This past Sunday wasn't one of the busiest days in Asian boxing but it was an interesting one.
Yeoju, South Korea The standing of professional boxing in South Korea appears to be more confusing than ever right now. It wasn't long ago that the KBC announced they were rebranding their organisation as the KBF with the intention of reinvigorating boxing in Korea. On paper it sounded like a dream come true and a chance to have new investment and new eyes looking over the sport in a country that has given us the likes of Jung-Koo Chang and Myung-Woo Yuh. Sadly it appears that the situation has just become more confusing than ever. That's because the boxing record website Boxrec.com appear to be recognising fights that the KBF (formerly KBC) don't make any mention of on their site whilst boxrec seem to be indicating they were fought under the sanction of the KBC, an organisation that no longer exists. We're sure there is a simple explanation but for now we are confused. As for the bouts there was a number of title bouts in a show that actually would have worked as a great beginning to the KBF. One of those title bouts saw a new Light Middleweight champion crowned as Ki-Joon Gang (6-3, 3) clearly over-came Joon-Yong Lee (4-2-3, 2) in a clear decision. The bout, again according to boxrec, was Ganag's first bout in 2 years following a loss in a Korean Middleweight title fight whilst for Lee this was his second bout of the year. In a Lightweight title fight In-Kyoo Lee (3-2, 1) out pointed Moon-Sun Jung (2-3-3) to become a newly crowned champion. If boxrec are right this title has been stripped from, or vacated by, Boon-Joon Suk who last defended the title last November. Interestingly this was the second meeting between Lee and Jung this year and with the win Lee managed to avenge a majority decision loss from April. The most intriguing of the title bouts however was at Light Welterweight where debutant Myung-Soo Sun (1-0) took a very, very narrow win over the previously unbeaten Jae-Ho Kim (4-1). Whilst we'll admit we aren't too sure what titles these are that were being fought for we will feel very disappointed that the really exciting Ja Ik Goo wasn't able to defend his title, Goo was one of, if not the, most exciting man in Korean boxing at the start of the year and if he's given up his title and retired, as some have suggested, then Korean boxing has lost a future star. On the undercard there 8 non-title bouts. These included 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds. The first saw Do-Yum Kim (2-3-1) narrowly out point Young-Jin Kim (2-2, 1) with a split decision whilst the other ended in a 2nd round technical decision as Ma-Roo Jun (2-2-1) and Je-Ni Ma (4-1-3, 3) has their bout curtailed early. In 4 rounders Fans saw Joo-Young Kwon (1-0) take a victory over Joon-young Yoon (0-1) in one of 3 all debutant affairs. In a Heavyweight bout Hyun-Soo Kim (1-0) over-came a 40lb weight disadvantage to defeat Jung-Yil Lee (0-1), a third all debutant bout was won by Jae-Man Kim (1-0) who defeat Yoo-Jin Jung (0-1). other 4 rounders Sung-Min Jo (0-0-1) held Sung-Hwan Kim (1-0-3) to a split draw, Joo-Pyung Kim (1-0) scored a debut win with a majority decision over Hyun-Ho Nam (0-0-2) and Dong-Woo Jang (1-0) defeated the previously perfect Jong-Hyuk Yoon (1-1). Toyama, Japan We also had action in Japan where two Filipino born fighters each had success with relatively straight forward wins over limited Thai foes. One of those Filipino based Japanese fighters was Jonathan Baat (27-5-3, 13) who scored a 5th round TKO over Artid Sor Worapin (0-1). The win was an expected one from the experienced Filipino who will now be off to Mexico to fight against the talented Rodrigo Guerrero in a battle for a WBC international Silver title with that bout arranged for October 25th. The other Filipino in action was Mark Gil Melligen (20-4-1, 11) who made extremely light work of Kan Wor Surapin (0-1) who lasted just just 176 seconds. This major mismatch doesn't appear to have served much of a purpose though it is nice to see fighters staying active and this was Melligen's third bout in just over 5 months. In the only 6 rounder on the show fans saw Yukiya Hanabusa (6-2-2, 1) score his first stoppage as he took out Thammarat Ratsam (0-2) in the second round. The under-card consisted of 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds, all of which went the distance. They saw two males bouts as Katsuteru Yoshifusa (2-0) defeated debutant Tatsuhiro Toguchi (0-1) via a clear decision and Yohei Fukui (1-0) take a hard fought unanimous decision over Keigo Serizawa (0-1) as well as two female bouts which saw Miki Matsumoto (2-0) over come the win-less Ozora Hikaru (0-3) and Asami Jinnari (1-0) score a debut win over Wachiraya Chammankit (0-1), both of these ending in unanimous decisions.
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It's fair to say that 25 years ago the world was a very different place to what it is now. The cold war is certainly over and there is no need to fear the Russian's...right? Well this past Saturday the boxing world found out that it should fear the Russian's, in a big way. In fact the Russian fighters appear like they are set to take the higher weights and make them their own in what is a worrying time for American fighters.
Quebec, Canada We'll start our results in Canada where one of the Russian fighters really stated their class, intention and ability on the planet with a tremendous and eye opening victory that showed off a ruthless killer instinct and vicious power. That man was Artur Beterbiev (6-0, 6) who put the entire Light Heavyweight division on red alert with a 1-sided destruction of former IBF world champion Tavoris Cloud (24-3, 19). Cloud was dropped 3 times in the opening round and was lucky the bell came when it did or he'd have been stopped inside a round. Sadly for Cloud his survival in round 2 was limited and he was stopped after just 38 seconds of round 2. For Beterbiev this was a coming out party to remember and will have essentially launched him into the world rankings when they are updated. Interestingly the record for fewest bouts to win a Light Heavyweight world title is 10 fights, a record that Beterbiev must have in his sights right now. Moscow, Russia Whilst the result in Canada was a great one for Russian boxing it wasn't the only notable win for a Russian fighter on Saturday, in fact it was one of a number with many other impressive wins taking place on a show that actually took place in Moscow. One of Beterbiev's fellow prospects who also scored a notable win was Sergey Lipinets (4-0, 3) who managed to see off the tough Daniel Lomeli (22-5, 11) in 7 rounds. Prior to the bout Lomeli had only been stopped once, Eduardo Escobedo more than 5 years ago, and that took 10 rounds. Lipinets may not be as explosive or as good as Beterbiev but at 25 years old Lipinets is clearly a prospect to keep a close eye on and he certainly has the potential to go a long way at Light Welterweight or Welterweight, depending on where he settles. Although Lipinets is at the start of his career there were several Russian's who at major crossroads today. One of those was Grigory Drozd (39-1, 27) who may not have been the most entertaining but really did what was needed of him to take the WBC Cruiserweight title from Poland's tough but frustrating Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (49-3-1, 35). At times Drozd looked sensational with great lateral movement, excellent hand speed and lovely combinations at other times however he looked like he was full of self doubt and worried with repeated holding and some odd backing off late in the fight when Wlodarczyk looked ready to go. It really a mixed performance that showed Drozd has got the skills but we were left wondering if he can put it together against a more determined opponent than this version of Wlodarczyk who really was poor ene by his own inconsistent standards. Whilst Drozd, finally, got his hands on a world title it was also nice to see the return to the ring for Denis Lebedev (26-2, 20) who had been out of the ring for over a year following his "loss" to a drug-assisted Guillermo Jones. Although we expected a lot of rust on Lebedev it took him less than 2 rounds to dismantle the previously unbeaten Pawel Kolodziej (33-1, 18). Lebedev might not have been quite as destructive as Beterbiev was in Canada but it was hard not to be impressed by Lebedev who successfully defended the WBA Cruiserweight title with this win. It does appear there are a lot of good fights out there for Lebedev though we're unsure which option he will be taking right now, saying that he's too fun to ignore no matter who he is up against. Metro Manila, Philippines In the Philippines Renan Trongco (16-4, 9) narrowly retained his WBC International Flyweight title with a majority decision over Japan's Hayato Yamaguchi (12-5-1, 2). We've been told that this was a razor thin fight that could have gone either way though the win for Trongco should help him retain his world ranking with the WBC. In the 3 lead support bouts we saw a trio of stoppages. The quickest of those came in 64 seconds as Joe Noynay (6-0, 1) took out the more experienced Junjie Lauza (4-12-1, 1) with a love body shot. It take too much longer for for Jeffrey Arienza (12-2-1, 7) to force a retirement of Ronald Postrano (7-21-2, 3) who quit after 3 rounds. It took just 4 rounds for the other bout to end as Rolly Sumalpong (5-0-1, 2) forced Ricky Oyan (4-22-2, 2) to retire at the end of round 4. Another bout that failed to go the distance saw Bebong Manalo (10-2, 7) take a 5th round KO against Menard Zaragosa (6-19-1, 4) in one of the two scheduled 6 rounds. The other 6 rounder did go the distance as Lady Love Sampiton (2-2, 1) took a majority decision over Carleans Rivas (3-2-3) to claim the GAB female Flyweight title. In the 4 rounders we saw 2 bouts fail to go the distance. One of those saw Jun Blazo (2-1-1, 2) take a second round stoppage against Rolando Prima (0-3) whilst Alvin Medura (2-0, 2) forced a retirement of the debuting Elvis Lagman (0-1). The bouts that did go the distance saw Cris Ganoza (4-0) take a split decision over Jiro Saonoy (1-4) whilst Anthony Villanueva (2-0, 1) clearly out pointed Joshro Lindon (0-3). Ibaragi, Japan In Japan fans in Ibaragi had the chance to catch a small profile show. The most notable fight on the show saw Tatsuya Takahashi (18-5-3, 13) defeat limited Thai Kheaw Sod Sit Krupak (9-6-1, 1)* in the second round. After the win Takahashi announced that he would be returning to the ring on December 8th to challenge Kentaro Masuda for the Japanese Bantamweight title. In the main support bouts, both scheduled for 6 rounds, fans saw Shoichi Eiraku (6-4, 5) make very light work of Hitoshi Ando (4-8-1, 3), in just 35 seconds. The second 6 rounder saw Hideki Suzuki (5-4-1) out point Corrales Kawashimo (4-5-1, 1). The card began with 5 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. In the Lightweight division fans saw Yuichi Kitayama (1-1, 1) over-come Akira Onishi (0-2) with a 4th round stoppage, at Featherweight we saw another stoppage as Makoto Nakamura (1-0, 1) won one of 3 all-debutant match ups stopping Shohei Kamiya (0-1) in the second round. A third early stoppage came in a Bantamweight bout as Seiyu Gunji (1-0, 1) scored an excellent debut win as he took out Kazuma Sugiura (1-1, 1) in 140 seconds. The other under-card bouts saw Fumiya Naoi (1-0) take a victory over Takeshi Honda (0-1) with a very narrow split decision whilst Yuya Nemoto (2-4) out pointed Makoto Takahashi (2-6-1, 1) in a clear win. (*record taken from boxingnews.jp) Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
The most notable Asian bout of the day happened in Thailand where PABA interim Bantamweight champion Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (41-2, 24) successfully defended his title and stopped Indonesian visitor Junior Bajawa (14-4, 7), with Bajawa retiring in his corner. We suspect, from what we've been told, that this bout win will set up Panomroonglek for a world title fight with a WBA title holder though at the moment we're unsure over which WBA title holder with suspicions that it could be Jamie McDonnell of the UK. In another televised bout from this card we've been told that Kongputorn CPFreshmart (4-0, 3) continued his winning run with a 3rd round retirement victory over Jomyuthlek sor Narongchai (10-3, 3). Metro Manila, Philippines Another show where we only have the main event result at the moment came in the Philippines where Rogelio Jun Doliguez (19-2-2, 14) lost a split technical decision to Dennis Tubieron (19-3-1, 8). Doliguez was dropped early in the bout and was later stopped after a nasty clash of heads forced the referee to end the bout. Again we're hoping for the under-card results shortly. Tokyo, Japan In Japan we had the second day of Rookie of the Year East semi-finals. This show, like yesterday's, saw the winners taking a step towards the All Japan Rookie of the Year finals later this year. In the Minimumweight division Yuki Kubo (5-1, 2) out pointed Akihiro Hikichi (3-4-3) with a clear cut decision. A less clear cut bout was in the Light Flyweight division where Sho Kimura (5-1-1) progressed despite only draw with Akira Kokubo (1-3-3), that was because Kimura won on one of the 3 cards, effectively taking a "minority" draw if you will. On paper it was the Flyweight division that had one of the best match ups as Sonin Nihei (5-0-1, 1) maintained his unbeaten record and got past the heavy handed Naoki Mochizuki (5-1, 4). At Super Flyweight we had our first stoppage as Hokuto Sakata (5-3-1, 3) took out the previously unbeaten Yugo Ueda (3-1, 2) in the third round. This was one of 5 stoppages on the show and we'll get to the others in a moment or two. The Bantamweight division featured one of the most competitive contests as Ken Kodama (4-0-1, 1) narrowly out pointed Junichi Obara (6-3-1, 1) with a split decision. We also had a split decision up at Lightweight where Shintaro Nakamura (5-2-1, 2) just over came Shoma Koga (3-2-1, 3). The second KO of the show came as Super Bantamweight as Yuki Matsudo (7-1, 3) scored an opening round KO against Hikaru Takaki (6-5, 5). At Featherweight we saw Naoto Miroya (6-1-1, 3) force a 3rd round retirement of Yu Takegaki (4-3-1, 1) whilst at Super Featherweight Yutaka Ekawa (5-2-1, 2) upset Hikaru Akutsu (4-1, 3) with a 2nd round KO. There was also a KO in the show ending Middleweight bout as Asahi Hatsumi (4-1, 2) took out Naoya Kaneko (3-3, 3) in 3 rounds. The remaining contests came in the Welterweight divisions. At Light Welterweight Yasuki Katagiri (4-0, 1) out pointed Shunsuke Fukushima (3-3-2, 2) in a very tight fight whilst at Welterweight Masaya Tamayama (4-0, 3) took a majority win over Hiroki Ashizawa (2-1, 2). Krasnodar, Russia The one card where we do have all the results for, for now at least, came in Russia as we had a card with some international attention. The main event saw American superstar Roy Jones Jr (59-8, 42) stopping the awfully mismatched Hany Atiyo (14-3, 10) in just 75 seconds in what was little more than a farce to give Jones an easy and impressive looking win. Unfortunately it was a farce even Stevie Wonder could see through. Prior to the Roy Jones Jr bout there had been 5 other contests on the show, all more entertaining than the disgrace that followed them. The first of the undercard bouts saw Soslan Tedeev (4-0, 4) continue his rise through the ranks with a 3rd round KO against the more experienced, and usually durable Bacho Kvaratskhelia (16-12-3, 6). The Georgian visitor suffered his first stoppage defeat in over 4 years, dating back to a stoppage loss to Serhiy Fedchenko. On paper this is very impressive from Tedeev who may be one of the many Russian fighters on the very of breaking through. In an equally as impressive victory Ruslan Faifer (4-0, 1) took a very clear decision over the substantially more experienced Yuriy Barashian (27-7, 18) to claim the vacant WBC Baltic Silver Cruiserweight title. Although the title doesn't have much of a meaning it is still a great win for Faifer who stepped up massively and beat a 2-time world title challenger in an 8 round bout. Whilst it's true that Barashian was a Light Heavyweight in his prime this was still a good win considering where Faifer is in his own career, the beginning. Another man with an impressive showing was Aik Shakhnazaryan (14-0, 5) who thoroughly dominated the brave and tough Sergio Mauricio Gil (16-4-2, 12). Gil was dropped twice, in rounds 5 and 10, though showed great heart to see out the 10 round bout when he could have quit. The scored of 100-88 all showed the domination by the unbeaten Russian who is ready to be moved towards a more meaningful fight. In another title bout David Avanesyan (18-1-1, 9) out pointed Ramon de la Cruz Sena (18-12-2, 11) to defend the WBC Baltic Welterweight title with ease. This was another widely scored contest in favour of the Russian winner who was never really in any trouble at all. The most oddly scored bout of the show was in the co-feature as Fedor Papazov (16-1, 10) took a very, very wide decision over the durable Felix Lora (18-13-5, 9). Lora was down in rounds 6 and 7 and had numerous points taken to result in score cards that read 98-87, 98-86 and 99-85 all in favour of Papazov. Yes that was a 10 rounder with scorecards as wide as 14 points! Staggering. This bout saw Papazov defending the WBC Baltic Lightweight title for the first time. New South Wales, Australia In Australia local fans had the chance to see their very own Davey Browne (20-1-1, 6) dominated Filipino foe Rey Las Pinas (19-10-5, 11) in a very 1-sided bout for the WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council Super Featherweight title. We do need to wonder what the Filipino fighter was doing at 130lbs considering he's usually a Super Bantamweight, though it appears he was doing little more than surviving in a shut out loss. As we've mentioned we will be hoping to add the other bouts from the Philippines soon. Sadly with Saturday being a busy day we've decided to publish this "as is" ahead of the bouts tomorrow. Sorry for any confusion however. Tokyo, Japan The road to the All-Japan Rookie of the Year continued this past Thursday with the first of two days of Semi Finals to find the East representatives. In total 11 weights were included as we continued to move towards the finals. The lowest weight on offer here was Minimumweight which saw Masayuki Ichikawa (5-0, 2) progressing to the East final courtesy of a 3rd round technical decision victory over Yoshiki Abe (3-2-2, 1). This was the only technical decision on the show though it certainly wasn't the only bout that failed to see out the scheduled 4 rounds. In fact neither Light Flyweight nor Flyweight saw the final bell with the Light Flyweight contest ending 29 seconds early courtesy of a KO by Kenji Ono (5-1, 3) who stopped Hikaru Ota (3-3, 1) with time ticking away. The Flyweight bout was stopped in round 2 as Kenya Yamashita (5-0, 4) won a battle of unbeaten men and took care of Takunari Yokoyama (4-1, 2). At Super Flyweight we saw a competitive win for the once beaten Shogo Yonenaga (5-1, 2) who over-came Jun Ishimoto (3-3, 2) to progress to the regional final. A slightly less competitive bout saw Ryohei Takahashi (3-1-1) score a slightly surprising win over the more experienced Daiki Yoshimatsu (5-3, 1). The most even bout on the show however came at Super Bantamweight as Yoshifumi Tamaki (5-1-1, 2) fought to a majority draw with the unbeaten Ryo Hino (4-0-1, 1) in a bout that was too close to call either way. The show's third stoppage came at Featherweight as Reiya Abe (6-1, 3) stopped the previously unbeaten Haruka Itakura (4-1, 1) in the second round to book his place in the next round alongside Super Featherweight hopeful Yuichiro Kasuya (4-0, 1) who only just sneaked past Takahiro Araki (5-3, 3) courtesy of a majority decision. At Lightweight we saw arguably the star of the show in the form of the sensational Andy Hiraoka (5-0, 3) who stopped Shoma Sekine (2-2-2) to keep alive his hopes of becoming a star. The elongated Lightweight puncher has claimed that he wishes to be a world champion and at young age it's a wish that is likely to come true on his performances so far. At Light Welterweight fans saw Naoharu Kida (5-0, 3) over-come the previously unbeaten Shinjiro Kawada (2-1, 2) with a 4 round unanimous decision whilst at Welterweight Hironobu Matsunaga (5-0, 3) retained his unbeaten record with a very narrow split decision over Makoto Kawasaki (4-2-1, 1). The winners will be in action against the winners from the other semi finals that were being fought on Friday. They will meet on November 2nd to decide the East representatives in the All Japan Rookie of the Year final. (Image, of Hiraoka and Sekine, courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Tokyo, Japan This past Wednesday in Japan fans got the chance to see a national champion in action as well as a female OPBF title fight and several other bouts of note in an interesting domestic card at the Korakuen Hall. The card kicked off with an all debutant affair that saw Light Welterweight hopeful Atsushi Ogiwara (1-0, 1) score a 2nd round TKO against Yuichi Takeda (0-1). The all debutant bout was one of two bouts scheduled for 4 rounds and the other one saw the unbeaten Haruaki Kamiya (3-0, 1) take a decision over Keisuke Fujii (3-5, 2). Following the 4 rounder we then had a trio of B class finals, all of which were scheduled for 5 rounds. The most one sided of these match ups saw the heavy handed Daisuke Hayakawa (8-1, 7) wipe out Masahiro Ouchi (6-8) inside a round. On paper we had suspected that Hayakawa would have had his work cut out, considering that Ouchi had only been stopped once, instead however he was blitzed here. The most competitive of the B class bouts saw Yoshihisa Yokota (7-10-1, 2) take a very narrow split decision over Kenji Fujiyama (5-4, 3). The bout, scored 48-47 by all 3 judges. The B class other bout saw Yutaka Kamioka (8-3-2, 4) take a slightly surprising win over Gaku Aikawa (6-2-1, 1) in a unanimous decision. In a bout between ranked Japanese fighters Moon Hyun Yun (15-4-2, 2) out pointed Ryota Itoyama (10-6-1, 5) via a majority decision. This win saw Yun ending a 3 fight winless streak dating back almost 2 years whilst Itoyama had now gone 3 fights without a win. The first of two title fights saw a minor upset as Mika Oda (6-7-1, 1) ended a break of more than a year and over-came Saemi Hanagata (9-5-2, 4) via a majority decision to claim the OPBF female Minimumweight title. This bout was supposed to be the first defense for Hanagata though she was out worked down the stretch and unable to keep up with Oda who has scored a career defining win here. The other title fight went as everyone should have expected and saw Japanese Minimumweight champion Go Odaira (11-3-3, 1) easily retain his title with a clear win over the out classed Hiroya Yamamoto (8-2, 3). The fight was moderately competitive over the first 5 rounds with 1 judge giving the challenger more credit that he perhaps deserved. In the second half of the fight however things were completely 1 sided and Yamamoto was fortunate that Odaira lacked the power to see him. Following the fight the story was that Odaira would be trying to get a world title fight in 2015 with Francisco Rodriguez named as his target! (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Thailand The most notable action this past Tuesday came from Thailand where Channel 7 showed a pair of PABA title fights, which at the time of writing aren't listed on boxrec.com. The first of those saw 17 year old Stamp Kiatniwat (10-0, 4) continue his rise to stardom as he claimed the PABA interim Flyweight with a 1-sided victory over Indonesia's Samuel Tehuayo (18-26-2, 3). The bout was one sided for the most part but at 17 years old we don't mind Stamp being afforded a bit of time in terms of development match ups like this one which did get him 12 rounds of action. This was Stamp's second complete 12 rounder following a decision last time out against former world champion Kwanthai Sithmorseng. The other bout saw Chatpetch Sithmorseng (10-3, 6)* making the second defense of his PABA interim Super Flyweight title with a very straight forward victory over Indonesian visitor Anis Ceunfin (16-22-5, 6). Chatpetch, who started 0-3, has now run up 10 straight wins and looks to be a fighter who is developing into an intelligent pressure fighter who is always happy to go to the body of an opponent. In none-televised bouts from this card fans saw a further trio of bouts. One of those 4 bouts saw Amin Sor Wangmoo (8-1-1, 6) score a 4th round KO over Chopper Sor Paitong (0-1). Another bout saw Tirachok Kiatniwat (5-0, 3) stopping Petchmai sor Praitong (0-1) inside a round whilst Dennapha Kiatniwat (1-0, 1) defeated Lomnauo Sakberlin (0-2-1) via a 4th round KO. At the time of writing none of these bouts are on boxrec.com so the records of several of these could be wrong unfortunately. Kumamoto, Japan In Japan fans in Kumamoto got the chance to see an interesting rookie show with fighters form Central and Western Japan. In total the show featured 11 bouts with contests ranging from Minimumweight to Welterweight. In the Minimumweight division fans saw Jun Takigawa (5-0, 4) extend his unbeaten run with a 5 round decision over Naoya Haruguchi (5-5, 2), this bout was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 5 rounds. The others saw the once beaten Light Flyweight Seita Ogido (6-1, 1) over-come Kenta Matsui (5-3, 1), also with a decision, whilst Morihisa Iju (5-0, 4) took just 145 seconds to blast out Masaru Urata (4-1-1, 1). All the other 8 bouts were scheduled for 4 rounds and and ranged from Light Flyweight to Welterweight. In the Light Flyweight contest the unbeaten Rikito Hattori (2-0, 1) scored a clear decision win over Yuta Motoyama (1-3). Hattori's win was one of just 2 Unanimous decision wins with Shogo Yamaguchi (5-0-1, 3) scoring the other, albeit it narrowly in a victory over Fine Arai (2-1)that was scored 38-37 by all 3 judges. At Flyweight Naoki Shoda (3-7-2) took a very narrow split decision over Kazuyuki Tomita (2-2) with a fight scored 39-38 by all 3 judges. Another split saw Shisato Okuma (8-1-2, 6) take a split decision over Masatuhu Ito (1-2-1), this was a surprisingly close result given the experience difference of the two men involved. Another fighter who surprisingly struggled was Takashi Igarashi (5-0, 1) who only just got past Sho Takahashi (2-3, 2). A 4th split decision lead to a split decision draw between Tomoya Ikeda (1-0-1, 1) and Eiichiro Ninomiya (1-0-2, 1) who both kept their unbeaten records. At Light Welterweight fans were given a "blink and you miss it" contest as Tetsuya Morisada (3-3, 3) blasted away Yusuke Yamanouchi (6-2-1, 2) in just 85 seconds! Although Morisada was quick he was made to look like a snail by Welterweight Yuki Beppu (6-0, 6) who blasted away Shinpei Tominaga (1-2, 1) in just 32 seconds! (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Sunday didn't see much action though there was 2 separate shows in Asia. Hyogo, Japan In Japan fans were treat to a small card. Among the action was a short though entertaining exhibition featuring Former Japanese Middleweight champion Keiji Eguchi who was celebrating his retirement by sparring the chairman of his former gym. The main event of the show was the only bout scheduled for more than 4 rounds and saw Ryuji Miyazaki (13-7-3, 4) take a hard fought and very narrow decision over Yasuyuki Otagaki (5-2-3, 1). The bout was highly competitive though all 3 judges scored it to Miyazaki. The rest of the card was all 4 rounders and featured 7 bouts in total. These included a win for the unbeaten Nobuya Nakazawa (2-0, 2) who blew out Tenmei Serizawa (4-2, 2) in just 42 seconds. Remarkably this wasn't the shortest bout of the day as Yusuka Kosaka (1-0, 1) took just 25 seconds to blow out Yosuke Goto (1-6). The only other stoppage on the under-card saw Tenta Kiyose (2-1-1, 1) scoring a 4 round stoppage over Kazuki Koyanagi (3-8). The rest of the under-card all went the distance. This saw a majority draw between Tetsuya Kawabata (3-7-1) and the win-less Manabu Kashine (0-1-1). In another bout Takaaki Maeda (2-1) out pointed Yoshiya Shiraiwa (0-1), the unbeaten Kenta Sakata (1-0-1) scored his first win as he over-came the debuting Shinen Nakayasu (0-1) and Shota Nakashima (2-1) took a clear decision over Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-5, 1). Camarines Sur, Philippines There was also a show in the Philippines, unfortunately however we've only received limited results at the moment. The results we have are that the very promising Michael Dasmarinas (18-1, 11) scored a 6th round TKO over Indonesian fighter Oscar Raknafa (12-7, 5). This was Raknafa's second stoppage loss and it seems that he is going to become little more than a journeyman. Rakanafa's fall from world ranked Minimumweight to journeyman Super Flyweight has been quick to say the least whilst for Dasmarinas his rise appears to be very promising. One of the other results we have is that of the heavy handed Al Sabaupan (23-2-1, 18) who stopped Eddy Comaro (27-22-5, 11) in 5 rounds to continue his rise. A third result from this show is that the Minimumweight bout on this show between Oliver Gregorio (9-3-2, 5) and Lester Abutan (6-2-3, 3) resulted in a 3rd round technical draw. We hope to get the rest of these results shortly. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Saturday was a ridiculously busy day with numerous great fights. With so much action it has taken us a while to get our results up, and even now we awaiting results from 2 other cards. Hopefully we'll be able to add those soon. Osaka, Japan The first Asian show of the day was in Osaka where we had a female world title double header. The most notable of those world title bouts saw WBO Atomweight champion Nao Ikeyama (15-3-1, 4) score the first defence of her title. The 45 year old defending champion managed to out work and out point the younger Masae Akitaya (9-5-2, 3) in what was a stirring effort from the champion and the sort of bout that shows that age isn't a defining factor in how good a fighter is. Ikeyama may have the face of a 45 year old battler but she has the energy reserves of someone half her age and she showed it in scintillating fashion here. The other world title fight on this same show saw Japan's Kumiko Seeser Ikehara (6-1-1, 3) claim the WBO female Minimumweight title with a split decision win over Filipino foe Gretchen Abaniel (15-6, 6). Although the scorecards were all over Ikehara was the deserving winner and she seemed the stronger fighter through out. Sadly this title was vacant following Mako Yamada's retirement and in fairness to Yamada she would likely have beaten both Ikehara and Abaniel with out any issues, it's just a shame she retired following her excellent victory over Su Yun Hong. A third notable female bout on this show ended with a little surprise as Tamao Ozawa (7-2, 2) claimed a split decision over Kai Johnson (5-6-3, 2). The records may not suggest this was a surprise but Johnson had come into this bout following stoppage wins over Tomomi Takano, in June, and Ozawa in March. For Ozawa this was revenge for one of her losses and by far her biggest win to date. Down the card there was another female bout as Aiko Yamagishi (4-0-1, 2) stopped Chie Higano (3-1) in 2 rounds. The other bout on the bottom of the card saw debutants taking wins as Yusuke Hiranuma (1-0) out pointed Hiroshi Takagi (2-4) over the 4 round distance Shoshi Nakamura (1-0, 1) stopped Terumi Aoi (0-2) part way through round 4. Jakarta, Indonesia In Indonesia there was 2 televised bouts, sadly both of them slipped under our radar. The under-card bout saw Marten Kisamlu (3-2, 1) score a 4th round TKO over the frankly hopeless Safwan Lombok (1-26-1). For Lombok this was his 24th successive bout with out a win and you need to go all the way back to 2008 to find his sole win, a split decision over Ichal Tobida. The main event on this card saw Erick Deztroyer (5-2) claim the interim Indonesian Boxing Association Super Bantamweight title after he won a very close 12 round split decision win against Gusti Elnino (1-5). From the score-cards it appears to have been one of those that could have gone either way though the only thing for sure is that neither of these guys is going to go far, at best they will be used as journeymen in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan. Arizona, USA In the US fans were treat to a fantastic performance of counter-puncher from talented Russian prospect Konstantin Ponomarev (25-0, 12) who looked very promising as he out pointed Mexican veteran Cosme Rivera (37-19-3-1, 25). At just 21 years old it does look like Ponomarev may not have natural power needed to progress to the top, though he is still not a fully matured fighter and hopefully that power will come as he becomes a man. With speed, an exciting style and a clear ability there is a lot of hope that Ponomarev will go all the way and we have our fingers tightly crossed that he will manage to become the star that his team expect him to be. Baja California, Mexico Last, but not least, was a thriller in Mexico as Terdsak Kokietgym (53-5-1, 33) went toe-to-toe and exchanged multiple knock downs with Mexico's very own Orlando Salido (42-12-2-1, 29). Unfortunately for Terdsak he was on the end of the biggest knockdown that came in round 11 and forced the referee to immediately stop the bout, it was the 7th knockdown of the bout and ended a see-saw battle in style. If you enjoy violence and thrilling action this one is for you, despite a very poor performance from referee Eddie Claudio who was easily the worst thing about the bout. Cebu, Philippines In the Philippines there were a number of bouts in Cebu. The highest profile fighter in action here was fringe Super Featherweight contender Adones Aguelo (22-10-2, 14) who made light work of the over-matched Bonnie Makiling (5-7, 4). Whilst we wouldn't describe Aguelo as a future world champion he has shown himself as a very competitive fighter with solid performances against some of the best in Mexico such as Sergio Thompson. In one of the chief support bouts fans saw the unbeaten Ardie Boyose (12-0-1, 8) continue his winning ways with a decision over the incredibly tough Jaime Barcelona (38-56-1, 10). Although Boyose is a big puncher credit needs to go to Barcelona who has managed to go 95 bouts over 17 years with only 5 stoppage losses. Another 8 round decision saw the much touted Neil John Tabanao (9-0, 6) being taken the distance by Jo-as Apericio (11-13,8). For the 20 year old Tabanao this was his second successive decision win and will have helped him develop more than blow away victories. One stoppage that came in the bouts scheduled for 8 rounds saw the criminally under-rated Gerpaul Valero (18-15-3, 12) stopping the so-so Arlon Batingal (7-9, 4) in 3 rounds. The 23 year old Valero has one of the ultimate "misleading records" and has turned his career around remarkably in the last 4 years, a real battler and credit to hard work, hopefully that hard work will, one day, pay off in a big pay day. The only other result from this show that we know the result for saw Joey Canoy (7-0-1, 3) retaining his unbeaten record in a battle of unbeaten men as he over-came Ryan Bajala (3-1, 1) with a 6 round decision,. Castilla-La Mancha, Spain In Spain there was another Thai in action as the experienced Kiatchai Singwancha (35-12, 24) scored a 4th round KO against the fragile Ivan Martinez (29-5, 23). (Image courtesy of Thairec.com) Srisaket returns with a whimper against Pama, Nawaphon beats Barongsay and Kongfah entertains9/20/2014 Sara Buri, Thailand
The first show on Friday came in the early afternoon local time in Thailand as Channel 7 televised 3 bouts, each involving an interesting Thai fighter and each having pelnty of action. The show kicked off with the unbeaten Nawaphon Por Chokchai (23-0, 16) battling against Indonesian journeyman Hendrik Barongsay (26-19-3, 15). The fight, which saw Nawaphon retain his unbeaten record with a decision win over the Indonesian, was a relatively sloppy affair that made us feel that Nawaphon had either over-looked his opponent or had had an off night. The interesting thing however was that this bout was fought at around 120lbs, not Nawaphon's usual 112lbs. Nawaphon is ranked #1 by the WBC at Flyweight though it appears he has clearly outgrown the weight, unfortunately however he will need to improve a lot to make a mark at either Bantamweight or Super Bantamweight and this performance was very disappointing. The second bout, and in fact the main event of the show, saw the return to the ring of former WBC world champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (28-4-1, 25). Srisaket was fighting for the first time since losing his world title to Carlos Cuadras in May and it appeared that ring rust took it's toll on the usually destructive Thai who struggled, unexpectedly, with Filipino journeyman Zoren Pama (6-11-3, 3). The fight started at an amazing pace as both went to war through the first 3 rounds. It appeared that Srisaket had expected to be enough though the Filipino was brave enough with stand the early onslaught and forced Srisaket to box off the backfoot before an accident clash of heads allowed Srisaket to get a technical win. It was disappointing from the Thai fighter who appeared to be bailed out of the bout in some ways, but he was well up on the scorecards. The third bout on the show, and possibly the most entertaining, saw Kongfah Nakornluang (15-0, 8) retain his unbeaten record with a decision win over Den Baansuan Samlansaraburi (1-7, 1). The fight was a slugfest and genuinely great action though neither guy looked particularly good. Whilst on paper Kongfah is 15-0 the problem is that his opponents have all been inexperienced or career losers and his 15 opponents, according to boxrec.com, have had a combined 6 wins and almost 30 losses. He's not so much a prospect as a very protected fighter who is unlikely to have the ability to take the next step forward with his career. In untelevised bouts on this show Nayoklek Sithsaithong (1-0, 1) scored a 3rd round KO over fellow debutant Dechrith Sor Prasobchok (0-1) whilst Patomsak Sitsaithong (1-0) kicked off his career with a decision over Kodchasan Yuikanchang (0-1) New South Wales, Australia In Australia we saw two Asian's in action. The first of those was Thailand's Thong Por Chokchai (23-10-1, 15) who was stopped in the second round by the heavy handed Leonardo Zappvigna (32-2, 22). This was "Lenny Zappa's" second win over an Asian this year following his 10th round TKO win over Shuhei Tsuchiya in April whilst for Thong it was a second successive stoppage loss following a 4th round KO to Czar Amonsot in June. The other was Filipino Roman Canto (8-5-2, 3) who suffered his 4th straight loss due to an 8th round TKO defeat at the hands of TJ Doheny (8-0, 6). This contest was the 7th straight bout without a win for Canto who really appears to have his career falling apart all of a sudden. California, USA We also had two Asian fighters in action in California, both of who scored wins. The most predictable of the two bouts saw Kyrgyzstan Urmat Ryskeldiev (9-3-1, 5) take a clear decision over the limited Malik Bazille (2-3). This was the 3rd straight win for Kyrgyzstan man who is now 3-0-1 in his last 4 contests. The surprise on the card however was the return to the ring of Japan's Gaku Takahashi (12-5-1, 6) who took a majority decision over Javier Albonica (6-2, 4), in round 3 Takahashi scored a knockdown which effectively won him the decision. This was Takahashi's first fight in over 4 years and was a great way to mark his return to the ring. Phayao, Thailand
Earlier today saw several fights in Thailand courtesy of a televised show on Channel 11. The headline bout saw the heavy handed but ultimately limited Chalermpol Singwancha (10-0, 8) successfully retain his Asian Boxing Federation Welterweight title with a nasty KO against Indonesia's win-less Didi Panzer (0-6). The bout, a gross mismatch from when it was signed, made Chalermpol look half decent though the bout was such a horrible mismatch that nobody really looked good and the referee should hang his head in shame for his performance which allowed Panzer to take several unnecessary shots when it was clear the bout should have been stopped. Another bout on the card that saw an eye opening KO was the contest between Petchsuriya Singwancha (12-8, 6) and Kongsuk Patanakan Gym (3-4-1, 1). The men, meeting for the second time, looked in a totally different class to each other and it showed in round 3 as Petchsuriya scored two huge knockdowns with the referee stopping it after the second. The men had met last just over a year ago and in that bout Petchsuriya had also scored a 3rd round KO. From what we under-stand Petchsuriya will be returning to the ring in November to battle against Koki Tyson Maebara in a WBC Youth world title fight in Japan. A third bout on this show saw Pankorn Mor Poowana (3-1-1, 3) fighting to a technical draw with Jen Yu Jia (1-8-2). This was the second meeting between the two men, who first met in December 2013, and from the they each suffered after a monster clash of heads it's going to be a shock to see either in the ring again this year. The bout wasn't as bloody as Jaesung Lee's win over Takuya Watanabe from earlier this year, but had it not been stopped it would have left the Lee/Watanabe blood bath seem like a minor spillage of claret. This was genuinely horrendous considering how badly cut both men were. Texas, USA In the US we saw the short debut of Radmir Akhmediyev (1-0, 1) who made extremely light work of the win-less Chris Doyle (0-2) with an opening round KO. Akhmediyev is apparently a Cruiserweight from Kazakhstan and could be one of the handful of emerging fighters from the country worth keeping an eye on, though time will tell. |
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