rust showed it's self on the Filipino but victory and decision will do the popular "Boom Boom" the world of good and hopefully help him "fall back in love" with boxing. Down the card we got to see a number of promising prospects in action. The most impressive of those was Mark Bernaldez (13-0, 9) who forced a first round retirement of the experienced Marvin Tampus (27-19-2, 18). Bernaldez was expected to win but no one expected this one to be over so early and with such an impressive victory, on paper at least, Bernaldez will almost certainly be receiving more attention. Another prospect who scored an early stoppage was Filipino based Cuban Reymi Castellano Aleye (5-0, 2) who stopped Warren Mambuanag (6-5-2, 3) in 5 rounds of a scheduled 6 rounder. The Cuban has been helping Nonito Donaire prepare for his upcoming bout with Simpiwe Vetyeka and looks to have improved himself from that time in the gym with the "Filipino Flash". One of the other, very highly regarded prospects on this card was Mark Magsayo (6-0, 4) who was taken the 6 round distance by tough Korean Hyuk-Tak Joo (1-2). Hyuk-Tak Joo was one of two Koreans on the card with Sung-Tak Joo (5-0-3, 1), we believe Hyuk's brother, fighting to a draw with Joseph Von Minoza (14-6-1, 6). The one other bout on this show saw the stoppage streak of JK Elorde (4-0, 3) come to an end as the debuting Jeffrey Garcia (0-1) saw out the 4 round schedule. Metro Manila, Philippines Whilst much of the attention was focussed on the Pinoy Pride card at the SM Mall of Asia Arena there was also a second Filipino show, held at the Olivarez Stadium. This show lacked the world class feel of the other show but still managed to give us title action as we had a trio of international bouts with titles on the line. In the main event of the show the WBO Oriental Bantamweight champion Alie Laurel (12-3, 8) successfully defended his title with an opening round blow out over the horribly over-matched Mike Espanosa (12-7-1, 7). From what we understand Espanosa was a late replacement for unbeaten Indonesian Defry Palulu unfortunately robbing us of what would have been an excellent match up. Although the main event was an all-Filipino battle the other two title bouts saw Filipino's fighting Japanese opponents in two regional title bouts. In an expected result fans saw Tosho Makoto Aoki (17-12-2, 14) claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Lightweight title with a stoppage victory over limited Filipino Jonel Alibio (16-18-5, 8). Although Aoki did what was expected of him we've got to admit we were a little shocked by the fact Argie Toquero (7-3-1, 5) scored a 9th round TKO over former world title challenger Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-3-2-1, 4). This victory for Toquero saw him claiming the WBC Asian Boxing Council Bantamweight title. Another stoppage came on the undercard the brilliantly named Warlight Dapidran (2-0, 1) stopped the debuting Juanito Paredes (0-1) in the second round of a scheduled 4 rounder. In the other 4 rounders Riku Kanou (1-1-1) fought to a draw with the debuting Vecinte Montecino (0-0-1) and Kenta Ide (1-1) defeated Jason Catalin (0-2). Frenkendorf, Switzerland In Switzerland there was also a little bit of Japanese action as Swiss based Japanese female fighter Aniya Seki (24-2-2, 2) recorded an opening round stoppage over the massively over-matched Alexandra Gorog (5-15-1, 1). Seki is a talented fighter and bouts like that are unnecessary for her, especially when you consider she really should be competing with some of the best in the world. (Image thanks to ALA Gym) Lop Buri, Thailand After yesterday's huge success for Amnat Ruenroeng, who successfully defended his IBF Flyweight title with a victory over Kazuto Ioka, the action turned to Amnat's homeland of the Philippines where we got the only Asian card of the day. The action, televised on Channel 7, may not have been at the same level as yesterday's world title action but was still significant, especially the main event which saw the very highly regarded Paipharob Kokietgym (24-0, 19) claim the WBO Oriental Light Flyweight title. Paipharob, one of the real danger men in regards to Thai boxers, became the first man to stop Filipino Jay-ar Estremos (10-7, 4) after scoring a 4th round stoppage. Whilst the victory for Paipharob was impressive it needs to be put into perspective and it needs to be said that Estremos had won 5 of his last 6, all 6 previous losses had been debatable decisions and the most recent was a very controversial defeat at the hands of the unbeaten, and very highly ranked, Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym. To see that Paipharob did such an impressive job on the Filipino really should be eye opening. Another impressive performance on this card came from fast rising prospect Petchchorhae Kokietgym (5-0, 3) who scored his second successive victory over an Indonesian opponent. Matched against the experienced Madit Sada (9-17-1, 3), we had expected a victory for Petchchorhae though we were aware that Sada had taken some very credible opponents, such as Fajlan Sakkreerin Jr and Wanheng Menayothin, the distance. This victory will be an under-rated one but is still excellent from the Thai. A third stoppage on this card saw Fonluang Kokietgym (19-1-1, 8) over come novice foe Marcelo Santos (0-2), also in 4 rounds. This was a mismatch and really didn't need to take place though, as explained in our recent article about Thai boxing, this fight will help Fonluang collect a pay day and possibly go towards feeding his family. Another stoppage on this card saw Saenganan Sithsaithong (5-0, 4) defeat the debuting Pornsawan Sor Saenpalang (0-1) in 2 rounds. Unfortunately for Saenganan this was his 5th straight bout against a debutant so we have no idea how good, or bad, he really is. One bout on this show did go the distance and that one saw the 22 year old Ratchasak Kokietgym (22-2-1, 10) take a decision over Indonesia's Anis Ceunfin (16-20-5, 6). For a fighter like Ratchasak this will have been a huge disappointment considering that Ceunfin was stopped in 5 rounds by Naoto Uebayashi just a few short weeks ago. Tokyo, Japan As well as the Thai show we also had a major one in Japan as the Rookie of the Year-East kicked off with a monster 13 bout show. The show began with a Light Flyweight bout that saw Kenji Ono (3-1, 2) stopping the previously unbeaten Kazutaka Matsunishi (1-1-1) in 3 rounds. This was the lowest weight bout on the show and was subsequently followed by a pair of Flyweight bouts. These saw Sonin Nihei (3-0-1, 1) stopping Naoki Inaba (2-2) and Naoki Mochizuki (4-0, 3) claim a surprisingly tough majority decision over the more experienced Muneyuki Kishii (3-3, 2). At Super Bantamweight we had a show between unbeaten men as Ryo Hino (3-0, 1) took a unanimous decision against Toshizane Kinoda (3-1, 1) over 4 rounds whilst Hikaru Takaki (5-4, 4) as on the winning side of a majority decision against Yuta Itagaki (3-2-1, 1). We had a trio of Featherweight bouts including an opening round including an opening round KO by Reiya Abe (4-1, 2) against Taichi Kimura (3-2, 2), a third round KO for Naoto Moriya (5-1, 2) who stopped the previously unbeaten Takahiko Suzuki (3-1, 2) whilst Yu Takegaki (4-2-1, 1) won a decision over Yuji Awata (4-1, 2). In the Super Featherweight division Kaishi Shimizu (3-1, 2) took a second round KO over Fumio Ujihara (2-2, 2) whilst at Lightweight Shintaro Nakamura (3-2-1, 2) stopped Katsunori Yano (1-3, 1) and Ryusei Yabe (3-0, 2) continued his winning run by claiming a stoppage over Shingo Okada (1-2). The highest weight that saw any action was Middleweight where we had two bouts. These saw Akira Naganuma (2-2, 1) wipe out Tatsuya Aizu (2-5, 2) in 100 seconds whilst Asahi Hatsumi (2-1, 1) stopped Takahiro Jin (1-1, 1) in 3 rounds. New South Wales, Australia In Australia Korean journey man Hwi Jong Kim (6-12, 1) was sadly stopped in 3 rounds by the very promising Kye MacKenzie (9-0, 7) who now seems likely to be moving towards title fights in his homeland. Whilst Kim may not be happy at suffering his 3rd stoppage loss there really is little doubting that MacKenzie is a talented fighter and this loss is nothing to be ashamed by. (Image, of Paipharob, courtesy of boxrec.com) Osaka, Japan The highlight of this boxing week was in Osaka as an Ioka promoted show attracted the attention of fans around the world courtesy of two world title fights, an OPBF title fight and one of the most out standing Japanese prospects. The aforementioned prospect was Sho Ishida (16-0, 9), the first of the notable fighters on the show. Ishida, one of most exciting Super Flyweight prospects, made light work of limited Thai foe Brukluk Kor Narong Service (0-1). Ishida may not be a major name, yet, but his potential is special and with his speed, skills, size and under-rated power it's going to take a very special fighter to stop his rise. Following Ishida's victory fans in the venue got to see the unbeaten OPBF Lightweight champion Masayoshi Nakatani (8-0, 5) defending his belt for the first time. The talented and rangy Nakatani was a clear winner as he out pointed a spirited challenger from Japanese based Filipino Ricky Sismundo (26-8-1, 12). We're surprised that Sismundo, who has been stopped in 4 of his previous losses, went the distance but a second successive 12 round distance fight for Nakatani will do him the world of good. Following those two bouts of note we then moved on to the first world title fight which saw IBF Minimumweight champion Katsunari Takayama (27-6-0-1, 10) defending his belt for the second time. Takayama, known as the "lightning kid", was given some issues from the straight lefts of challenger Shin Ono (17-6-2, 2) though was the busier, better and more effective champion, as shown when Takayama dropped Ono in rounds 10 and 12 to secure a clear decision victory over the game Ono. The second world title fight saw a genuine upset as Thailand's Amnat Ruenroeng (13-0, 5) successfully defended his IBF Flyweight title with a victory over the previously unbeaten 2-weight world champion Kazuto Ioka (14-1, 9). Ioka, attempting to become the quickest 3-weight world champion was unusually gun shy though the biggest talking point was the atrocious scorecard of Polish judge Pawel Kardyni, who some how managed to score the bout a shut out out to Ruenroeng leaving questions about whether or not he was even watching the action. Prior to the big bouts the card had 5 other bouts on it. The most notable of those saw Takahiro Yamamoto (13-3, 10) blasting out Thailand's Jakaratlek Sor Wankaew (0-2) in 3 rounds of a scheduled 8 rounder. In the sole 6 rounder Tomoya Itosu (5-2, 3) stopped Takeshi Nakayama (3-5-2, 1) in 2 rounds. The card opened with trio of 4 rounders. These saw Tesu Kanayama (1-0) scoring a decision victory on debut as he over-came Ryusuke Hosoki (3-5-1, 1), Takeru Kamikubo (2-0, 1) scoring his first stoppage victory as he stopped Takuya Sumiyoshi (0-4-1) in the second round and, in a female bout, Aiko Yamagishi (3-0-1, 1) stopped Tomomi Kida (1-1, 1) in 3 rounds. (Image, courtesy of boxingnews.jp, shows Takayama throwing a jab at Ono) Nonaka moves towards another title fight, Hasui suffers loss and Itani continues on his roll5/8/2014 This past Tuesday saw a little bit of action in Japan, albeit action that went under the radar as fans and fighters a like got prepared fro Wednesday's world title double header in Osaka. Hyogo, Japan The headline fighter in the first Japanese card of a new week was former Japanese and OPBF Light Middleweight champion Yuki Nonaka (25-8-2, 9) who managed to over-come Ryo Okayama (8-3, 5) in 6 rounds. Nonaka,ranked #4 at 154lbs by the JBC and #4 by the OPBF at 160lbs, easily managed to see off Okayama who was out of his depth in terms of skills and experience. With this victory we expect to see Nonaka move on to a Japanese Welterweight title fight as he attempts to become a national champion once again. Although the main event saw an expected winner the chief support bout did feature a minor upset Hikaru Matsuoka (6-1-3, 1) out pointed the previously undefeated Daisuke Hasui (6-1, 2) over 8 rounds. Whilst this was an even bout on paper we had fancied Hasui to main his winning run against Matsuoka. One man who did continue with his winning run was the 30 year old power puncher Yuji Itani (4-0, 4) who scored a 5th round TKO over the usually tough Satoshi Momota (9-10, 4). For Momota this was his second stoppage loss and his 7th loss in 9 bouts however he was easily the toughest opponent, on paper, for Itani so far. The only other bout that featured a man with a perfect record was one of the shows opening bouts which saw Reiya Konishi (3-0, 2) extend his winning run with an opening round stoppage over Jin Katsue (2-1, 1) who suffered his first defeat in 3 professional bouts. The rest of the card were low level undercard contests. These included just one bout that ended up being competitive, a bout between the previously win-less Yosuke Goto (1-4) and the debuting Takuya Banko (0-1) which was won by Goto via majority decision. The stoppages saw two opening round blast outs as Arata Matsuoka (1-1, 1) who took out Shunsuke Yamane (0-1), in 11 seconds apparently, and Yoshihisa Inoue (2-2, 1) blew out Ryoichi Shimano (2-3, 1) whilst another of the bouts went into the 4th round as Kazuki Kimura (1-2, 1) took his time to defeat Hiroaki Yoshitomi (0-6). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past weekend saw almost all the attention in the boxing world turning to the action in Las Vegas. Whilst it was impossible to ignore "The Moment", the biggest show of the year, so far, that wasn't actually the be all and end all of the the boxing weekend. On Sunday we had two cards in the Philippines. They were both a million miles away in terms of attention, name value and monetary significance to the US show but both cards were still interesting with their own share of highlights. Benguet, Philippines The more significant of the two Filipino shows was in Benguet where we had a pair of title fights and a bout that featured a very promising and hard hitting prospect. The prospect in question was the unbeaten Rex Wao (9-0, 7) who was taken the 10 round distance for the first time in his career en route to defeating Jovill Marayan (8-17-3, 3). The 24 year old Wao is very exciting and we hope to see him on a major show in the near future, for now however it seems likely he'll continue to pick up this type if domestic victory as he continues to develop. Although we feel Wao was the most interesting fighter on the show he wasn't involved in either of the title fights. In the lesser of the two title bouts fans got to see Chinese based Japanese fighter Yuya Nakamura (1-1, 1) claim the Philippines Luzon Professional Boxing Association (LuzProBA) Flyweight title with a 4th round KO victory over Benjie Bartolome (2-7-1). We're not sure how Nakamura qualified for the title or how either man was allowed to even fight in a 10 round title bout but it's still a great accomplishment for the previously win-less Nakamura. It wasn't all good news for Japanese fighters however as Filipino "Bull" Jeffrey Arienza (11-2-1, 6) defeated Japanese visitor Takaya Kakutani (7-4, 6) via second round KO to claim the WBC Youth World Lightweight title. Arienza has now scored back-to-back stoppages following a 10th round loss to Masayuki Ito late last year. Camiguin, Philippines The second Filipino show was in Camiguin and was a lower profile show that featured 5 bouts that lasted a combined 15 rounds. The shortest of the 5 bouts saw the promising Charles Canedo (7-0, 4) stopping Marwin Cristota (2-10-1, 1) in the second round of a scheduled 6 rounder. Amazingly 3 of the 5 bouts finished in the third round. This included the stoppage victory in the young career of Rimar Metuda (3-0, 1) who stopped Reynold Salon (0-3) in the shows only 4 round contest. Another of the third round stoppages saw the big hitting Jenny Boy Buca (7-1, 7) take out Marzon Cabilla (9-12-1, 4) whilst the other saw Jeson Umbal (6-1, 6) stop the usually tough Nelson Llanos (22-32-3, 9) in what is easily the most notable victory in the career of Umbal. Surprisingly only one bout went beyond 3 rounds and that one saw Rege Pahayag (7-1, 6) stopping Rolly Llino (5-12-1, 2) in the 4th round of their contest. (Picture, of Rex Wao, courtesy of boxrec.com) This past Saturday may have been all about "The Moment" in terms of boxing but there was other, lower profile action in Asia. Cebu, Philippines The card we were looking forward to the most was in the Philippines. The show had promised a world title fight, a handful of top Filipino prospects and was expected to be a show to look forward to. Instead what we got was a disappointment. We still got the prospects but the world title fight was effectively taken from us after the the champion was stripped of their title. The man who was stripped was the now former IBF Light Flyweight champion John Riel Casimero (20-2, 12), who was stripped of his title for weighing more than 5lbs over the Light Flyweight limit. That weight advantage wasn't needed by Casimero and the class difference was quickly shown as he swiftly dispatched the hapless Mauricio Fuentes (16-3, 10) who was dropped 3 times inside a round. Although Fuentes was "able" to win the title in theory he really shouldn't have been given this opportunity and the fight really was a farce from the second it was announced to the second it was stopped. Whilst the "world title fight" was a farce we did get some interesting prospect action. Amongst the prospects in action was the very highly touted Harmonito Dela Torre (13-0, 8) who managed to score a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Gadwin Tubigon (10-9-2, 5). Dela Torre's win saw him claim the lightly regarded vacant World Boxing Federation International Super Featherweight title. Another of the prospects in action was former amateur stand out Jack Tepora (10-0, 6) who scored a 10th round stoppage over Jo-as Apericio (11-12, 8) to claim the World Boxing Federation International Super Bantamweight title. Tepora, dubbed "The Golden Boy", claimed his first title with this victory and seems set to move up a level or two in the next year. The same Filipino show had yet more title action as Rey Labao (26-5, 17) defended his Lightweight title with a 5th round TKO over Rodel Wenceslao (7-8-1, 2) in what was a mismatch, whilst Jessie Cris Rosales (14-0-1, 5) claimed the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Featherweight title with a hard fought 10 round victory over Anthony Sabalde (8-4, 4). Lower down the card, in 8 round bouts, Jessie Espina (7-1, 3) out pointed the debuting Philip Jun Pronco (0-1) whilst Joey Canoy (5-0-1, 3) out pointed Mark Anthony Florida (8-5, 7). In the only 6 rounder Jaybie Haya (3-1-1, 2) out pointed the previously unbeaten Carlo Demecillo (2-1, 1). Whilst over the 4 round distance Junuel Lacar (4-1-1, 2) wiped out Honorato Boc (0-1) inside a minute and the previously win-less Eduardo Joaquino (1-1) upset the previously unbeaten Ronnie Tanallon (3-1, 1). Davao Del Sur, Philippines On a second Filipino show we saw the return to the ring of the very talented highly promising Jerwin Ancajas (20-1-1, 12) who made very light work of Thai opponent Petchwanchai Sor Visetkit (14-7, 6), scoring an opening round stoppage. This was Ancajas's second stoppage this year over Thai opponents and it seems time that he was stepped up a level. There is little point in such a talented fighter running up a series of these type of wins when he could well be fighting his way to a world title fight. Tokyo, Japan Whilst the action in the Philippines stole the day in regards to the Asian fight scene there was two shows in Japan. One of those was in Tokyo as we got "Dangan 100". This show began with a female bout that saw Chie Higano (2-0) over-come the debuting Sayaka Aoki (0-1) in a clear decision over 4 rounds. The female bout was one of three 4 rounders with the others both seeing swift stoppages. The swiftest of those stoppages came inside a round as the debuting Ryu Ueda (1-0, 1) scored an 83 second victory over Taisho Sugano (0-2), the other stoppage came part way through the second round as Hisao Narita (5-1, 3) stopped Naoya Kaneko (3-2, 3). The only 6 rounder on "Dangan 100" saw the debut of the very highly touted former amateur stand out Kenya Noguchi (1-0) who out pointed Hideharu Takahashi (6-10, 2), Noguchi is a teenager we've been told is "an outstanding talent" and we'd advise fight fans to follow him intently. Following the under-card we than had a foursome of feature bouts. None of them featured world class fighters but all 4 were interesting contests on paper. The first of those bouts saw Johnreil Maligro (11-0, 8) out point the unbeaten Tatsuya Yanagi (10-1, 4) in a genuinely excellent match up. Maligro, known as Jun Sakura, got easily the most impressive victory of his career and the 19 year old really does have the potential to go on and win titles if he continues to develop like he seems to be. Following Maligro's fantastic victory we then saw former Japanese title challenger Ryuta Otsuka (14-6-2, 4) score a stoppage over Yosuke Fujihara (14-3, 4). For Otsuka this was his first stoppage in well over 2 years whilst it was Fujihara's second successive stoppage loss. In the chief support bout fans got to see former Japanese Super Bantamweight champion Masaaki Serie (25-6, 10) out point Filipino visitor Michael Escobia (10-7-1, 2) in what turned out to be an very hard fought and competitive match up. Although not an old fighter in terms of years, the 31 year old does look like an older fighter and perhaps needs a break from the ring. A former opponent of Serie was also in action on the card, that was Rikiya Fukuhara (29-7-1, 21). Fukuhara, a hard hitter, made light work of Filipino fighter Jaderes Padua (9-4-1, 6) scoring an opening round KO. After the fight Fukuhara called out Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono. We can't help but think that Hosono would stop Fukuhara, as he did in a previous meeting between the two men, but it'll certainly be fun. Osaka, Japan A second show in Japan was headlined by Hiroshige Osawa (25-3-4, 14) stopping the game Kosuke Saka (8-3, 5). Saka fought well but was stopped due to a nasty injury. Osawa, a former OPBF champion, is really rebuilding his career after a year long suspension by the JBC for taking part in an unsanctioned contest in South Korea. (Picture, courtesy of Celes Boxing Gym, is of Noguchi) |
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