This past Sunday was an incredibly busy day in Asia with 3 notable Japanese cards and another show in the Philippines. Not only was there a lot of action but there wa s alot of notable action with OPBF title fights, former title holders and prospects all on show. Osaka, Japan The most notable of two separate cards held at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium was promoted by Shinsei promotions and featured 7 bouts in total. Among those bouts was an OPBF title contest and a couple of former world champions, alongside with 4 low level undercard bouts. The main event here saw the talented Masayoshi Nakatani (10-0, 5) successfully defend his OPBF Lightweight title for the 3rd time as he easily out pointed the over-matched Accel Sumiyoshi (4-4-1, 1). The bout was one-sided but Nakatani did admit he was disappointed with his performance and he seems to have felt as if he should have gotten Sumiyoshi out of there. One of the former world champions was former WBC female Flyweight champion Shindo Go (15-3, 10) who made light work of the over-matched Tantip Sithsaithong (0-2). Tantip was stopped in the 3rd round of their scheduled 8 rounder and never looked like she was going to be competitive with the power former champion. Go has now said that she wants a fight with either Susi Kentikian or a rematch with Arely Mucino, both of which would be fantastic match ups. The other former world champion was former WBA female Minimumweight champion Etsuko Tada (14-2-2, 4) who finished off Chamagorn Sithsaithong (0-2) in the 6th round. Chamagorn had been dropped numerous times before finally being stopped by Tada who has said she's wanting a big fight with anyone from 102lbs to 108lbs. The under-card here featured a couple more female bouts. One of those saw the debuting Eiko Shirouchi (1-0) claim a shut out against the over-matched Sae Ichimura (0-1) whilst the other saw Wakako Fujiwara (1-1-1, 1) claim her first win with a 4th round TKO against the debuting Tomoko Okuda (0-1). The other under-card bouts saw the debuting Ryuya Yanagida (1-0, 1) scoring a quick blow out win against Kiyonori Matsumoto (2-5) whilst the unbeaten Tetsu Araki (2-0-1) took a competitive decision over Tatsuki Yamamoto (1-1) Osaka, Japan The other show at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium saw another OPBF title fight along with the second match up in the career of a very exciting prospect. The OPBF title bout here saw Yu Kawaguchi (23-6, 10) claiming the previously vacant OPBF Bantamweight title as he scored a thin split decision over the heavy handed Takahiro Yamamoto (15-4, 12) in what was a very competitive match up that saw both men landing their share of leather. At the end of the bout however it seems that Kawaguchi's higher quality of experience, including a Japanese title fight with Kentaro Masuda, was the difference. Kawaguchi had said the he was going to retire if he lost but it's fair to say this win will keep his career alive whilst Yamamoto will certainly come again. In the chief support bout fans saw the much touted Kazuki Tanaka (2-0, 2), a former amateur stand out, score a highly notable victory over Kaname Tabei (10-9-2, 7). Tabei, who had only been stopped once, was taken out in 4 rounds by Tanaka who has now stated that he would like to get a fight with a Japanese ranked for by the end of the year and appears to be set on being fast tracked. Another of the supporting bouts here saw Ryo Kosaka (9-3-1, 4) take a slightly surprising victory over former Japanese title challenger Satoshi Niwa (16-19-3, 2). The loss for Niwa was his 4th in 5 bouts and seems to spell the end to his title dreams whilst the win for Kosaka was, by far, the best of his career thus far. A supporting bout that went the way we expected saw Takayuki Okumoto (14-6-2, 6) claim a 7th round technical decision win over Yuta Saito (7-6-2, 6). The bout was more competitive than the records of the two men may suggest but neither of these two will be going far. A remaining 8 rounder saw Takahiro Murai (10-6-2, 4) take a 5th round retirement victory over Tomonori Ota (6-6, 4). In the show's sole 6 rounder fans saw Kenta Matsui (6-3, 1) take a decision over Michitaka Muto (4-2-1). The undercard here feature a trio of low level bouts. The shortest of these saw Naotoshi Nakatani (5-0, 4) score an opening round victory over Thailand's Noppakao Sankarong (0-2). Another Japan Vs Thailand bout saw Genki Maeda (1-0, 1) take a 2nd round TKO against Paengchai Soonkilabangmod (0-1). The other under-card bout he also failed to go the distance as Tomoaki Matsumura (3-0, 2) claimed a technical decision win over Tesu Kanayama (2-2). Osaka, Japan A third show in Osaka came from the Sumiyoshi Ward Center where there were several notable fighters in action, ranging from a very exciting Middleweight prospect to a former OPBF title holder. In the main event fans saw Middleweight hopeful Koki Tyson Maebara (8-1-1, 8) score his best win to date as he stopped former Japanese Middleweight champion Sanosuke Sasaki (11-4, 5) in the 7th round. This was a big step up in class for Maebara though it does seem like there is still a long way to go before he'll be ready for a shot at OPBF/Japanese champion Akio Shibata. Another interesting prospect on this card was Cyborg Nawatedani (9-2-2, 4) who recorded his 6th straight win with a 6th round TKO against Hiroki Taniguchi (6-6-1, 2). After starting his career 1-2-1 Nawatedani has improved markedly and the 26 year old is showing signs of becoming a domesic contender in the coming years. Another domestic hopeful in action was Yuki Strong Kobayashi (9-4, 5) who took a 5th round TKO win against Hikaru Matsuoka (8-2-3, 1). This was a much needed win for Kobayashi following a loss in December to Satoshi Niwa. As for Matsuoka this was a surprising defeat that brought an end to a 7 fight undefeated run. Another really notable bout on this card saw former OPBF Super Featherweight champion Masao Nakamura (19-3, 19) end a 2-fight losing streak as he blew away Patomsak Sithsaithong (2-1). Nakamura, also known as the “KO King”, really needed a win here to and although it was a mismatch it was the sort of confidence building victory that will do him the world of good. In a 6 rounder fans saw Masashi Wakita (5-3-1, 2) take a very narrow decision over Shachihoko Dragons Keita (4-4-1, 1). On the under-card fans saw the unbeaten Kaminoko Okamura Kentokid (4-0-3, 2) take a 4 round decision over Shoji Nakamura (1-1-1, 1) and Ryusei Kitamura (3-1, 1) take a shut out decision win over Naoya Hamaguchi (4-3-1, 1). Fukuoka, Japan A final Japanese show took place at the Kokura Kita Gym and featured 7 bouts, most of which were low level contests. The main event saw Yoshihiko Matsuo (18-5-6, 3) claim a narrow decision win over Tatsuya Miyamoto (11-13-1, 7) in what was a very competitive match up between two men with huge different records. Although the records of these two are different the two men are well matched and actually fought to a draw last year. In the chief support bout, a 6 rounder, fans saw Sho Yamamoto (5-5-1, 2) narrowly over-come Yuta Nakashima (7-8, 2) with a majority decision. Although neither of these bouts were “big” the fact they were both competitive suggests that the match maker deserves a real pat on the back. On the under-card we had 5 bouts all scheduled for 4 rounds. From those 5 bouts we again had a very close one as Yoshiki Tatsukami (1-1) claimed his first win with a very thin decision win over Sho Sakota (0-1). Tatsukami's win was one of two decision on the under-card with the other being a shut out win for Kaito Akiyoshi (1-0) who over-came fellow debutant Ryuji Takada (0-1). In another all debutant contest Kenta Komatsu (1-0, 1) scored a 4th round stoppage against Yu Shoko (0-1). The other bouts both ended in the opening round. One of those saw female fighter Sana Hazuki (2-0, 1) blow away Arisa Iwanaga (0-1) in 100 seconds whilst the other saw the debuting Shuma Nakazato (1-0, 1) take out Takanari Hamamura (2-5, 2). Davao Del Norte, Philippines As well as the 4 shows in Japan there was also action in the Philippines with an MP promoted card. In the main event here fans saw the unbeaten Jayar Inson (8-0, 5) continue his winning run as he scored a 4th round KO of the limited Elmer Legaria (13-9, 4). Although this looked like a mismatch on paper it was a significant step up for the 24 year old Inson who now seems ready to be matched with progressively more testing foes. As for Legaria, this was his 7th stoppage loss in 9 defeats. In one of the chief support bouts fans saw Ryan Lumacad (8-0-1, 4) over-come Dondon Navarez (12-20-6, 3) with a 10 round decision. This was Lumacad's first 10 round bout and although he was up against a limited foe the experience will do him the world of good. Unfortunately however it's hard to know how good Lumacad is given his competition so far. Another of the support bouts saw the highly touted Harmonito Dela Torre (15-0, 10) demolish the horribly over-matched William George (10-22, 3) in just 138 seconds. This was a stay busy fight for Dela Torre, who hadn't fought since last September, but the bout was a meaningless one for the exciting youngster who has now stopped his last 5 foes. The sole 6 rounder on this card saw Rene Mark Cuarto (4-1, 2) score a 2nd round win over Brobro Languido (5-17-2, 1). On the under-card there was 4 bouts with 3 of those going the distance. One of those saw the debuting Daniel Lim (1-0) over-come fellow debutant Eljun Salva (0-1), another debutant picking up a win here was Jhon Rex Ginang (1-0) who defeated the win-less Jayson Sanchez (0-4). It wasn't all good for debutants however as Ronnie Baldonado (2-0, 1) defeated Rolly Bersabal (0-1) with a decision and Guida Vera (0-1) was blasted out in a round by Jose Aballe (2-1, 1). (Image courtesy of www.boxingnews.jp)
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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) Go defends successfully as Tada tries to re-establish herself, HUGE win for debuting Attano!5/26/2014 With everyone looking forward to the coming weekend it was easy to ignore the past weekend despite some genuinely interesting contests that took place on Sunday. Wakayama, Japan The biggest show of the three Asian shows was at the Big Wave in Wakayama. The show, whilst not a huge one, was a significant one for fans of both Asian boxing and female boxing with two highly regarded female fighters in action. The first of of the female fighters in action was former WBA female Minimumweight champion Etsuko Tada (13-1-2, 3) who bounced back from a 10 month absence from the ring by stopping the over-matched Rathsada Sor Worasin (0-2) in the 8th round. Tada, who lost in her last fight to Anabel Ortiz, hinted that she wants to return to world title fights later this year and effectively called out all the champions between 102lbs and 108lbs. In theory this could lead to some excellent bouts with the likes of Momo Koseki, Yuko Kuroki or Ayaka Miyao. Tada's fight was one of two female bouts on the show with the main event being the other. This main event saw WBC female Flyweight champion Shindo Go (14-2, 9) stop Thai challenger Kledpetch Lookmuangkan (6-3, 1), early in round 8. This was Go's second defence of the title she won last year, when she defeated Hungary's Renata Szebeledi, and it has helped make her a star of sorts in Wakayama where fans turned out in their droves to see their local world champion. It wasn't all female action on this show, neither was it all predictable action and in the main male bout of the show fans saw a serious upset as Shingo Kawamura (9-2, 4), the #15 ranked Japanese Featherweight, was stopped in the third round by Thai debutant Attano Kunlawong (1-0, 1). This debut for Attanon was a very surprising result that the sort of thing that could see a promoter becoming very interested in the Thai. Lower down the card we had a series of 4 rounders, none of which went the the distance, with the shortest of them being a 2nd round TKO victory for Marcos Sogabe (4-9-1, 4), who stopped the debuting Koichi Sumiya (0-1). As well as the second round stoppage there were a pair of 3rd round TKO's that saw Kosei Toyoda (1-1-1, 1) stopping Koichi Wakita (0-1) and Masashi Wakita (4-1, 2) stopping Katsuhito Kudo (0-2). The longest lasting of the under-card bouts went into the 4th round as Kyohei Tonomoto (3-1, 2) had to wait to finish off Takuya Yamamoto (4-8, 3). Mie, Japan A second Japanese show took place in Mie as Suzuka Niimi Promotions put on a small card at the Nishino Athletic Park Gym. The main event in this show saw Riichi Kawase (5-6-2, 1) narrowly squeaking past Masami Moriizumi (5-4-1, 4) via a split decision in one of two very close 6 round bouts. The other close bout saw Tokunori Hoshiyama (5-2-1, 1) taing a close unanimous decision over Yuya Nakazato (5-11, 5). In the only other 6 round bout on this show fans saw Kengo Maruhashi (5-11-2, 5) show off his power as he stopped Naoki Minami (5-6-1) in the 5th round. As well as the 6 round bouts this show also had a number of 4 rounders on it, only 1 of which actually went the distance as the unbeaten Masaru Urata (4-0-1, 1) extended his unbeaten streak with a decision over Masato Oike (2-2-3). Between them the other 3 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds lasted just a combined 4 rounds. These saw a pair of opening round stoppages as Yuto Nakamura (1-0, 1) took out fellow debutant Hideto Ota (0-1) in 92 seconds and Kazuma Sugiura (1-0, 1) won another all debutant fight, stopping Yuya Hiraiwa (0-1) in 103 seconds. The other bout didn't last much longer as Ryota Yada (4-3, 3) stopped Tetsuya Morisada (1-3, 1) in the second round. Rizal, Philippines As well as the two shows in Japan there was also a card in the Philippines as ARCI Boxing Promotions put on a card with two title fights. The card began with a very competitive Welterweight bout between Judy Anonuevo (2-1, 1) and the debuting Reagan Bulan (0-1) which saw Anounevo taking a majority decision victory. This was one of two majority decisions on the card with the other being a majority decision victory for Avelino Ramos (3-3) who overcame Daffy Dempo (2-3, 2) ina 6 round majority victory. The only other 6 round on the card ended in a 2nd round technical draw as Menard Abila (4-1-4, 1) suffered a badly cut eye in his bout with Felipe Cagubcob Jr (1-2-5). The Abila/Cagubcob fight was one of two technical decisions as Ian Ligutan (6-0-2, 3) suffered an opening round technical draw with Dexter Dimaculangan (3-4-5, 1) in a bout scheduled for 8. The other scheduled 8 rounder on the card was a chaotic, though short lived affair, as Jomar Borbon (4-17-2, 2) was dropped twice before managing to stop Jestoni Autida (4-2, 1) in one of the most action packed 95 seconds in the ring this year. The first title bout saw Rowel Rosia (8-2, 4) claim the PBF Flyweight title with a dominant performance against Albert Alcoy (14-19-7, 4). Alcoy's experience couldn't neuter the power of Rosia who scored knockdowns in rounds 4, 5 and 7 to take a clear decision victory. In the main event the unbeaten Renerio Arizala (11-0-1, 4) claimed the previously vacant Philippines Luzon Professional Boxing Association (LuzProBA) Light Flyweight title courtesy of decision over JC Francisco (6-8-2, 2). Although Arizala had a point deducted late in the fight he was the clear winner on the cards in a pretty competitive contest. (Image, of Go, courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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