This past Friday wasn't a busy day in Asian boxing but it was one that saw headlines being written, particularly due to a fight on US soil.
Illinois, USA The biggest, and best, Asian fight of the night took place in the US where the under-rated WBA Super Flyweight champion Kohei Kono (31-8-1, 13) scored a unanimous decision win over the more esteemed Koki Kameda (33-2, 18), who failed in his attempt to be a 4-weight world champion. The bout was a 12 round war which featured everything, from a knockdown against Kameda to several point deductions, from the over-zealous Celestino Ruiz. The bout has been talked about as a FOTY contender and whilst a rematch would certainly hold some interest there is now big options out there for Kono, including a likely bout with Rex Tso. Ayutthaya, Thailand As well as the big bout in the US there was also a card in Thailand. In the main event of the card fans saw Hanuman Sithluangporphun (12-4, 3) successfully defend his PABA interim Light Flyweight title with a decision win over Indonesian veteran Heri Amol (37-25-5, 15). For Hanuman this was his second defense of the title that he won last November and he has now won 9 successive bouts. In the chief supporting bout Thong Sithluangphophun (15-0, 9) extended his winning record and over-came Indonesian "loser" Boido Simanjuntak (18-31-1, 7), who has now lost 13 straight bouts and hasn't recorded a win since late December 2012. A notable fighter on the under-card was Yodsingdaeng Jor Chaijinda (10-1, 6) who scored a great KO win against Vichannoi Srisaketpattana (0-1), who was stopped in round 3. The two remaining bouts on this show were both all debutant affairs. One of those saw Yodthong Sor Sompotgym (1-0, 1) score a 2nd round TKO win against Dansiam Manoprungroj (0-1) whilst the other saw Pornsak Sor Praithong (1-0) score a 6th round decision win against Petcharas Sithluangporphun (0-1).
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The year of 2014 ended in a bang with 2 major cards on the final day of the year. In some ways they were very frustrating cards for westerners who struggled to get live streams of them but on the other they further proved what we all knew, boxing fans can never have enough. Hopefully the struggles to get streams will help Western TV realise what we already know, there is a huge demand to watch fights from the east. Osaka, Japan Of the two cards the most interesting came from Osaka where we had several bouts of note, including one bout that really was a bout that fans wanted to watch, and that ended up being a little special in some ways. Rather notably it was also the last bout of the year. That bout saw Cuban boxer-come-TV exile Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10) successfully defending his WBA “super” and WBO Super Bantamweight titles in what was an entertaining, up and down contest. Rigondeaux was fighting against Japan's Hisashi Amagasa (28-5-2, 19), a man best known for being a very lanky Featherweight, the OPBF Featherweight champion in fact. The fight saw the challenger set off as he meant to go on and really tried to take the fight to Rigondeaux who was simply too good for him early on however 2 knockdowns by Amagasa in round 7 suddenly got everyone excited and the biggest upset looked on, at least for a few moments. In round 9 it was Amagasa who was dropped and over the following 2 rounds his face began to fall apart which what looks to have been a broken jaw and a broken orbital bone. Those disfiguring injuries eventually forced him to retire from the bout. For Amagasa this performance is likely to have made him an over-night name for the hardcore international fans whilst Rigondeaux's victory proved that he can be in exciting, entertaining and vicious bouts as well as the proving he is vulnerable. Another world title bout on this show saw Katsunari Takayama (28-7-0-1, 11) create his own moment of history as he became the first Japanese fighter to claim a version of all 4 major titles. This happened when he won the WBO Minimumweight, along with the IBF version of the belt, to complete a career grandslam. Takayama won both belts when he forced the referee to save the brave but exhausted and Go Odaira (11-4-3, 1), who suffered the first stoppage of his career. A third bout featuring a world class fighter on this show saw former 2-weight world champion Kazuto Ioka (16-1, 10) score a sensational KO against former WBA interim Flyweight champion Jean Piero Perez (20-8-1, 14). For almost 5 rounds Perez gave as good as he got in what was a free swinging effort but a single right hand in the final minute of round 5 dropped him hard and never managed to recover. In a Japanese title fight fans saw the talented Sho Ishida (18-0, 10) successfully defend the Super Flyweight title for the first time with a 5th round TKO over the over-matched Masato Morisaki (9-4-1, 5). The undercard portion of this show was a bit of a farce if we're being honest with 6 bouts which saw Japanese fighters battling against Thai opposition. The Thai's failed to win a fight, in fact only 1 of them managed to see out the schedule. The one that did was Rannada Sor Vorasing (0-1) who was shut out by boxer-model Tomomi Takano (7-1, 5) in one of two female contests. The other female contest was a blow out as Terumi Nuki (6-0, 3) blasted away Petchluksor Sor Praithong (0-1) in just 107 seconds. Nuki's quick blow out was one of 3 opening round blow outs on this undercard which also saw Ryuto Maekawa (10-0, 6) take care of Chanachai Sor Siamchai (0-2) in 133 seconds and the brilliantly promising Takeru Kamikubo (8-0, 5) wipe out Phetsaifar Lukmaelamperigym (0-6) in 158 seconds. Another mismatch saw former world champion Ryo Miyazaki (22-1-3, 13) take care of Kajonsak Nattapolgym (0-1) in round 3 whilst another 3rd round victory saw Takahiro Yamamoto (15-3, 12) take care of Kamraiyok Or Wandavee (0-1). Tokyo, Japan The other show took place in Tokyo where we had a trio of world title bouts which all had their own story to tell. The most interesting of those stories was that of the heavy handed Takashi Uchiyama (22-0-1, 18) who retained his WBA Super Featherweight title with a 9th round retirement victory over Argentina's game Israel Perez (27-3-1, 16). The bout was Uchiyama's first in exactly a year and saw him looking the boss in what was an interesting contest with a man who had come to win. The bout saw Perez try and win but eventually he retired as Uchiyama began to shake off the ring rust and go for the kill. From what we understand a post-fight story here revolved around the scoring, particularly by Gustavo Padilla who is reported to have had the bout even at 85-85, a frankly puzzling score card, though not his worst of the night... ...Padilla's worst score came in the WBA Super Flyweight title fight that saw Kohei Kono (30-8-1, 13) retain his title with a split decision draw against Norberto Jimenez (20-8-4, 10). The bout, scored a split draw, saw Padilla handing in a ridiculous 115-112 card in favour of Jimenez, a card so ridiculous that someone needs to look into him, especially given what he did in the Uchiyama/Perez bout. This contest was close, and a draw wasn't an awful result, though we did feel Kono deserved the win, however that card is just wrong. In the ring Jimenez used his movement and speed to keep Kono from unloading on him and exposed some flaws in the champions armour however he failed to really capitalise. The other world title bout on this card saw a new champion being crowned as Ryoichi Taguchi (21-2-1, 8), a man previously best known for taking Naoya Inoue the distance, scored a clear 12 round win over Peruvian Alberto Rossel (32-9-0-1, 13) to claim the WBA Light Flyweight title. Taguchi started slowly but ran out a clear winner, dropping Rossel twice to cement his win. The under-card here was much more interesting than the under-card in Osaka with bouts that weren't all mismatches and blow outs. One of the few stoppages saw Chikashi Hayashizaki (6-4-1, 2) score an unexpected stoppage of Takahiro Araki (5-4, 3), in the 4th round of a scheduled 6, whilst another stoppage on this card saw Minoru Iizuka (4-2, 4) score a 3rd round KO over the previously unbeaten Ryusei Nakajima (2-1, 1), in a scheduled 6 rounder. The most competitive of the undercard bouts resulted in a 6 round split decision draw between Masayasu Nakamura (4-1-1, 4) and Takahiro Kinoshita (5-3-2, 2) in a bout that saw all 3 cards looking very similar to each other. Another very competitive but saw Shun Shimazaki (6-6-1) narrowly defeat Hisasho Owada (5-9-1) in another 6 rounder. In the 4 rounders on the card fans saw the debuting Kazumasa Akagi (1-0) score a narrow decision win over Yukihiro Kaneko (0-3) whilst Kazuhiro Baba (1-2) claimed his first win with a razor thin win over Kazuki Aso (0-2). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Wednesday was the clear highlight of the midweek boxing in a week that has been more packed than an average week. That was because of a really interesting world title fight in Japan as a Japanese fighter and a Thai fighter collided in a really good looking bout. Tokyo, Japan That bout in particular saw former WBA Super Flyweight champion Kohei Kono (30-8, 13) clashing with Thai veteran Denkaosan Kaovichit (62-4-1, 26) for the vacant title that Kono had once held. The fight, a rare mid-week world title fight, saw both month signalling their intentions to win in the week of the fight. For the Thai it was a promise to his 6 kids for Kono it was his chance redefine his career and to move towards a Japanese super fight with the always controversial Koki Kameda. As it turned out it seems likely that Kaovichit's children may be slightly disappointed. He tried as hard as he could and was often out working the Japanese fighter but at the end of the day power is the great neutraliser and Kono simply had too much sting on his punches for Kaovichit who was dropped in round 4 and then stopped in round 8 as Kono reclaimed his old title. As well as the world title fight this same show also gave fans a chance to see several Japanese ranked fighters. One of those was Tatsuya Takahashi (16-5-3, 11) who made light word of the limited Hiromu Tamura (6-22-1, 2) with a 3rd round TKO. Whilst Takahashi had an easy day's work with his opponent, another Japanese ranked fighter Konosuke Tomiyama (24-6-1, 8), was forced to work exceptionally hard for his. Tomiyama, best known for his losses to Nobuo Nashiro and Genesis Servania, was expected to easily breeze past Kanae Onogi (6-6-1, 3) though instead he laboured to a 6 round majority victory. The card also saw Toshimitsu Goto (12-10-1, 5) score a relatively rare stoppage as he defeated Takahisa Nayuki (11-10, 2) in 3 rounds. This loss for Nayuki ended a short 2 fight winning streak. In one other 6 rounder fans saw Takahiro Kinoshita (5-3-1, 2) take a hard fought decision over Takahiro Iida (4-4-1, 2). The show, of course, started with the 4 round under card bouts and these saw a trio of debutants. The only debuting fighter on the show to win was Tameji Ito (1-0, 1) who stopped fellow debutant Hiroki Arakawa (0-1) in 135 seconds. Arakawa's loss was copied by Yudai Yamato (0-1) who was stopped in the 4th round by the previously win-less Masato Motohashi (1-1, 1) (Photo courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo
Although the final boxing upset of the year occurred in Osaka that doesn't mean fans in Tokyo had any less reason to enjoy their new year's eve with a world title double header taking place at the Ota-City General Gymnasium on a show plastered with notable names. The notable names on the show included female star Tomomi Takano (4-0, 3) who stole the headlines at the weigh-in with her wedding outfit. The former model-turned boxer showed once again that she has talent to add to her looks as she made light work of Kumi Oishi (1-3, 1) with a second round TKO. Takano, who many view as a potential starlet, may not have the talent of Naoko Fujioka but she certainly draws a lot of attention to female boxing like very few others. Another big name on the card was former WBA Super Flyweight champion Kohei Kono (29-8, 11) who made light work of tune up opponent Daut Manopkanchang (0-1). Kono, fighting for the first time since his loss to Liborio Solis back in May, shook off his rust and kept his attention on the job here ahead of his scheduled world title bout with Denkaosan Kaovichit in March. Kono, looking to recapture his old title in that bout will be hoping for a similarly easy time with Kaovichit, though it would be unlikely. Also on the under-card was WBC #1 ranked Super Flyweight Carlos Cuadras (29-0, 24). Cuadras, of Mexico, made very light work of Songseanglek Phosuwangym (1-10) and we now assume he's angling towards a fight with either WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai or even the winner of Kono's bout with Kaovichit. Remaining with the "names" on the under-card the most well matched contest saw former Japanese Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (19-2-1, 8) takes a hard fought decision over Ryan Bito (22-13-3, 8). This was Taguchi's comeback fight after losing his title to Naoya Inoue in August and surprisingly he struggled here with Bito who has only won 1 of his last 6 and that came against a debutant. Taguchi needs to get back on top of things and show off the talent that saw him being world ranked earlier this year though unfortunately it could be a tough rebuilding process. On the bottom of the under-card we had 3 much lower level bouts. These saw Noriyoshi Taki (3-4, 1) taking a 3 round technical decision victory over Yusuke Matsuda (1-2); the debuting Hikaru Komori (1-0, 1) stopping fellow debutant Mamoru Suzuki (0-1) in 2 rounds and Hideki Suzuki (4-3-1) taking a 4 round decision over Yuki Arai (3-3, 1). Of course fans weren't really there for the undercard, even if it did have big names on it. Instead they were there for the 2 world title fights that the show had, both in the Super Featherweight division. The first of the world title fights saw WBC champion Takashi Miura (27-2-2, 20) dominate Mexican challenger Dante Jardon (24-4, 20). This was, on paper, the fight of the day though from the first round it seemed the men were in completely different leagues and Miura just beat up and broke down Jardon who was tough but thoroughly out-classed before being stopped in round 9. The Mexican challenger, a much vaunted puncher himself, was down in rounds 5 and 8 before being stopped after a third knockdown early in the ninth. Miura's victory was his second title defense and his third victory over a Mexican this year. With that in mind it may be fair to call him the new Mexecutioner and with that in mind he may well be thinking about bouts in 2014 with either Daniel Ponce De Leon or Miguel Berchelt, 2 of the top Mexicans in the Super Featherweight division. The other world title fight, and for us the fight that was the best of the day, saw Takashi Uchiyama (21-0-1, 17) successfully retain his WBA title with a very hard fought decision over former Japanese national champion Daiki Kaneko (19-3-3, 12). Although the scores, which all read 117-110, made the fight look easy it was anything but as the strong and powerful Kaneko gave Uchiyama all he could handle and actually dropped the champion in round 10. The difference between the two men was the experience that Uchiyama has at the world level though with out a doubt Kaneko put himself on the map with a very strong performance that saw him really impressing in a thoroughly competitive contest. Having seen how impressive Kaneko was here we've no doubt that he has the potential to become a world champion at some point, though it may be at Lightweight and not Super Featherweight. With Uchiyama and Miura both retaining the likeliness is that the two will fight in a unification contest in 2014. Whether that is the first thing on the agenda for them is up for debate but it's a bout both seem intent to have. This would be a rematch, with Uchiyama having beaten Miura back in January 2011, though it's one everyone seems to be calling for, including ourselves. |
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