Tokyo, Japan On Tuesday in Japan fans at the Korakuen Hall had the opportunity to see a Kaneko boxing show. The show wasn't a big one but was still on paper with a few decent names on it. The most notable name on the card was Gakuya Furuhashi (17-5, 7) who, earlier this year, was scheduled to fight Hidenori Otake in a Japanese Super Bantamweight title fight. Sadly prior to that contest Otake was injured and Furuhashi saw his opportunity fade away. Sadly for Thai novice Worawut Or Spojgym (0-1) he appears to have taken the brunt of Furuhashi's disappointment as he was taken out inside a round and left in agony around the mid section. After the fight Furuhashi announced that his attention was back on to the Japanese Super Bantamweight title, and he will certainly be interested in the upcoming bout between Yukinori Oguni and Yasutaka Ishimoto who battle for the now vacant belt on December 6th. As for Otake, we're sure you're all aware that he fights this coming Saturday in WBA world title bout with the unbeaten Scott Quigg. In the main support bout fans actually did get a competitive contest as Yusuke Konno (8-2, 3) was pushed hard by Shusaku Fujinaka (10-5-2, 6). The scorecards may not full reflect how close the bout was but Konno certainly got a great work out in this one. The rest of the bouts on the card were all 4 rounders. These included a majority draw between Makoto Iitsuka (1-1-1, 1) and Koji Okubo (2-1-2), this was the only one of the 5 under-card bouts that actually went the scheduled distance. In a female bout the debuting Jun Yabuki (1-0, 1) stopped fellow debutant Chiaki Takagi (0-1) in the second round of their bout in what was one of two second round stoppages, along with that of Atsushi Kudo (3-3-2, 2) who defeated Ryota Harukawa (3-4, 2). The other bout went into round 3 with the more interesting of those seeing the unbeaten Noko Takagi (3-0, 2) scoring a win over Teppei Tsukamoto (2-5), the other saw Tatsuhiro Toguchi (1-1, 1) stopping Kenji Suzuki (0-7-1). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Tokyo, Japan The only Asian show this Monday came from Tokyo as we got "Fighting Bee Vol 9" from the Korakuen Hall. At the moment we don't have all the results, unfortunately, though we do have the results for the most significant contests on the card. In the main event fans saw former Japanese Lightweight champion Akihiro Kondo (20-4-1, 9) quickly dispatch of Thailand's Kaewkla Chaiyonggym (0-2). Kondo had been announced for a show in December and knew he needed to get through this one without taking any real damage and that's exactly what he did by stopping his Thai foe in just 105 seconds. In a Middleweight bout Yasuyuki Akiyama (10-4-1, 8) stopped Kazuaki Irisawa (8-6, 5) with just seconds of round 8 left. The referee was forced to save Kazuaki as Akiyama started to unload through a big 7th round for the former ranked contender. In a really interesting 8 round bout made just below the Lightweight limit fans saw the talented and hot tipped Kenta Onjo (4-0, 3) take his first decision win and in style as he dominated the more experienced Kazuya Soma (7-6-2, 6). Soma, a real tough guy, was on the end of shut out loss to Onjo who won all 8 rounds and was never in any trouble at all. To his credit Soma tried to fight back but was unable to compete with the speed, skill or movement of Onjo who looks like he could be mixing at title level by the end of 2016, if not by the end of next year. In a female bout Momoko Kanda (8-6-2, 2) made very light work of Thai visitor Thanawan Sithsaithong (0-2) with an opening round KO, in fact this was over inside a minute. In a 6 rounder Seiji Watanabe (6-4-1, 2) claimed a very narrow win over the heavy handed but limited Ryu Horiguchi (4-4-1, 3) in one of the closest bouts on the card. Another competitive bout saw Akira Watanabe (1-3-1, 1) fighting to a 4 round draw with the unbeaten Masahiko Ashiya (1-0-2, 1). A third close contest saw the debuting Hyuga Aoki (1-0) take a hard fought win over the still win-less Masanori Shimomura (0-2). Another decision contest saw Keita Kurihara (4-4, 3) take a decision win over Satoru Morishita (3-7, 2). The sole stoppage on the under-card saw Seiji Honma (1-4, 1) record his first win as he stopped the debuting Hitachitaro Mito (0-1) in the second round. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Kochi, Japan
This past Sunday in Kochi boxing fans saw a small show courtesy of Osaka Teiken. The show wasn't one that many would even find more than slightly interesting though we do suggest fans keep an eye on the young man who won the main event. That young man was the unbeaten and very promising Tatsuya Ikemizu (12-0, 5) who recorded his 4th win of the year as he stopped Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (8-7-1, 4) in the second of a scheduled 8 rounds. The 21 year old Ikemizu may not be getting raved about on a regular basis but this has been a second great year for the youngster who we suspect move onto the title stage in the next year or two. In the chief support Takaaki Kitagawa (5-3, 2) narrowly over-came Yusuke Sekido (8-11-2) to claim a 6 round majority decision and record his third win of the year. The rest of the card consisted of a trio of 4 rounders, all of which were very competitive and close. The "most" clear saw Tetsu Araki (1-0-1) claim his first win as he over-came Koichi Uryu (3-2-1, 2) with an incredibly competitive unanimous decision, scored 39-38 by all the judges. A bout between Tatsuya Sakamoto (4-5, 1) and the win-less Takuya Sumiyoshi (0-5-1) saw Sakamoto claim a split decision whilst Yu Konomura (4-2-1) also claimed a split decision as he over-came Go Mitaka (2-5-2) This Saturday was certainly a busy day in Asian boxing with several notable cards taking place. For now we know we're missing some results though hope to have them added short. For now however we've got all the results we've managed to collect.
Cebu City, Philippines The biggest card of the day, by some margin in regards to the Asian fight scene, was in the Philippines where ALA Promotions put on the 28th “Pinoy Pride” show. The show was full of names really was a great card for those lucky enough to catch it with an unexpected FOTY contender, the continued development of one of the best prospects in world boxing and a world title fight being 3 of the many notable stories on the card. The first of the notable fights featured one of the more under-rated prospects in Asian boxing, Mark Magsayo (9-0, 7). Magsayo caught our attention last year on a “Pinoy Pride” card and impressed again today as he easily beat Korean youngster Moon-Sun Jung (2-4-3) in the second round of their clash. On paper, and in the ring, this was a mismatch however Jung had gone 10 rounds in a Korean national title fight just 2 months ago so the fact Magsayo stopped him so quickly was very impressive. We'll not pretend Magsayo is going to be fast tracked to a world title but we'd advise fans to keep an eye out for this talented youngster dubbed “Magnifico”. Magsayo was far from the only Filipino to impress on this card and another man who impressed was the unknown Jomar Fajardo (14-5-2, 7) who really caught the attention of the fans and media in attendance as he put on a stirring performance to hold Francisco Rodriguez Jr (16-2-1, 11) to a split decision draw. Fajardo entered the bout as a massive under-dog whilst Rodriguez Jr was a unified world champion at Minimumweight and a man with an eye on fighting Donnie Nietes. Fajardo left the bout as man many now want to see against whilst Rodriguez Jr is man who has lost some lustre despite unifying the WBO and IBF Minimuweight titles this year. Another fighter who thoroughly impressed was the unbeaten "Prince" Albert Pagara (22-0, 15) who defended his IBF Inter-Continental Super Bantamweight title with a punch perfect performance against the teak tough Mexican Raul Hirales (22-4-1, 11). Hirales's only contribution to this fight was his heart and toughness and for 12 rounds he was the recipient of head and clean shots by Pagara who seemed to be ready for much, much tougher assignments, in fact a world title bout in 2015 isn't out of the question for this wonderfully gifted young fighter who has superstar written all over him. In the show's main event we again saw an impressive performance by the home fighter as WBO Light Flyweight world champion Donnie Nietes (34-1-4, 20) recorded the 5th defence of the title as he defeated Carlos Velarde (26-4-1, 14). Nietes started slowly and worked our what Velarde had to offer before moving through the gears in round 4 and 5 to eventually break down the Mexican challenger who retired on his stool at the end of round 7. We'll be honest the bout was disappointing given our expectations but there was no doubt about the better man despite the rather anti-climatic ending to the bout. Nietes now appears to have 2 clears options, he can either begin his pursuit of a title at Flyweight, as we suspect the original plan was, or he could fight Rodriguez Jr in 2015 to add another defence to his record. Either option would be interesting and we're looking forward to seeing what he does next. Of course not all the Filipino fighters on the show were impressive and it's fair to say that the least impressive, at least in terms of result, was former WBO Minimumweight champion Merlito Sabillo (23-2-1, 12) who suffered his second stoppage defeat of the year. Sabillo was making his return to the ring following his first loss, a stoppage loss to the previously mentioned Rodriguez jr, and fought as if he had the need to make an impression on the fans. Sadly for Sabillo he was a bit too wild and was caught by a nasty counter by Indonesian visitor Faris Nenggo (8-7-3, 3) which left Sabillo with an ugly cut that eventually forced the end of the bout in round 4. It was a disappointing fight for the exciting Sabillo though it was a freak result in many ways and it's unlikely he'll ever suffer such a bad cut again. Former world title contender AJ Banal (32-2-1, 22) recorded his 4th straight win as he over-came Thai visitor Maxsaisai Sithsaithong (15-6, 4) though left many wondering what was left for Banal. The talented and heavy handed fighter did what he needed to here to take a clear win but it's fair to say that many were hoping he's close the show against his Thai foe who came up short in an OPBF title fight earlier this year. It's also fair to say that Milan Melindo (32-1, 12) failed to leave a great impression despite a clear win over Saul Juarez (22-4, 11) in an IBF Light Flyweight title eliminator. Melindo was the better fighter through out but failed to show the power he will need to win a world title at 108lbs. His skills are great, as shown again, but his lack of power really is going to be an issue every time he fights a top tier fighter. Deagu, South Korea As well as the action in the Philippines we also had titles on offer in South Korea where there were 2 national title fights on a small but yet interesting card as the Korean boxing scene continues to grow, despite what appears to be two clearly different factions action as a commission. In a somewhat farcical Super Middleweight title bout fans saw Eun Chang Lee (8-4, 4) successfully defend his title with a 6th round TKO against the woefully undeserving Young Kyoon Lee (1-14-1). We're unsure how Lee qualified for a title fight given that he's not recorded a win in almost 6 years though thankfully his win-less streak continued here or it really would have been an embarrassment for the title to have been held by such an unqualified champion. Thankfully the other title fight on this show was much more entertaining in the ring and interesting on paper as Ik Soo Han (7-3, 2) took on Jon Won Won (7-14-1, 3). The bout saw Han winning the previously vacant Korean Super Featherweight title with a 4th round knockout of Won though had to pull himself off the canvas earlier in the round in what made for an entertaining contest. Sadly for Won this was his 8th loss in a Korean title fight and comes some 30 months after being stopped in a Korean Lightweight title bout by IK Yang. As well as the two title bouts we also had two female bouts. One of those was an 8 rounder that saw Hye Soo Park (4-7-1, 1) take a dominant decision over Thai visitor Dorkmaipah Kiatpompetch (0-4) in a contest that saw the Korean winning every round of the bout. The other female bout saw Hyun Sook Jun (3-1, 2) scoring a 4th round TKO over Pantip Sor Suwannaresort (0-3). The rest of the undercard featured a featured a pair of 4 rounders. These saw Sung Hwan Kim (2-0-3) take a decision over the win-less Jin Soo Jung (0-5) in a bout scored 39-37 by all 3 judges whilst the debuting Jung Ho Jang (1-0, 1) took out Eun Jin Kim (0-1) in the 4th round of their bout. Nakhon Nayok, Thailand There were two shows in Thailand with one of them coming from Nakhon Nayok. This show was headlined by a WBC regional title fight that saw a controversial ending following a clear low blow by Petchchorhae Kokietgym (9-0, 6) in round 3 that sent Indonesia's Rizky Pratama (2-1) down in agony. The Indon fighter got to his feet but the bout was waved off to give the bout a genuine bizarre finish. On the undercard we saw recent world title contender Terdsak Kokietgym (54-5-1, 34) score an easy win over the over-matched Hengka (0-1) who was taken out with a nasty body shot from the Thai veteran. Although the bout was a mismatch in favour of the talented Thai it did come just weeks after his hard, but very exciting, loss to Orlando Salido in Mexico. A third bout on this card saw Petchnamchai KKP (2-0, 2) defeat the limited but brave Ricardo Sithsaithong (0-1) in 2 rounds. Sithsaithong tried to give it a go but was hurt and looked lost trying to defend himself until the referee mercifully stepped in. Chonburi, Thailand In Chonburi we had the other Thai show that was headlined by South Korean fighter Myung-goo Yuh (22-4-1, 17) who stopped Thailand's very own Mongkol Charoen (25-4, 8) in the 6th round of their scheduled 10 rounder. On the undercard Gurlal Redbluegym 1-0, 1) scored a 4th round win over Watchasin Mukarsa (0-1) whilst Kuldeep Redbluegym (1-0) stopped Rachatapon Tongplia (0-1), sadly we've not come across any footage of these bouts. Gauteng, South Africa In South Africa we sadly saw two Russian fighters suffer defeat, albeit in very different fashion. In a very disappointing performance Denis Grachev (13-5-1, 8) suffered his 4th straight loss, and his 5th in 6 bouts, as he retired on his stool against the unbeaten Thomas Oosthuizen (23-0-2, 14). The bout, for the WBC International Light Heavyweight title, was poor from the beginning though Grachev never once found his form in the bout before running out of steam and being given a bit of a hiding. The retirement in his stool wasn't what was Grachev would have wanted but it does effectively end his hopes of ever landing a world title fight. In a more controversial contest the previously unbeaten Roman Belaev (14-1, 10) suffered an 11th round technical decision loss to Ali Funeka (36-4-3, 29) in a bout for the IBO Welterweight title. The information on this one is scarce though two cards read 105-104 in favour of the home fighter whilst a third card read 109-100 and we suspect the bout was much closer than that final card. Tokyo, Japan Unfortunately we were very slow to get the Japanese results from the day however here they are, a couple of days late. In the main event Keita Nakano (12-9-3, 3) managed to force a 6th round stoppage against the chinny Takaaki Ishikawa (10-6, 5) in what was scheduled to go 8. This was Ishikawa's 6th stoppage defeat and some need to wonder if he would be better off retiring now, especially given that he has been stopped in 3 of his last 4. The chief support bout was a 6 rounder that saw Ryuto Araya (7-2-1, 1) scoring his first stoppage victory as he took out Tsubasa Mochizuki (6-5, 2) with less than 30 seconds remaining. From the 7 bouts scheduled to go 4 rounds we saw another trio of stoppages. The fastest of those came in 98 seconds as debutant Jinya Miyagi (1-0, 1) blew away fellow novice Sho Sekine (0-1). It took Takahiko Suzuki (5-2, 4) most of round 3 to see off Yuji Awata (3-3, 2) whilst Shota Irie (1-1, 1) needed 30 seconds of the final round to defeat Shuhei Hamano (0-2). In bouts that went the distance we saw 3 very competitive matches. The closest of those saw Toshizane Kinoda (4-1, 1) take a majority decision over Wataru Yokoyama (1-3, 1) in a very close bout. The action was similarly close in Huzuki Saso's (3-1) win over Yuki Uchida (2-2) and in Tasuku Nakagawa's (2-1) win over Yuta Onishi (2-3, 2). The only clear decision winner was Rei Ochiai (3-3-4) who clearly beat Mio Mizokami (4-8-2, 2) This coming weekend is huge however Friday wasn't that important with one one genuinely notable bout, involving an Asian fight,
Hato Rey, Puerto Rico That aforementioned "notable" fight sadly ended in disappointment as Filipino slugger Michael Farenas (39-5-4, 31) found himself on the wrong side of a boxing lesson courtesy of unbeaten Puerto Rican Jose Pedraza (19-0, 12). Pedraza genuinely dominated the bout with his sharp punching, intelligent movement and great timing as he made Farenas miss and then countered time and tiem again. Farenas, to his credit, showed off his trademark toughness but really struggled to connect with any type on consistency in what was a real break out performance from Pedraza. Sadly for Farenas this loss came in an IBF title eliminator and will essentially put him to the back of the queue despite his impressive victory earlier this year against Mark Davis. Tokyo, Japan In Tokyo fans saw Noguchi put on a small but interesting card with 9 bouts in total. The card began with a number of 4 rounders. These were mostly competitive contests with Kenji Motegi (2-3-2) fighting to a draw against Norris Yano (2-1-1) the most competitive of the bouts, though we did almost end up with 2 draws however as Yukito Tomori (2-0) narrowly claimed a decision over Tadashi Nunoya (1-2, 1) in a bout that could easily have been scored 38-38. Another somewhat competitive contest saw Tomoki Takada (1-0-1) take a close decision over Yasuhiro Koyama (1-3) whilst the debuting Yasuaki Miura (1-0) took a clear win over Ryusuke Arai (0-3-1). The only 4 rounder on this show that failed to go the distance saw the debuting Ryuta Okumura (1-0, 1) make very light work of fellow debutant Fire Terakado (0-1), who was stopped in the opening round of the in a bout that lasted less that a round. The first of 3 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds saw Takashi Sakamoto (6-3, 1) over-come the heavier handed but limited Kyohei Tsunashima (4-5, 3) with a clear cut 6 round victory. A second of the 6 rounders that went the distance saw Kazunori Takayama (20-8-4, 4) return from more than 3 years out of the ring to over-come the Japanese ranked Noriyuki Ueno (17-12-5, 5) in a result that needs to be regarded as a genuine upset, despite the records of the men involved. The only 6 rounder that didn't go the distance on this card saw Takeshi Inoue (1-0-1, 1) score his first win with a 3rd round win against Thai visitor Samson Sor Meter (0-1) who was unable to cope with the talented Inoue. In the sole 8 rounder fans saw Daisuke Yokoyama (16-5-1, 6) take a clear decision over Keita Ito (8-19-2, 4) in what was a one-sided contest in favour of Yokoyama who is now unbeaten in 3 following a loss to Hisashi Amagasa back in April 2013. Osaka, Japan In Osaka we had another Japanese card and in all honestly this one appears to have been better than the Tokyo show. The main event here saw the OPBF ranked Jetly Purisima (20-13-4, 5) out work and out point Japan's very own Yuki Takemoto (16-19-2, 7) in a very interesting 10 round affair. Purisima was the notably shorter man in the ring but he kept finding a way inside Takemoto where he managed to unload his shots time and time again as he won a comfortable decision to maintain his hopes of an OPBF title fight. In the co-feature fans saw Japanese based Brazilian fighter Cristiano Aoqui (9-3-2, 5) score an 8th round stoppage against Koichi Ogawa (10-5-1, 5) in an interesting affair on paper. The fight looked even going in to it but it proved to be rather one sided in the ring with Ogawa never quite settling into the bout and Aoqui had him rocked hard at the end of round 7 before forcing the referee to step in in round 8. In another 8 rounder the heavy hitting Shinya Yamaguchi (10-10, 8) scored a second round stoppage over the fragile Hiroki Yoshimura (7-11, 4), with Yoshimura being dropped 3 times in the second round forcing an automatic stoppage. We also saw stoppages on the undercard here with the promising Welterweight hopeful Yuki Takahashi (4-0, 1) scoring his first stoppage as he over-came Masanori Kawai (1-2, 1) in the third round whilst the debuting Shota Asaumi (1-0, 1) kicked off his career with a second round win over Akihiko Hayashi (0-1). The only under-card bout that went the distance saw Golgosaithon Kenji (3-0) over-come Ryo Miyagaki (0-1-1) in an interesting scrap scored 38-36 to Kenji by all 3 judges. Bangkok, Thailand In Bangkok Thai fans had televised action though sadly the bouts were, mostly, mismatches. Sadly, though as is common with Thai shows, a few of the bouts are a mystery though we do know about 2 of the contests on the card. One of those saw former world title challenger Pigmy Kokietgym (54-7-2, 23) score his second successive victory over Indonesian journeyman Samuel Tehuayo (18-27-2, 3). Unfortunately for Tehuayo it appears he's getting into the ring with the intention of going through the motions in recent bouts, as seen in his recent loss to Stamp Kiatniwat as well, which is disappointing as he has the ability to give a good fight to some fighters. As for Pigmy it's fair to say his career looks like it's coming to an end and the Thai looked a very old 33 at the end of this bout. The other bout we have footage for saw Kongthara KKP (5-0, 5) defeat Indonesian journeyman Budi Risky (8-6, 5) who was stopped for the 4th time in 5 bouts and he may need to consider a new career given that he really has found his limit in the sport. This Thursday was an interesting day in some ways for boxing fans though ended up being a relatively disappointing one overall with some farcical events.
District of Columbia, USA The biggest fight of the night, in terms of importance, came from Washington DC where WBC Super Flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (31-0-1, 25) successfully defended his title against Filipino challenger Marvin Mabait (19-3-2, 13). Mabait, a late replace for compatriot Sonny Boy Jaro, was out of his depth early one and was battered in rounds 4 and 5 before finally being stopped in the 6th round. California, USA Another bout in the US was a relatively farcical Heavyweight clash that saw the gigantic Chinese novice Taishan Dong (2-0, 2) stopping the hapless Tommy Washington Jr (3-7, 2) inside a round. This was Washington's first fight in 6 years and it showed as he had seemingly forgotten how to fight, how to punch and how to get up from a knockdown. Whilst we understand Dong needs to get bouts under his belt and develop his experience fights like this one won't do him any favours and if anything will do his development more harm than anything else. Bangkok, Thailand In Thailand we saw Kalae McShane (2-0, 1) scoring an impressive 6 round win over the over-matched Keanpetch Manoprungroj (4-3, 2) who was dropped in the opening round. Tokyo, Japan The only Japanese show of the day was a small Dangan show with the entire card of 4 rounders. Despite all the fighters being novices the card did have some of the most competitive bouts of the day on it as well as some bouts that turned out to be rather one-sided. The most competitive bout resulted in a draw as Kenji Ishii (3-4-1, 3), one of the show's most experienced fighters, fought to a 4 round majority draw with Yutaka Uemura (2-2-1, 2). We also made other draws as Masaharu Kaito (1-0) only just squeaked past Satoru Araki (0-1) with a majority decision win and Yuita Tamaguchi (4-4, 1) just beat Shogo Dairakuibn (2-2, 1) in the narrowest of narrow split decisions. Other decision wins saw Naoki Uebayashi (1-1) record his first win with a decision over the debuting Toshihiko Saito (0-1), the previously win-less Mao Kawanishi (1-1) took a competitive win over Shohei Nagashima (0-2), who remains unbeaten. One other decision saw Toshiki Nishihara (4-3-1, 1) take a very narrow win over Toshiki Maruyama (3-6, 2) in another bout that was amazingly close. The shortest of the show's bouts lasted just 77 seconds as Takayoshi Miyachi (1-0, 1) quickly took out fellow debutant Chikashi Takahashi (0-1). It didn't take much of round 2 for Kazutomo Oma (2-0, 2) to see off Sosuke Sakata (2-2, 1). Another second round stoppage saw Makoto Yamazaki (1-0, 1) take out Yoshiki Toriyama (0-1). The show also had a pair of stoppages coming in round 3 as Seiryu Toshikawa (1-1, 1) defeated Tatsuro Jin (2-2, 1) and Takuya Muto (1-1, 1) defeated Jun Takahashi (0-1). The only stoppage to come in round 4 saw Hiromichi Komatsu (1-0, 1) defeat Kohei Ogawa (0-1) with less than 30 seconds of their bout remaining. Southern Leyte, Philippines
The only show in Asia this past Wednesday was in the Philippines where we had a small but notable show headlined by a regional IBF title bout. The headline bout saw the tough and under-rated Adones Aguelo (23-10-2, 15) claim his third win of the year as he over-came Indonesian visitor Elly Ray (17-12-1, 7) in a bout for the IBF Asia Lightweight title. Aguelo, who really is much better than his record indicates was fighting for the second time since his loss to Sergio Thompson in Mexico and looked the much better and stronger fighter taking out Ray early in the second round to prove the gulf in class between the two fighters. Whilst the main event was one sided the two main support bouts were more competitive. In one of those fans saw the unbeaten Joey Canoy (8-0-1, 3) take a decision over Lester John Pronco (9-8-1, 6) in what turned out to be a better bout than the records would indicate whilst the experienced Marvin Tampus (27-19-3, 18) fought to a 10 round split draw with Jo-As Apericio (11-13-1, 8). Int he sole 8 rounder on the card the once beaten Ranoel Pael (15-1-1, 6) made light work of journeyman Arnel Tadena (11-19-4, 4), stopping him in the 4th round. The only 6 rounder was over even quicker with Michael Kaibigan (3-1-2, 2) stopping Marlou Talili (5-11, 2) in the second. The shortest bout of the day however came in the only 4 rounder on the card as Elias Joaquino (2-0-1, 2) quickly did away with Melchor Abcede (3-9-3) who was stopped inside a round. All Japan Rookie of the year Finals set, Osawa scores a quick one and Ye Joon Kim takes another win!11/10/2014 This past Sunday was a hectic day in Asian boxing with numerous cards held on the same day including the final set of Rookie of the Year regional finals which have now set up the All-Japan finals and interesting card in Korea. Osaka, Japan The biggest show this Sunday was in Japan as fans saw the second of the Rookie of the Year semi final shows. The show, which decided the west representative at this year All-Japan Rookie, featured 12 bouts and was really great throughout. The winner in the Minimumweight division was Reiya Konishi (6-0, 4) who narrowly over-came Jun Takigawa (5-1, 3) in a battle of unbeaten men. The bout was genuinely close through out with Konishi taking the decision with scores of 47-45, 46-45 and 46-45. The win for Konishi secures him a fight with Yuki Kubo in the All-Japan final. At Light Flyweight Seita Ogido (6-1-1, 1) fought to a draw with the still unbeaten Seigo Yuri Akui (2-0-1). Although the bout was a 4 round split decision draw we've been told that Ogido qualified for the All-Japan final who will now find himself up against Kenji Ono in that contest. In the Flyweight contest the unbeaten Shun Kosaka (9-0) took a very clear decision win over the experienced but limited Naoki Shoda (4-8-1). The bout was scored 50-44 by all 3 judges as Kosaka progressed to the All-Japan final where he will fight against Kenya Yamashita in a very interesting battle of unbeaten men. The bout at Super Flyweight was won by the very promising Ioka gym hopeful Masayoshi Hashizume (6-0, 4) who made surprisingly light work of the previously unbeaten Eita Sakurai (4-1, 1) with a win after 2 just minutes of the bout. The win netted Hashizume a place in the All Japan final against Shogo Yonenaga and also earned him the MVP for the card adding to his West Japan MVP award. We've got to be honest and say that this kid looks a little bit special and we think he'll prove that in his upcoming bout. At Bantamweight there was another stoppage as Keisuke Tabuchi (8-1-2, 5) took the unbeaten record of Morihisa Iju (5-1, 4) courtesy of a 2nd round TKO. Tabuchi's All Japam Rookie of the Year final bout will see him up against Ryohei Takahashi in what should be a thrilling encounter given how good Takahashi looked in his East Japan Rookie of the Year final last weekend. One of the show's closest bouts saw Shohei Kawashima (8-0-2, 1) take a split decision over the heavy handed Shisato Okuma (8-2-2, 6) in a bout scored 48-47 by all 3 judges. As a result of this win Kawashima will battle against Yuki Matsudo in the All Japan final. In a relatively one sided bout Kyohei Tonomoto (5-1, 2) clearly over-came the previously unbeaten Takashi Igarashi (5-1, 1) in a clear cut bout at Featherweight. Tonomoto will be fighting Reiya Abe in the All Japan final in what looks a great contest in the making. In the Super Featherweight division we had a razor close bout that ended in a split decision draw between Masashi Wakita (4-2-1, 2) and the unbeaten Yuya Shimakura (3-0-1). The draw will see Wakita moving on to the next round where he will fight against the very exciting Yuichiro Kasuya who won the MVP from the East Japan Final's last weekend with a thrilling win over Yutaka Ekawa. In a battle of unbeaten fighters at Lightweight fans saw Shogo Yamaguchi (6-0-1, 3) took a decision over Takahiro Shinoda (1-1, 1). This win sets up a really intriguing final bout between Yamaguchi and the highly touted Andy Hiroaka. The Light Welterweight division saw the heavy handed Tetsuya Morisada (4-3, 4) scoring a very quick victory over Chocoboy Oizumi (4-3-2, 2), with the bout lasting less than a minute. The win for Morisada will see him fight Naoharu Kida in the All-Japan final. The heavy handed Yuki Beppu (7-0, 7) continued the very impressive start to his career as he claimed a place in the All-Japan Welterweight final with a 53 second victory over Shota Yamamoto (5-2, 3). Beppu will now risk his unbeaten record, and KO streak, against fellow unbeaten Hironobu Matsunaga in a bout that looks like a real highlight for the All Japan Rookie of the Year. At Middleweight Toshihiro Kai (4-6-2, 1) scored his first stoppage win as he stopped Ryota Ikawa (1-6) in the third round to set up a very tough bout for himself against Hisao Narita. For those wondering about the All Japan Rookie of the year Finals they will happen on December 21st at the Korakuen Hall. Osaka, Japan A second show in Osaka was headlined by former OPBF Featherweight champion Hiroshige Osawa (26-3-5, 15) who predictably made light work of the horribly over-matched Nongdear Sor Bangkhru (0-5) who suffered his 4th stoppage loss. For Osawa this was too easy however it was his first bout since changing gyms earlier this year and it seems that his new gym just wanted to give him a work out more than anything else. In the sole 8 round contest fans saw a much more interesting looking contest as Kosuke Saka (9-3, 6) scored an 8th round TKO against Tetsuya Nishinaga (11-10-1). It wasn't the greatest match up but it was significantly better than the main event of the card. Although Osawa was the biggest name on the show we were mostly interested in Ioka youngster Takeru Kamikubo (7-0, 4) who did what he had to do to shut out the tough Masaki Hirai (4-12-3, 2) over 6 rounds. For the 18 year old Kamikubo this was a perfectly good test and it seems that Ioka have a real diamond on their hands here if he's developed properly, like we suspect he will be. The other 6 rounder on the show was just as interesting as the unbeaten Terumi Nuki (5-0, 2) took a hard fought decision over Kai Johnson (5-7-3, 2) who's win over Tomomi Takano now looks like it was a long, long time ago. In 4 rounders on this card fans saw two men record their first career wins. One of those was Katsuhito Kudo (1-2, 1) who took his first win with a 96 second KO against Keisei Nishiwaki (0-3-1) whilst the other was Keita Yamamoto (1-2) who took a very close decision over debutant Hikaru Iwasaki (0-1). The only other undercard bout saw Takuya Yamamoto (4-3, 2) take a clear win over Noriyuki Imamura (2-3) Hiroshima, Japan A third Japanese card came from Hiroshima and it's fair to say this was the smallest and least interesting of the three Japanese shows. Of the 9 bouts on this card 6 of them were 4 rounders and interesting only a single one of them failed to go the distance. The one bout that failed to go 4 completed rounds saw Takahiro Morisaki (2-1, 1) take a 3rd round technical decision over the debuting Tasuku Matsunoshima (0-1) with the bout called after 92 seconds of round 3. The other undercard bouts all went the scheduled and saw some very interesting and competitive bouts including a a majority decision draw in an all debutant bout between Toshiya Kawauchi (0-0-1) and Tomoya Yonehara (0-0-1). We weren't far from getting draws with Riku Inokuchi (1-0) narrowly defeating Takahiro Maeda (1-1), the limited Hinonori Miyake (3-3, 1) only just out pointed Yuya Kondo (2-1, 1) and Masashi Kamon (1-1) defeating Yoshiki Tatsukami (0-1) in a third bout that could easily have ended up in a draw. The only clear undercard bout here saw debutant Tamaki Miwa (1-0) clearly beat Maito Fujii (0-3) in a hotly contested bout, though one that was a clear win for Miwa on the cards.. The card, advertised as being a triple main event show, saw the 3 main bouts lasting just 13 rounds. The shortest of those bouts was a second round blow out win for Ryuji Ikeda (8-2-1, 4) who made light work of Thailand's Eaksayarm Mor Krungthep Thonburi (0-2), it took just 1 round longer for Yuya Okazaki (11-7-1, 4) to see off Shinichi Tsukaha (8-7-3, 3). The remaining bout saw Koji Itagaki (13-9-2, 6) struggle to see off Yamato Uchinono (5-3-5, 3) in the most competitive and interesting of the 3 main events. Seoul, South Korea In a small, and supposedly "unsanctioned" South Korean show fans saw several Korea Vs Japan bouts. The main event from the show saw WBC Youth Super Bantamweight champion Ye Joon Kim (10-1-2, 5) stopping Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (4-5-3) in the 7th round of their contest. Kim, the star of South Korean boxing, appears to be on a great roll at the moment and has now scored 4 successive stoppages. In the co-feature Nak-Yul Park (6-2, 3) scored a 6 round split decision over Kentaro Endo (4-5, 3) in a very closely scored bout. We've been informed that Japanese boxers on this show went 0-6 however we've not managed to get all the results from it unfortunately. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Saturday was a hectic day to say the least with bouts spread across the world with many of them being major bouts. New Jersey, USA The biggest bout of the night saw unbeaten Russian puncher Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23) unifying 3 Light Heavyweight world titles as he dominated American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2-2, 32) in a very impressive and controlled performance. The Russian dropped Hopkins in the opening round and had all over the place in the final round as he came close to stopping Hopkins. Although the clock ran out before Kovalev could score the stoppage he still managed to unify the WBO, WBA and IBF titles at 175lbs and put real pressure on Adonis Stevenson to fight in a total unification bout later this year. Pennsylvania, USA In an unexpectedly tough bout we saw another promising Russian Light Heavyweight, Vasily Lepikhin (16-0, 9), claim a hard fought decision over Jackson Junior (15-2, 13). We had expected Lepikhin to impress, as he did against Robert Berridge, but he seemed to struggle over the line a little bit here and it shows he's a few fights away from being stepped towards a world title fight. It's a shame but he's not ready to be stepped up, at least not yet, despite being very talented. Texas, USA Staying in the US a little bit longer, fans in Texas had the chance to see the very promising Egor Mekhontsev (6-0, 6) made light work of the heavy handed Jinner Guerrero (7-3, 6) who lasted just 2 rounds. Guerrero had entered the bout as a genuinely dangerous fighter but was never in the bout against the former amateur standout who some are tipping as yet as another Light Heavyweight to keep a close eye on. Baden-Württemberg, Germany Our first world title fight came in Germany where the previously unbeaten Naoko Fujioka (12-1, 6) lost a very close fight to German local hero Susi Kentikian (34-2-0-1, 17). The fight, for the WBA female Flyweight title, was a great female fight ruined only by some frustrating officiating with a referee that seemed unable to really keep the action flowing as the two fighters fell into each other. Although the contest was competitive and full of action we do feel that Fujioka was hard done by, though we need to admit we saw the bout on a broken stream that frustrated us almost as much as the referee for the contest. Queretaro, Mexico A second female world title bout came in Mexico and again saw a Japanese fighter losing a questionable decision as Etsuko Tada (13-2-2, 3) came up short against Anabel Ortiz (16-3, 3) for a second time. Tada had traveled to Mexico in an attempt to reclaim the WBA female Minimumweight title though lost a close decision to Ortiz for the second time following a loss last year in Japan to the Mexican fighter. Sadly for Tada it appeared one judge didn't even bother watching the fight was competitive through out despite a laughable 99-90 card for Ortiz. Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand One of the days first shows came from Thailand where we had a trio of notable bouts. The main event saw the world ranked Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (29-7-1, 12) score a 9th round KO against Filipino foe Macrea Gandionco (10-2-1, 6) to record his first defense of the interim WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title. The Filipino took a hard counter and whilst it looked like he could continue he instead chose to take the 10 count before getting to his feet. It was as if he was happy enough with his effort up to that point to call it a day. On the under-card fans saw Fonluang KKP (22-1-1, 10) take a 4th round TKO against Indonesian visitor Falazona Fidal (25-42-1, 8) who was stopped for the 14th time in his 68 fight career. The other contest on the card was a female bout that saw Kanda Por Muangpetch (3-1) score a 6 round decisions win over the debuting Namnung Kwanjaisrikot (0-1). Queensland, Australia On a show down under Australian fans saw several Asian fighters in action. One of those was the very notable, and extremely dangerous, Bantamweight contender Zhanat Zhakiyanov (24-1, 17) who made very light work of Australian based Filipino Roberto Lerio (16-21-1, 6). Lerio was stopped in the second round of the bout as Zhakiyanov continued to march toward a world title fight and the heavy handed Kazak has now stopped his last 11 dating back more than 3 years! Sadly it wasn't a good show for Filipino's and not only was Lerio stopped but so too was Romeo Jakosalem (15-9-1, 8) who was stopped in the 9th round of his bout with the highly touted Cameron Hammond (11-0, 5). Jakosalem has now lost 5 of his last 6 including an early blow out to Min-Wook Kim in an OPBF title fight and it appears that his career is really becoming that of a journeyman, a sham considering that he was an OPBF champion less than 3 years ago. Davao City, Philippines Sadly we've not yet received all the results from the Philippines. In an interesting clash of fringe world class fighters fans saw Drian Francisco (26-2-1, 20) take a clear win over former Bantamweight world title challenger John Mark Apolinario (17-5-3, 4). Apolinario was down in round 5 and hurt again in round 7 as Francisco proved his dominance over a much lesser foe than himself. Sadly for the heavy handed Francisco he did show signs of ring rust and it's fair to say had he not been rusty he may well have finished off Apolinario in round 7 when he was rocked hard. On the undercard the debuting Aries Buenavidez (1-0) defeated fellow debutant Sammy Caballeres (0-1) Metro Manila, Philippines A second Filipino show saw the extremely heavy handed Richard Claveras (10-0-2, 10) successfully defending the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an 8th round TKO over JC Francisco (6-9-3, 2), who had never previously been stopped. A second champion who managed to defend his title on this card was Ardin Diale (25-9-3, 12) who retained the GAB Flyweight title with a stoppage of the heavy handed Jenny Boy Buca (9-2, 9) who suffered a broken nose before being retired at the end of round 10. This was Buca's first stoppage losses and allows Diale to end the year on a high after suffering an 8th round loss to Koki Eto in a thrilling OPBF title fight back in June. In another title fight fans saw Jhon Gemino (11-3-1, 5) take the PBF Super Bantamweight title as he stopped the more experienced Rey Juntilla (19-6-3, 12) in the 7th round of their scheduled 10 rounder. Gemino was one of two new champions crowned on this show alongside Al Rivera (11-2, 9) who claimed the PBF Lightweigth title with a 2nd round KO against Junard Postrano (7-7, 2). In another stoppage we saw Renz Rosia (10-2, 5) take our Jay-ar Estremos (10-9, 4) in the 6th round. The undercard bouts all went the distance. These saw Rommel Berwela (2-2-2) even off his record with a majority draw against JR Florendo (3-2-1) in what was one of two draws on the card, the other saw Ariel Arevalo (2-1-2, 1) fight to a 4 round draw with Juanito Paredes (0-1-1). In another close bout Jason Dogelio (1-2) out pointed Manuel Mamacquiao (0-4). The only other bout on the card saw Lorence Rosas (2-0-1) out point the win-less Brando Bokingkito (0-2) Klimovsk, Russia In Russia we saw a small but interesting card that featured 2 more Filipino fighters in relatively interesting bouts, sadly however they lost both of those contests. The most interesting of the two was a PABA Lightweight title bout that saw Roman Andreev (16-0, 12) take a clear decision over the tough Rey Labao (26-6, 17). Labao was never really in the bout though that was due to Andreev who appears to be very promising and could well go all the way, one day. The other Filipino was Jason Canoy (21-5-2, 15) who was clearly beaten by the promising but previously untested Nikolay Potapov (13-0, 6). In a female bout novice professional Yulia Berezikova (2-0, 2) scored a very impressive victory by stopping the experienced Dalia Vasarhelyi (9-7, 1) in the 4th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. This was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds with another failing to go the distance as Konstantin Piternov (17-6, 8) scored a 3rd round TKO against the previously unbeaten David Nagy (3-1, 2). The other 8 rounder saw Maxim Maslov (15-1-1, 8) struggle past Yuri Bihoutsea (8-6-2, 5) in a surprisingly competitive contest. In a 4 rounder on the under-card Alexander Podolsky (2-0) took a 4 round decision over Dmytro Aushev (1-5, 1) (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) There wasn't a lot of fights today but we did have two notable shows in Asia with one card coming from Japan and one from South Korea. With both cards being small we understand them going under the radar of some fans but there was some notable bouts all the same. Seoul, South Korea The South Korean show was a card promoted by AK Promotions and we believe it featured 7 bouts in total, though we're not 100% sure given that our Korean is relatively poor to say the least. In the main event fans saw Bong-Joon Seok (8-1-2, 2) take a clear 10 round decision win over Filipino journeyman Vergel Nebran (12-9-1, 8). For Nebran, who was a very clear loser on the scorecards, this was his 5th loss in 6 bouts and it's now clear that he's going to be little more than a journeyman, despite running Yushi Tanaka close in July 2013 at the start of that bad run. The co-feature saw current South Korean Lightweight champion Sa-Ya Lee (6-2, 3) make the first defense of his national title as he easily over-came former Korean Super Featherweight champion Sung-Tae Kim (5-10-1, 2). This was Lee's first defense of the title he won earlier this year when he stopped Sang-Joon Park in the 10th round of their bout and it's clear that he's one of the more promising Korean's out there right now. Sadly whilst we know there was a lot more to this card we've not yet received the results for any of the other results from the show. Tokyo, Japan Whilst the results from South Korea are incomplete we have got all the results from a Japanese card promoted by Watanabe. The main event here saw a notable upset as the well regarded Jo Tanooka (9-2-3) was out pointed by Hiroki Saito (9-4, 5) in a well fought 8 round bout, Tanooka's lack of power made life relatively easy for Saito who's clear edge in force seemed to be the deciding factor on the cards which favoured Saito. Another upset on the card saw Yusuke Nakagawa (7-3-1, 4) take a 7th round technical decision over the much more experienced Koji Umetsu (22-15-3, 10), for Nakagawa this is by far the most significant win of his career whilst Umetsu may well need to think about retirement considering his long and hard career. Another technical decision resulted in a draw as Masaki Saito (11-10-4, 3) and Tsuyoshi Tojo (12-13-4, 2) saw their bout being stopped in the 4th round before a proper decision could be rendered in what was scheduled to go 8 rounds. The only other 8 rounder on the card saw the win-some lose-some Yasuhiro Okawa (13-11-3, 4) score a rare stoppage as he over-came Indonesian fighter Sandi Korga (3-6, 1) with a 5th round TKO. To open the card there was a trio of 6 rounders. The most interesting of those saw the debuting Daisuke Watanabe (1-0, 1) stop Toru Kudo (4-4-2, 1) in the 4th round to begin his career in relatively impressive fashion. Another stoppage on the early part of the card saw Kazuki Yokoyama (6-2, 4) stopping Ryuta Nakajima (5-4-1, 4) in the 6th round of their bout, in fact there was only 26 seconds of this bout left. The remaining bout ended in a technical decision as Masajiro Honda (6-5, 4) out pointed Soichiro Murata (4-3-3, 2) with a 4th round technical decision. Amnart Charoen, Thailand In Thailand we saw the unbeaten Hanuman Sithluangporphun (4-0) score a 12 round decision over Filipino journeyman Wilber Andogan (10-17-4, 4) to claim the interim PABA Light Flyweight title. We have received the video of this one and will be hoping to upload it shortly (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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