Whether you're a fighter, a promoter, a manager, a journalist or a fan you just need accept that sometimes you need to take a leap of faith and believe in your views in the hope they will pay off down the road. Sometimes you're wrong, heaven knows we are on a regular basis. Sometimes however you're right and and you can be the one who says "told you so". With that in mind, we'd just like to say "told you so" about one young man who planted his name in the record books today and fast tracked himself a world title shot whilst living up to the high expectations we had of him. Tokyo, Japan The man we're talking about in that slightly over-indulgent introduction is the newly crowned OPBF Minimumweight champion Kosei Tanaka (4-0, 2) who scored a sensational victory over the previously unbeaten Ryuji Hara (18-1, 10) to claim the OPBF title and supplant himself into the top 10 Minimumweight's on the planet, if not the top 5. Tanaka, fighting in his first title fight as a professional, fought in a relatively see-saw battle through 8 rounds before exploding in rounds 9 and 10 to see off Hara who needed saving by the referee. As an isolated incident the stoppage was questionable but Hara had been all over the place in round 9 as Tanaka started to let his lightning quick hands go with nastier intentions. When he turned professional we raved about Tanaka, now we hope that others will see the magic that this youngster has in his hands. To claim an OPBF title in just his 4th fight is sensational, it's a Japanese national record. To do it against fighter like Hara however is something else. Were it not for Naoya Inoue we would honestly be describing Tanaka as a once in a generation fighter, he really is that good. For those wanting to watch this, which really should be everyone, the full fight video is here. Of course the Tanaka/Hara bout wasn't the only bout of the day and prior to it fans saw 6 other bouts at the Korakuen Hall. These began with a pair of 4 round bouts which both finished early. The shorter of the two saw Kabreen Yuya (1-1-1, 1) record his first win with a 2nd round TKO against the debuting Hiroki Saito (0-1) the other went a round longer as the unbeaten Ryoji Suzuki (2-0, 1) scored his first stoppage by taking out Satoru Takubo (1-3). The sole 6 rounder also ended early as the light hitting Kenichi Miyazaki (7-1-1, 2) forced a 3rd round stoppage of Hideaki Yamaji (4-7, 2). The bulk of the support contests were 8 rounders, in fact there was a trio of them. Sadly from that trio only one turned out to be competitive, though it was a bout that everyone already knew was going to be close. We knew it was going to be a good one as it was the rubber match between Spice Matsushita (13-8, 2) and Junpei Hara (14-6-2, 9). The two men had already shared 2 very close bouts in 2012 but this turned out to be even close with Matsushita taking a split decision one cards that really could have gone either way. We know some fans aren't fans of re-runs but we suspect you could have these two in the ring 100 times and there would never be a clear winner due to how well matched they are. The most one-sided of the 8 rounders saw the heavy handed Yoshimichi Matsumoto (7-1, 6) wipe out Thailand's Phanthong Por Panya (0-1) late in the bouts second round The remaining bout went 5 rounds as former Japanese Featherweight title challenger Toru Suzuki (24-4, 8) ended a 2 fight losing run by stopping the over-matched Yuta Matsuda (9-11-2, 4). The win effectively keeps Suzuki's career alive though we do doubt he'll go on to achieve much more than he has done already and this win likely does little more than covers over the cracks of his recent form. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Hyogo, Japan It's fair to say that today wasn't the busiest day nor was it the most interesting day of the week in Asian boxing circles. It was however a notable day with an OPBF title fight that featured one of the most exciting prospects in Japanese boxing, if not Asian boxing. The prospect was Ioka gym hopeful Masayoshi Nakatani (9-0, 5), the current OPBF Lightweight champion who many are now ear marking for success. Nakatani made the second defense of his title in a controlled performance against the heavy handed but notably smaller Futoshi Usami (12-2-1, 9), who was stuck behind the champions long jab for vast swathes of the bout. It was a bout that ended up lacking the excitement we had hoped for but yet it was a very mature performance from the champion who looks the part already. In the chief support bout we saw another Lightweight bout as former Japanese title challenger Yuhei Suzuki (15-4, 11) was given an almost perfect work out as he was taken 8 rounds by the extremely tough Keisuke Arima (8-10-1, 1). Suzuki, a heavy handed but limited fighter, scored a knockdown but couldn't see off the defensively minded Arima who has still never been stopped. The other 8 rounder on the card was much more interest as the limited Yasunori Kishigami (9-2-1, 5) was forced to work for a decision win over Thai visitor Phissanuthep Chaiyonggym (4-12-1, 3) in what was a surprisingly competitive bout despite a clear win on the cards for Japanese fighter. The two opening bouts both ended early. These saw Koji Ohori (9-3-2, 5) scoring a 2nd round KO over Thailand's Prayoot Saknarong (0-2), who was stopped at the very end of the second round, and a 4th round KO for female fighter Kana Fukuda (3-1, 1) who beat the debuting Wakako Fujiwara (0-1) with just under 90 seconds of their bout remaining. (Image, from the Nakatani fight, courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Tokyo, Japan This Monday saw an interesting but low level card from the Korakuen Hall as we got the next of the Dangan shows and a tournament that was made to set up some C Class tournament finals in early 2015. The show began with a quick opening round victory for the unbeaten Riki Hamada (2-0, 2) who made light work of Shuntaro Ouchi (1-2) in a bout that lasted less than 2 minutes. This was one of 4 opening round victories on the card and was, like all the bouts on the card, fought between novices some of which seemed to be in totally leagues to each other. One of the more competitive bouts came in the show's second contest as Junsuke Igarashu (2-1, 1) narrowly defeated Kenji Matsumoto (1-4). This bout and the opener were the only ones which weren't C class tournament semi-finals. The first of the C class tournament bouts saw the unbeaten Kimihiro Nakagawa (3-0-1, 2) over-come Featherweight foe Tsuguyasu Nakamura (2-4, 1) with a 4 round decision to progress to the final in which he will fight against Jin Miura (3-0) who over-came Masahito Oki (2-2, 2) with a shut out victory. At Super Featherweight We saw Genki Ishikawa (2-0, 1) swiftly see off Hikaru Komori (1-2, 1) with a second round TKO. Ishikawa's opponent in the final had much more work to do as he, Yamato Sasaki (2-0), struggled past Toshiya Tanaka (1-2, 1) with a split decision victory. At Super Bantamweight we again saw fighters getting to through their bouts in very different ways. For Naoaki Kumagai (3-2, 2) things were a real struggle as he battled hard to defeat Tetsu Narisawa (1-2) by majority decision. Hit opponent in the final will be Renji Ichimura (2-1, 2) who blew away Shunya Nagaoka (1-2) in 122 seconds. At Bantamweight we saw both finalists easily moving on to the final. The first man was Satohiko Haga (3-0, 1) who scored his first career stoppage with an 80 second victory over Seita Shimamiya (1-2, 1) whilst Koji Ida (2-0) took a unanimous decision over Shinta Aihara (1-1) who lost his unbeaten record with this loss. It's at Light Welterweight that we appear to have the best bout match up made. That's because of the finalists appear to be big punchers. The first man to book his name in the final at 140lbs was Rice Hayashi (2-0, 2) who took out Katsuya Abe (2-5) in 116 seconds before seeing Pon Ponta (3-0, 3) wipe out Kenji Sato (1-3, 1) in the third round to set up a brilliant clash. The finals, those interested, will be fought on January 27th next year. (Image courtesy of Dangan boxing) This past Sunday was a busy day in Asia though it was also a low profile day with numerous relatively low level fights taking place across the continent. Fukuoka, Japan Arguably the most significant bout was the main even on a show from Fukuoka. Sadly even that bout wasn't hugely important in the grand scale of things, despite featuring the world ranked and unbeaten Takumi Sakae (10-0, 6) who made light work of Thai novice Thephasuthin Chaiyonggym (0-1) who was stopped part way through round 3. Sakae, currently ranked in the top 15 by the WBA, is a long way from any sort of a title fight though getting experience will help him develop his already solid looking skills. Unfortunately whilst the main event was somewhat interesting, due to Sakae's ranking, many of the cards other bouts were poor even for a small domestic card. In fact the two chief support bouts lasted just 3 rounds with one of those, the bout between Keisuke Nakayama (6-1-1, 3) and Poomsak Saknarong (0-0-1) ending as a technical draw after just 95 seconds. The other saw the experienced Tatsuya Miyamoto (11-12-1, 7) stopping Thailand's Nichao Chaiyonggym (0-2) in the second round of their contest. On the undercard we had much more competitive action, including a narrow decision win for the wonderfully named J Soul Meada (2-1-2, 1) who defeated Satoru Okuma (2-3, 1) and we also saw Naoki Yamashita (2-1) just squeak past Ryo Ota (1-1, 1). Not all the undercard bouts went the distance however and one of those bouts saw Kotaro Ishibashi (3-0, 3) scoring his third stoppage as a professional by stopping Taichi Yoshizato (1-3, 1) in the second round. The early finish saw Daichi Ono (3-1, 2) stopping J Soul Shogo (1-3, 1), who we assume is the brother of J Soul Maeda. Aichi, Japan A second Japanese card took place in Aichi and on paper this was probably a better card over all, though was still nothing to write home about. The main event on this card saw Daiki Koide (22-7-2, 9), pictured, taking a 6th round technical decision win over the heavy handed Tatsuya Miyazaki (8-6-1, 8). The bout was close prior to being stopped with less than a minute of the 6th round left and although it was a win for Koide it is hard to see where he goes next with it being very clear that he's a long way from winning even a domestic title. In the chief support bout fans saw Ryosuke Maruki (8-3-1, 6) take a relatively straight forward win over the light hitting Anwar Solihin (8-9-2, 1) who was stopped for the 3rd time in his career. This shows sole 6 rounder saw Kosuke Mizuno (7-4-2, 2) scoring a clear decision over Kazuki Fukakura (7-8-2, 3). The bulk of this card was the 4 rounders which made up and surprisingly 5 of the 6 bouts were close, with some of them being nip and touch either way. The only clear cut bout saw the unbeaten Tatsuharu Okura (1-0-1, 1) scoring an opening round blow out against the "stop of be stopped" Hayato Takeshima (3-4, 3) who has yet to go beyond 2 rounds in his 7 bouts. Of the decisions on the undercard the closest results in a split decision draw between Tomohiro Shimokata (0-1-1) and the still unbeaten Shin Tomita (1-0-2). The draw was one of 3 razor thin bouts which also included a narrow win for debutant Takumi Oshima (1-0) who took a majority decision over Naoki Masukawa (1-2) and another majority decision with saw Ryo Shibata (2-1, 1) take a win over Yuto Nakamura (1-1, 1). In more decisive decisions fans saw Tameji Ito (2-1, 1) squeak past Kazuaki Okada (3-3, 2), in a bout scored 38-37 by all 3 judges, and they saw Yudai Imada (1-0-1) take a clear decision over Takashi Miyaki (0-2) to record his first career win. Metro Manila, Philippines Outside of Japan there was also a show in the Philippines with 9 more bouts, including one or two which featured some interesting fighters. The most interesting of those men in action was the unbeaten Randy Braga (14-0-1, 3) who took a clear decision win over Benjie Suganob (8-3-1, 4). Braga scored a knockdown in round 5 and was the clear winner after 10 rounds despite some notable variation in the scorecards which ranged from 96-92 to 98-92. Braga's win came in one of two 10 rounders with the other one being a notable win for Rene Patilano (12-1-2, 6) who out pointed the world ranked Lionel Legada (12-7-1, 5). Legada, who some how had a world ranking coming in to this bout, was deducted 2 points that effectively denied him a majority decision draw. Prior to his loss Legada was ranked #10 by the WBC at Light Flyweight and we now have to suspect he will vanish from the rankings, like he should have done several fights ago. Of the three bouts scheduled for 8 rounds we saw just one completing the schedule as Diomel Diocos (5-1-2, 2) narrowly over-came Jonathan Francisco (6-4, 2) with a split decision win. The Diocos/Francisco bout was a start contrast to the 8 rounder between Glenn Suminguit (14-2, 8) and Roy Lagrada (3-8-1, 3) which lasted just 2 minutes before Suminguit saw off his over-matched foe. The other 8 rounder saw Lloyd Jardeliza (6-1-3, 5) scoring a late stoppage over Eric Panza (6-3-1, 1) in what was, on paper, a really good looking bout. The only 6 rounder on this show saw the unbeaten Roderick Flores (4-0-1, 2) scoring a 5th round KO against Ryan Medez (1-3-2). Whilst the victory was expected no one would have expected the fight to have started the way it did, with both men being dropped in the opening round. The card also had a trio of 4 rounders. These included an impressive opening round victory for debutant Abraham Bullagay (1-0, 1) who stopped Oscar Lim (0-2) in 103 seconds. The other two bouts scheduled for 4 both went the scheduled and saw Robin Langres (3-0, 1) defeat Remus Orcada (2-2-2), with a knockdown by Langres in the opening round being the difference on two of the cards, and a clear win for the debuting Bryan Ascano (1-0) who defeated fellow debutant Morito Ceplacios (0-1) with a shut out over 4 rounds. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Saturday was an interesting day in the world of boxing with fights of note all over the planet, in fact their fights involving notable Asian fighters on 3 continents. Nagano, Japan The first of those major bouts took place in Japan as WBA Atomweight champion Ayaka Miyao (19-5-1, 4) scored the 5th defense of her world title with a last gasp KO of Satomi Nishimura (7-2, 1). Miyao was fighting in Nagano for the second time as a professional, and the first since the JBC recognised female boxing, and it did seem, at times, like the pressure got to Miyao slightly early in the bout. Despite the pressure she did finish the show with a bang dropping Satomi hard in the dying seconds and forced the referee to stop the challenger, despite Satomi beating the count. On the under-card there were 4 small domestic bouts. The most interesting of those saw the heavy handed Akira Ono (5-3, 4) take a 5th round TKO against Shogo Sumitomo (5-7, 4) who suffered his 6th stoppage loss in this bout, which was scheduled for 6 rounds. The other bouts were all 4 rounders and all went the distance. In one of those Wataru Hosokawa (2-2, 1) shut out Kensho Tokutome (1-4, 1), in a slightly closer bout Daigo Yamamoto (1-1-1) recorded his first win with a decision over Shingo Kusanagi (1-4, 1), the only other bout saw Rasher Aoki (2-2) taking a win over Keisuke Kanazawa (2-4, 1). The show also featured Yoshinori Nishizawa who finally bowed out of boxing on this show with the card playing host to his retirement ceremony. The fighter, himself from Nagano, last fought in December 2011 but was still open to offers until earlier this year when he announced his retirement with this ceremony being held to thank him for his services to Japanese boxing. Monte Carlo, Monaco In the European principality of Monaco we saw another Asian fighter involved in a world title fight as China's diminutive Xiong Zhao Zhong (24-6-1, 14) attempted to claim the WBA Minimumweight title. Zhong, a former WBC title holder was just 8 months removed from a shocking stoppage loss to Oswaldo Novoa in his homeland of China but managed to give South Africa's Hekkie Budler (27-1, 9) a real nightmare, especially early on. In fact Zhong not only dropped Budler in the second round but also put him under real pressure for much of the first half fight, pulling himself off the canvas in round 3 to do so. Sadly for Zhong though Budler ran away with the fight in the second half to claim a clear but hard fought unanimous decision. Durango, Mexico In Mexico was saw another disappointment for Asian boxing fans as Japanese based Filipino Jonathan Baat (27-6-3, 13) was stopped in 6 rounds by Rodrigo Guerrero (22-5-1, 14). Guerrero, who defended his WBC International silver, has continued his great run of form following his loss late last year to Daiki Kameda in Japan and his win over Baat has followed a similarly impressive wins over Takahiro Shiggee, in July, and Daniel Rosas in February. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Friday was a busy day with fights across our area. Tokyo, Japan In Japan fans saw a Watanabe card that may not have oozed big names but domestically it was a highly important card that will have helped piece together some bouts for 2015. The main event of the card saw the bleached blonde Hayato Kimura (22-7, 15) take a 5 round technical decision over Kanae Onogi (6-7-1, 3) in what was, on paper, a total mismatch. Although on paper this was far from an even bout it was a case of getting Kimura a win after back to back losses to Marlon Tapales, technical decision 5, and Michael Dasmarinas, an 8 round unanimous decision. Whilst we'll admit we don't see him progressing to winning a national or OPBF it's still good to see Kimura getting the W under his belt after what has been a nightmare year for him. In one of the other feature bouts fans saw the always entertaining Rikiya Fukuhara (30-7-1, 22) score an opening round blow out against Thailand's Thiendaeng Manoprungroj (1-5, 1). The bout was a complete mismatch but it was effectively a tune up bout before Fukuhara gets a rematch with Satoshi Hosono in 2015. In Fukuhara's first bout with Hosono, which can be seen here, he was stopped in 7 rounds but he is unbeaten since then and seems very hungry for the rematch. The other 8 rounder on the show saw Ryuichi Funai (22-6, 15) score a 4th round TKO against the out matched Toshikuni Wake (8-14-3, 2). Funai did have a scare early on when he was caught by a hard right but that was his only worry and he quickly took control of the bout from there on stop his over-matched foe. The only other early result we have from this card was a genuine upset as Kota Oguchi (10-13, 1) managed to take a split decision over Kununobu Shimamura (16-4-1, 11). This was Oguchi's 2nd successive win following 9 losses in a row and it seems that something in him has finally clicked whilst for Shimamura this is a very damaging loss for his career. Bangkok, Thailand In Thailand we saw a former world champion in action as former WBO Bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu (47-3, 31) narrowly over-came Tanzania's Fadhili Majiha (15-5-4, 7) to claim the interim WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight title. We do wonder how Majiha qualified for an Asia Pacific title fight though the bigger worry is how much Pungluang has left considering just how much he struggled here and it may be that his loss to Tomoki Kameda earlier this year has actually ruined him, a real shame but a possibility all the same. Moscow, Russia In Russia there was 9 bouts in total including some very interesting bouts with very recognisable names at the top tier of the sport. The undercard began with with a 6 round contest at Featherweight between the unbeaten Evgeny Smirnov (4-0, 1) and the more experienced Michael Nyawade (12-3-2, 8). The bout saw Smirnov taking the win with a decision though has left questions about his lack of power considering Nyawade had been stopped in his previous 2 losses. In a major Middleweight bout Arif Magomedov (12-0, 9) dominated the previously undefeated Michael Zerafa (15-1, 7) to continue his fast and impressive rise through the ranks. We know Magomedov isn't a big name in the Middleweight division though we suspect he will become one in the near future given his talent and his talent, power and promise. In a second 10 rounder we saw the unbeaten Sergey Ekimov (12-0, 6) make light work of the experienced Miguel Velozo (17-3-2, 5) with a 5th round TKO to give Velozo his first stoppage loss in 22 fights. The final of the 10 rounders Heavyweight contender Manuel Charr (27-2, 16) stopped American Michael Grant (48-6, 26) who refused to come out for round 6 and never really looked interested in the fight even at the opening bell. In the least interesting of the 3 bouts scheduled for 12 rounds we saw Lightweight Eduard Troyanovsky (19-0, 16) destroy former WBA Lightweight title holder Jose Alfaro (27-9-1, 12) in 5 very one sided rounds to claim the WBA International Lightweight title. A second 12 rounder saw Cruiserweight hopeful Rakhim Chakhkiev (20-1, 15) score a KO of Italian veteran Giacobbe Fragomeni (32-5-2, 13). Fragomeni, a solid contender in his own right, was made to look like an old man fit for retirement after this loss in which he really was dominated by Chakhkiev. The main event saw former WBA Heavyweight title holder Alexander Povetkin (28-1, 20) score an excellent 10th round KO against Carlos Takam (30-2-1, 23) to claim the WBC Silver Heavyweight title. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Shinsuke Yamanaka retains world title whilst Takahiro Ao takes a huge step towards another10/22/2014 Tokyo, Japan We've got to admit that we love big mid-week fights. There is something unique about waking up on a Wednesday or Thursday morning and looking forwards to grown men trading punches in the search of title glory and when it's a world title bout between two world class fighters. That's exactly what we had earlier today when WBC Bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (22-0-2, 16) took a hard fought but relatively clear decision win over Thailand's teak tough Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (37-6-1, 16), a former WBC Super Flyweight champion himself. Suriyan came in to the bout as a huge under-dog with betting firms though was the mandatory challenger and came in with real determination to win by bullying and applying constant pressure on Yamanaka. At times it worked wonderfully for the Thai though at the end of the day the power differential between Yamanaka, one of the sports premier punchers pound-for-pound, and Suriyan, a former world title challenger at Flyweight proved the difference with Yamanaka scoring knockdowns in rounds 7,8 and 9 to ease his way over the finishing line. Although Yamanaka did have a serious test he was never close to losing though will have a new found respect for the Thai. In the co-feature we saw another collision of world class fighters as former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (27-3-1, 12) claimed a tough decision win over former 2-time Super Featherweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-4-1-1, 16). The bout was widely viewed as an unofficial world title eliminator and it's fair to say that Ao will be weighing up his options to fight a world champion at 135lbs, or fight in an official eliminator, in 2015. For Ao this was his 4th win since he lost the WBC Super Featherweight title to Gamaliel Diaz back in 2012, almost 2 years ago to the day. As for Salgado this now sees him falling to 1-2 in Japan following a shock win over Jorge Linares back 2009 and a subsequent loss to Takashi Uchiyama in 2010. Whilst the show's top 2 bouts when the distance the chief support bout didn't as the very heavy handed Kenichi Ogawa (13-1, 11) took care of Ribo Takahata (10-5-1, 2) in the 7th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. Ogawa has now won 5 successive bouts since his sole defeat a little more than 2 years ago whilst Takahata has continued on his win one-lose one pattern that goes back 10 fights! The only 6 rounder on the show was the closest bout on the score cards saw Kenta Yamada (7-4) taking a 6 round majority decision over Takushige Sato (5-6-1, 2) in a very competitive contest that saw the judges scoring the bout 58-57, twice, and 57-57 As with most shows the bulk of this card was 4 rounders, in fact there was a trio of them though combined they lasted just 8 rounds. Only one of the 4 rounders went the distance saw Masayoshi Yamasaki (1-1) scoring his first win as he over-came the still win-less Katsuaki Kinoshita (0-5) in a very 1-sided 4 rounder scored 40-35 by all of the judges. A second of the early bouts ended in the 3rd round as Masato Nunotani (1-1, 1) saw off the previously unbeaten Kohei Isozaki (1-1) whilst it took Yutaka Motoyoshi (4-8, 4) just 32 seconds to finish Tatsushi Kagawa (4-8-1, 1). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Sanaa, Yemen
This past Monday didn't feature much action but it saw a little bit of action in Yemen with two bouts, one of which featured one our favourite Yemeni fighters. The fighter we love from Yemen that we alluded to is the charismatic and unusual Hani Ansi (5-0-1, 4) who recorded his 4th straight stoppage in the space of just 2 months as he over-came the previously unbeaten Amr Ammari (2-1). Ansi, a 19 year old who seems to have been inspired by Naseem Hamed, got taken in to the 3rd round here by Ammari though still came away with his stoppage and it appears he'll be angling for a domestic show down with Ali Raymi later this year or early next year. The other bout on this show saw Muhamad Fikri (3-1, 1) take a 4 round shut out victory over the debuting Lutfi Shameeri (0-1). This was a second win in less than a week for Fikri whose sole loss came in October 2013 to Muhana Hajaji, the man who scored a notable draw with Ansi. This past Sunday wasn't the busiest day in Asian boxing but it was still an interesting one with several bouts of note taking place in Japan. Kyoto, Japan The bouts took place on a Woz boxing card put on in Kyoto and although the card wasn't a huge one it was a very interesting one with several interesting prospects in action. One of those was the world ranked Shohei Omori (13-0, 8) who scored his third win of the year by stopping former Rookie of the Year Bunta Mitaka (6-2-2) in the 3rd of a scheduled 8 rounds. This win effectively closes off a perfect year for Omori who's win over Cristian Esquivel a few months ago really brought him to the attention of the hardcore fans who now seem to be viewing him as a potential Bantamweight star of the future. This was a step back in some ways for the unbeaten Japanese youngster but the fact he's being kept active is a good thing. Another promising prospect in action was the much touted Ken Shiro (2-0, 1) who made light work of Thailand's Phuwanai Wor Surapol (7-4-1, 2)*. Ken Shiro dropped the Thai in the opening round before detonating a huge right in the second round that dropped him hard. From what we understand Ken Shiro's next bout will be against an OPBF top 10 ranked contender with the intention to fight for a title at some point in 2015. Not all the bouts included a prospect and the sole 6 rounder on the show certainly didn't feature one as Taisei Higashi (6-7, 5) took on Naoki Yamamoto (5-8-2, 3) in a bout that looked incredibly even on paper. Although the records were similar Higashi's power was the difference as he stopped Yamamoto in 3 rounds suggesting that his power is legitimate even if his skills aren't the most outstanding. In the 4 rounders we saw more prospects in action, one of which was Super Featherweight hopeful Naotoshi Nakatani (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Kiyonori Matsumoto (2-3) courtesy of an opening round KO. Although Nakatani might be a trainers nightmare with his hands down style he is genuinely so fun to watch that he made us real fans of his with his performance. Another hopeful was Yuya Shimakawa (1-0) who took a 3rd round technical decision over fellow debutant Atsushi Maekawa (0-1) in an all debutant contest. For other debutants there was mixed fortune with Yusuku Takahashi (1-0) taking a shut out over Sumeeman Shoki (0-4) whilst Ryuta Miyoshi (0-1) was stopped by Yuki Nakanishi (1-1) and Tomohiro Tomiyama (0-1) was beaten by Shota Taguchi (1-1). The only other undercard bout here saw Yosuke Shimagawa (4-5-1, 2) take a hard fought split decision over Masaki Mori (2-2-1, 1). (*record taken from Japanese source, boxrec.com list him at 0-1) This past Saturday was a day where the boxing world turned their attention to the US where we had two major fighters in action whilst other bouts took place in Asia it's self. California, USA In the US we saw two world title fights with mixed success for the Asian fighters who were involved in the contests. For Filipino fighter Nonito Donaire (33-3, 21) the night was a painful one, a very painful one. The Filipino was attempting to defend his WBA Featherweight super title but was made to look small, weak and a long way from being a world class Featherweight as Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21) really "beat the shit" out of Donaire, to quote the Filipino himself. Donaire was dropped in round 3 before being sent down again in round 6, that time he wasn't fit to continue when he recovered to his feet. For Jamaican power puncher Walters this was a break out win whilst for Donaire it may have been a loss that sends him into retirement. The other bout saw Kazakhstan banger Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28) continue to rip apart the Middleweight division as he destroyed Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1, 51) in just 2 rounds. Rubio, who came in well above the Middleweight limit, looked a full division bigger than Golovkin though was battered in round 2 as Golovkin went to work in style. The win for Golovkin was his 18th straight stoppage and saw him defending his WBA Middleweight super title and claiming the WBC interim title as he moved one step further to proving that he was the best 160lb fighter on the planet. A third Asian on this show was Ruslan Madiev (2-0), also from Kazakhstan, who secured a 4 round decision over the debuting Oscar Rojas (0-1). Suwannakhet, Laos In Laos we had 2 more titles fights, both of which were at a much lower level. The more notable of these bouts saw Kongthara KKP (5-0, 5) score his first title win as he claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council silver Super Bantamweight title. Konthara, who has also gone by the name Attanon Kunlawong in the past, stopped Macau's Kin Fong Leong (0-1) to record his 4th stoppage of the year and really build on an excellent victory over Japan's Shingo Kawamura. In the other title bout female fighter Nampetch Kwanjaisrikod (3-1, 1) out pointed Zongju Cai (0-1) to successfully defend the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental female Light Flyweight title for the first time. As well as the results we currently have we have been made aware of two other shows. Hopefully we'll be able to add those results shortly though currently we've not have them made available to us. Negros Occidental, Philippines An interesting, albeit some what small, Filipino show took place in Negros Occidental. Sadly many of the bouts turned out to be relative mismatches. One of the mismatches was the main event which saw the very promising and unbeaten Melvin Gumban (18-0, 9) quickly dispatch of Roger Echavez (7-13-1, 4) inside a round. This blow out won't have done much for the long term development of Gumban but keeping him active over the coming years is likely as important as anything else. Although the main event was over quickly the co-feature dud go the distance as Juren Labordo (13-2, 8) took an 8 round decision over Ryan Tampus (11-12, 8), an astonishing result given that Tampus had been stopped 7 times prior to this bout. Another bout that went the distance saw James Paul Talaman (2-0, 1) take a decision over the win-less Sonny Basanez (0-3). Other bouts that went the distance saw Kenneth Neron (1-0) take a split decision over Jay Solomon (1-1, 1) whilst Jeffrey Concerman (1-0) began his career with a win over Holly Quinones (0-2). As for stoppages on the under-card fans saw Rafael Sueno (2-1, 2) blasted out Macmac Baribar (2-2-1) in a round and it took Ricardo Sueno (1-0, 1) just as long to see off Kavin Parrenas (0-1). The other stoppage on this card saw Archie Moyani (1-0, 1) stop Ronald Cajes (0-1) in the second round. Rostov-na-Donu, Russia We also got action from Russia with a 9 fight card that featured a trio of title bouts as well as one of the hardest hitting on world boxing. The shortest of the title bouts saw the unbeaten Viskhan Murzabekov (10-0, 5) successfully defend the WBC Youth Intercontinental title with an opening round blow out over Ramadhani Shauri (18-6-1, 10). This was the first defense of the title by Maruzabekov. In a UBO Middleweight title bout Aliklych Kanbolatov (10-2-2, 5) scored a 5th round TKO against Mada Maugo (17-12, 12) whilst a UBO InterContinental Super Middleweight title fight saw Varazdat Chernikov (8-2, 3) score a 6th round KO against Karama Nyilawila (18-11-2, 10). The most notable fight on the show saw Dmitry Kudryashov (15-0, 15) score a second round stoppage over Giulian Ilie (20-8-2, 6). Ilie was sadly forced to retire after just 2 rounds giving the heavy handed Russian an unexpectedly easy victory against the usually tough Romanian. Whilst Kudryashov's stoppage run continued we did see the run of Apti Davtaev (8-0-1, 8) come to an end after he was held to a 6 round split decision draw by Ante Verunica (3-1-1, 1). Davtaev's bout was one of 4 bouts that went the distance. Another saw Apti Ustarkhanov (8-1-2, 1) take a 6 round decision over the limited Murad Dalkhaev (3-4, 2). In 4 rounders Arbi Madaev (7-1, 2) took a unanimous decision over Andrey Zapisov (0-2), the unbeaten Robert Bagaev (2-0) defeated Oleksiy Shteplyuk (0-10-1) with a 4 round decision whilst Roman Ivanov (3-6, 1) struggled past Rustem Abdinanov (1-3-1) (Image courtesy of Sumio Yamada) |
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