Tokyo, Japan After Saturday night we were told “Boxing is dead”, nobody told the Japanese and on Wednesday they had a brilliant card at the Ota-City General Gymnasium with a trio of world title fights. The most notable of those title bouts was at Super Featherweight where WBA “super” champion Takashi Uchiyama (23-0-1, 19) scored a KO of the year contender against highly touted Thai Jomthong Chuwatana (9-1, 4). Coming into the bout Jomthong was an established tough guy following an extensive Muay Thai career. That however didn't help him here with Uchiyama bullying him from the middle of the opening round before blasting him out with a vicious right hand in the second round. For Jomthong this is a set back but one he'll likely bounce back from, as for Uchiyama this was one of his best performances, a real vintage display from the 35 year old Japanese puncher. A second world title fight saw Ryoichi Taguchi (22-2-1, 9) make the first defense of his WBA Flyweight title as he bounced Thai veteran Kwanthai Sithmorseng (49-4-1, 26) on and off the canvas. Kwanthai was down in rounds 2,5,6,7 and 8 before being stopped in what was a gutsy but flawed performance from the challenger. For Taguchi the hope now is for a big fight before the year is over, possibly with Ryo Miyazaki or Randy Petalcorin, both of which would be great bouts. The remaining world title bout saw Kumiko Seeser Ikehara (7-1-2, 3) retain her WBO female Minimumweight title bout with a 7th round split technical decision win against Kayoko Ebata (8-6, 4). Unfortunately for Ebata this was her 4th world title loss and at the age of 39 it seems very unlikely that she'll manage to get another shot. Things aren't great for Ikehara either who has now score back-to-back technical decision defenses and has been cut in each of those bouts. Prior to the world title bouts there had been some under-card bouts. One of those saw Takumi Suda (12-10-2, 3) score an 8 round split decision win over Yoshinori Wakahara (7-5, 4) in a very close contest. Another under-card bout saw Tsuyoshi Naito (4-3-3, 2) take a 4th round TKO win over Tatsushi Kagawa (4-9-1, 1) On the lower end of the card there were also a pair of 4 rounders. One of those saw the debuting Taiu Shiratori (1-0, 1) score an opening round blow out against Nao Sugawara (0-1) whilst the previously win-less Sayaka Aoki (1-2, 1) managed to score a 3rd round win against Akiko Oe (1-2, 1). Chiang Mai, Thailand In Thailand fans has 6 bouts and saw their fighters doing significantly better than they did in Japan. The main event of the show saw former WBO Bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu (50-3, 34) take a 3rd round KO against Indonesian fighter Nouldy Manakane (29-17-1, 18). For Pungluang this was win #50 and kept him in the hunt for a WBO world title fight later in the year, likely to be against Ryo Akaho. Another well known name in action on this card was Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (54-2, 25) who made light work of the light hitting Yakobus Heluka (8-11, 1) with a 4th round KO. This was Chonlatarn's second win since he was out pointed in Macau last year by Vasyl Lomachenmo. On the under-card fans saw a pair of stoppages. One of those saw Thewa Onesongchaigym (7-2, 2) take a 4th round KO against the debuting Theira Meik (0-1) whilst the other saw Rakniran Muadransarakam (5-0, 4) stop the win-less Saichon Or Ounsuwon (0-22) in the 5th round, this was the second meeting between Rakniran and Saichon with Rakniran taking a decision in their first bout at the end of last year. The two remaining under-card bouts, both female contests, went the distance. These saw Yodying Superchamp (3-0, 1) continue her winning run with a victory against Kularbgoen Sor Visetkit (0-2) and a win for the debuting Petchwaree Mor Krungthepthonburi (1-0), who out pointed Fasung Kietmanop (0-1). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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This past Saturday was the first major day for Asian fight fans as we got a major bout in Asia, some notable debuts and action involving a number of unbeaten prospects. It may not have been a day of world title fights but it's certainly been the highlight of the year so far. Tokyo, Japan The biggest of two Asian cards came from the Korakuen Hall and was televised NTV G+, a subscription based channel in Japan. The show was the first Japanese show of the year and featured the first OPBF title fight of 2014 as well as several other notable bouts. We'll begin with the main event which featured Thailand's very highly regarded Jomthong Chuwatana (9-0, 4) successfully retain the OPBF Super Featherweight title and record his best win to date. Jomthong, defending the belt for the 4th time, looked awful on the scales on Friday but looked brilliant in the ring as he out boxed, out landed and generally out fought the teak tough and Hercules-like Daiki Kaneko (21-4-3, 14). Coming in to the bout it seemed like a 50-50 contest though through the middle rounds it seemed like Jomthong was in a league of his own as he bloodied the face of the Japanese fighter, who had previously given Takashi Uchiyama a tough bout in a world title contest. Although it's not been stated we now suspect that Jomthong will be hunting a world title bout and on this performance you'd have to give him a chance against any of the current world champions at 130lbs. In the key support bouts we had Middleweight action with two separate Middleweight bouts. The more competitive of those Middleweight bouts saw the heavy handed Shoma Fukumoto (6-1, 5) take his first distance win as he took a majority decision over the tough Kazuyuki Fukuyama (9-6, 2). The 8 round win will serve Fukumoto well going forward though we do wonder just how promising he really is. The other Middleweight bout saw former Japanese Middleweight champion Tomohiro Ebisu (13-4, 13) score an opening round victory over the poor Tatsuro Kawabata (6-6, 2) who really lacked the toughness to hand with Ebisu. Lower down the card we had a pair of 6 rounders. One of those saw Hideki Suzuki (6-4-1, 1) score his first stoppage win as he stopped the chinny Hikaru Takaki (6-6, 5) with just seconds left in round 5. The other 6 rounder lasted little more than a minute as the heavy handed Naoki Mochizuki (6-1, 5) quickly dispatched Takuma Okara (5-10, 2). The card began with 4 rounders. One of those was an all debutant contest that saw Masato Niijima (1-0, 1) kick off his career with an opening round win over Kenji Haruta (0-1). Another stoppage on this portion of the card saw Ryosuke Yokota (4-1, 3) stop the previously unbeaten Eisuke Hara (3-1, 2). One unbeaten man who maintained his unbeaten record was Teppei Kayanuma (3-0, 2) who had his stoppage run ended by Seiryu Toshikawa (1-2, 1) in a genuinely competitive contest. Cotabato del Sur, Philippines As well as the action in Japan there was also some in the Philippines. This was at a lower level to the Japanese card but still an important one. In the main event fans saw former Filipino amateur stand out Adam Diu Abdulhamid (4-2, 1) avenge his loss to JR Mendoza (10-18, 4) with a 10 round decision. Abdulhamid lost his first bout with Mendoza in November though will take great solace from this win. Incidentally this is Abdulhamid second rematch with an opponent in just 6 pro bouts and some would have suspect that he's not going tio live up to the expectation many had of him. In the chief support bout fans saw Ronie Tanallon (5-1-1, 1) take an 8 round decision over journeyman Jonathan Ricablanca (7-46-2, 1) in what was the sole 8 rounder. Much of this show consisted of 6 round bouts, with two of those going the distance. One of those saw Markquil Salvana (6-0, 1) take a decision win over Dave Ogbamin (2-3-2, 1) whilst the other saw Raymart Gaballo (7-0, 5) take a decision over the debuting Paolo Romero (0-1). The other 6 rounders were both over quickly with Michael Angelo Plania (4-0, 2) taking out Marwin Cristota (2-12-1, 1) in the 3rd round and Romero Duno (4-0, 3) blowing out Rey Liparanon (4-11-1, 1) inside a round. In the sole 4 rounder of the card fan saw the debuting Benny Jade Slight (1-0, 1) blast out the win-less Michael Manambay (0-10). Connecticut, USA In the US we had a trio of Chinese fighters in action, including 2 debutants and a touted Heavyweight hopeful. The Heavyweight was Zhang Zhilei (2-0, 2) who scored his second early victory as he took out the much smaller Perry Filkins (0-1) inside a round. To our knowledge Filkins is an MMA fighter and and he may well stay away from boxing after this 70 second defeat. Incidentally Filkin's did last almost a minute longer than Curtis Lee Tate who faced Zhilei in Zhilei's farcical debut. One of the debutant was Wang Zhimin (1-0), a much touted Chinese fighter than some feel could go a very, very long way. Zhimin took a clear decision over fellow debutant Kin Moy (0-1) and it's hard to see anything but a fantastic future in the sport for Zhimin. The other debutant was Olympian Meng Fanlong (1-0) who over-came Marcellus Yates (0-2) via a majority decision. Strangely Fanlong won a shut out on 2 cards whilst the 3rd judge had it a draw. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) We're sorry fir being a few days behind results from the weekend haven't fully reached us yet, sadly. These are however from Sunday and we'll try to get the rest of them soon. Okinawa, Japan The biggest fight of the day, and one of the biggest of the whole weekend, saw the return to the ring of Thailand's sensational Jomthong Chuwatana (8-0, 4). Jomthong, who had been away from boxing for well over a year, returned to defend his OPBF Super Featherweight title and over-came Japan's very own Koseki Nakama (17-5, 8) with a clear decision. From the reports we've been sent Jomthong was dropped in round 2 though won everyone of the other 11 rounds to take a clear 118-109 victory. The footage of this fight can be found here. In the co-feature the IBF world ranked Go Onaga (22-2-2, 16) scored a 2nd round KO over limited Thai veteran Samransak Singmanasak (35-24-1, 27). This was Onaga's first bout in 10 months and it seems likely that he'll be seeking a title fight in 2015. Although the Japanese Super Flyweight title isn't an easy one to win right now we do imagine that will be Onaga's target, unless he wants to go the OPBF route. In one of the two support bouts Masatoshi Kotani (15-2, 11) took a highly debatable split decision over Filipino Edgar Gabejan (26-30-6, 8). Many fans and media felt that Kotani was very fortunate and with Gabejan being little more than a journeyman this really was a poor performance from the Japanese fighter. Although Gabejan was unlucky it's fair to say that the luck wasn't all against the Filipino's as Dado Cabintoy (14-4-2, 7) managed to take a tight technical majority decision over Yuta Sasaki (6-5, 1). This was Cabintoy's third straight win in Japan and strangely he is 5-0 outside of the Philippines an 9-4-2 inside the country of his birth. In the two 6 rounders fans were treat to blow outs. One of those saw Yusuke Iju (6-4-1, 3) blow out Yoshiki Kawamura (4-6, 3) whilst the other saw Shoto Chinen (5-1-1, 4) take out Petch Sirimongkolgym (0-2) inside a minute. Whilst in the opening bout fans got the chance to see Yoshiki Uehara (1-1) take a decision over Haruma Maki (0-1). (Image, from Onaga's victory over Singmanasak, courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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