Tokyo, Japan In Tokyo Japanese fans had a bit of a treat with with some matched bouts, at least on paper, and some big name fighters. In one of the two main events fans saw former world champion Akifumi Shimoda (30-4-2, 13) beat Filipino Jerry Nardo (21-7, 11) in 5 rounds. This was one of Shimoda's best performances and he looked sharp from the opening bell. Whilst it's hard to see him winning another world title we really couldn't fault his performance. The other main bout was a total mismatch and saw Yoshihiro Kamegai (26-3-1, 23) make very light work of Nelson Gulpe (8-6, 3) with a 3rd round KO. This bout was a mismatch, there's no two ways about it, however it was Kamegai's return to Japan after 3 bouts in the US. On of the better matched bouts saw Kenya Yamashita (8-1, 5) score a 6th round TKO win against Musashi Suzuki (11-4, 4). Coming into this one Suzuki was ranked by the JBC and Yamashita had lost his previous bout, so this result will shake up the domestic rankings. Another bout that looked good on paper saw Junki Sasaki (14-3, 5) take a shut out win against Yuki Ozawa (10-5, 2). This one looked good on paper but proved to be one-sided. Another 8 rounder on this card saw the promising Masaru Sueyoshi (10-1, 6) take a clear win over Roman Canto (10-8-2, 5), with Filipino visitor Canto doing enough to survive but failing to win a round. On the under-card Ryota Toyoshima (3-1-1, 2) defeated Kazumichi Ishizawa (3-6, 1) with a near shut out over 4 rounds whilst the debuting Yamato Hata (1-0,1) stopped Thailand's Muangpol NP Boxing Gym (0-1) in the second round. Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand In the main event fans saw the talented Paipharob Kokietgym (31-0, 24) continue staying active with a 2nd round win against out-matched Filipino Jopher Marayan (7-8-2, 3) in a bout that saw Paipharob retain his PABA Light Flyweight title. Also on this card fans saw former world champion Kompayak Porpramook (54-5, 38) continue his career with a 4th round TKO win over Indonesian journeyman Ichal Tobida (12-17, 8). Although not the fighter he once was Kompayak still has far too much for fighters like Tobida. Also on this card fans saw the unbeaten Manachai Banchamek (8-0-1, 6) extend his perfect record with a decision win against Boonmieng Laos PDR (0-1). California, USA In the US fans saw popular Filipino Mercito Gesta (29-1-2-1, 16) claim a narrow run over Miguel Angel Mendoza (22-7-2, 21). Gesta was dropped early in the fight and was said to have been fortunate to get the decision here. New South Wales, Australia In Australia fans had a chance to see a number of Thai's in action, sadly however it wasn't a good day for them. The most notable of those Thai's was former world champion Denkaosan Kaovichit (63-6-1, 26) who was stopped in 5 rounds by the fast rising TJ Doheny (13-0, 9), who has seemingly shown that he's heading to bigger and better things than a PABA title, one of which he defended here. Another was Mongkolchai Lookmuangkanch (12-5, 7) who was stopped by another former world champion, Vic Darchinyan (41-8-1, 30) in just 2 rounds. Despite the fact Darchinyan was 39 this always seemed like a serious mismatch. Another man who picked up a loss was Denkamon Pakdee Gym (22-7, 13) who was stopped by Olympian Cameron Hammond (14-0, 8). Interestingly this result was originally reported wrong in what would have been a huge upset. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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The weekend is just around the corner but we've already seen several notable fights on a Thursday that was packed with fighters worth giving plenty of attention to. In fact in Japan there was 3 national title bouts whilst in the US fans had the chance to see a former world title challenger continue his ascent back to the top. Tokyo, Japan In the Japan the card began with a pair of intriguing non-title bouts before a trio of bouts for belts. Although it's fair to say it was the title action that got the attention the under-card was certainly not something that could have been ignored. One of the under-card bouts saw recent Japanese Flyweight title challenger Yusuke Sakashita (13-5-2, 8) score a 6th round TKO against the tough but very limited Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-19). Sakashita, who was last seen being stopped by Suguru Muranaka, was too good for Sakurai and it showed here in what was, essentially, a comeback fight for Sakashita. The other under-card bout saw former Japanese Featherweight title contender Yuki Ogata (21-1-1, 3) take a clear decision win over Kentaro Yamada (8-6-1, 6). Ogata had narrowly beaten Yamada last year with a split decision last year but this time he was a clear winner with no doubting the result. The first of the title bouts saw Yukinori Oguni (14-1-1, 4) successfully retain his Japanese Super Bantamweight title with a 10 majority draw against Gakuya Furuhashi (17-5-1, 7). This was Oguni's first defense since winning the belt late last year with a narrow decision victory against Yasutaka Ishimoto and although it's a successful defense it's clear Oguni is a long way from being ready to move up a level. For Furuhashi it's clear that he'll feel he deserves a rematch even if he's not likely to get one any time soon. The second title bout saw Kota Tokunaga (15-2, 10) claim the biggest win of his career as he stopped Yuya Sugizaki (20-10-1, 6) in the 8th round of their bout and claimed the Japanese Lightweight title. Toklunaga was narrowly behind at the half way mark but turned the screw from round 6 and eventually forced the referee to save Sugizaki. Impressive for Tokunaga's gym, WOZ Boxing, this is their second title win in the space of a few weeks following Shohei Omori's excellent victory over Kentaro Masuda for the Japanese Bantamweight title. Notably this title was vacated by Yoshitaka Kato, a stable mate of Sugizaki's. In the main event fans saw Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (12-1, 6) narrowly retain his title with a split decision win over Nobuhiro Ishida (27-11-2, 11). This bout was nip and tuck through out and whilst it wasn't a classic it was compelling with neither man really knowing if they'd done enough to deserve the win and title. Sadly following the bout it's been revealed that Ishida is now likely to retire from the sport and wave good bye to what has been a genuinely memorable career. California, USA In the US fans saw the popular and exciting Mercito Gesta (28-1-2, 16) fight to a split decision draw with Carlos Molina (17-2-2, 7) in a solid fight that was genuinely entertaining. Going in Gesta did look under-sized and, especially early on, seemed to struggle but he found his range and rhythm in the middle rounds to get a well deserved draw. The only issue with the bout was the appalling 98-92 score card in favour of Molina from judge Eddie Hernandez, a genuinely shocking card for such a close and well contested bout. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Not every day is a great day for Asian boxing and it's fair to say this past Friday wasn't a great one with more lows than highs, despite some interesting action all over the word
Kobe, Japan The most significant of the shows came at the Portopia Hotel in Kobe. The venue, making it's professional boxing debut, looked stunning though sadly couldn't help Japan's Teiru Kinoshita (19-1-1, 3) over-come South African puncher Zolani Tete (19-3, 16) in a bout for the IBF Super Flyweight title. Kinoshita did impress, in some ways, with his toughness but that was the about all the positives he could take out of the bout that he clearly lost. The fight, Kinoshita's first world title bout, could well be his last and we'd not be shocked if he fell back to Japanese domestic level following this loss. In the chief support bout to Kinoshita's contest fans got to see a rematch between Shinichiro Morikawa (16-4-1, 11) and Ryota Kihara (6-9-4, 5). The two men fought last year with Morikawa taking a close decision over 8 rounds. This time around the judges weren't needed as Morikawa saw off Kihara in just 4 rounds as he dominated his limited foe. A third bout of note on this same card saw Jonathan Baat (26-5-3, 12) dominate Yubon Kanayama (10-5, 3) to inflict Kanayama's 5th loss in 8 bouts. For Baat this was a bounce back victory follow a loss last time out to Qiu Xiao Jun, in what was a third bout between the two men. Lower down the card Naoki Yamamoto (5-7-2, 3) managed to out point Ryoki Hirai (3-2-1, 1) over 4 rounds in a very competitive contest. Another 4 rounder saw Hayato Shimosakoda (1-1) take a decision over Yosuke Goto (1-5) whilst the hard hitting Takuya Hashimoto (4-4, 4) upset Masashi Wakita (4-2, 2) with a 2nd round KO. Tokyo, Japan A second card in Japan took place at the Korakuen Hall. Although the supposed main bout, a Japanese Super Bantamweight bout between Hidenori Otake and Daisuke Furuhashi, was cancelled the card it's self went on with some interesting contests. After the main event was cancelled the previous chief support became the new main event and that saw Ryuto Oho (6-1-1, 2) fighting to a very competitive majority draw with Shuji Hamada (12-6-4, 2). Sadly for the 19 year old Oho this was a second successive set back following his sole loss to Jo Tanooka and we dare say that he's not matured into a Super Flyweight,yet. Oho did impress us last year when he was fighting at Flyweight, where he won the Rookie of the Year, and maybe he needs to try and return to 112lbs. In the chief support bout on this card fans got to see the return to the ring of Spice Matsushita (12-8, 2) who returned to the ring after more than a year out of action. Matsuhsita not only returned to the ring but did so with a hard fought decision over Toshimitsu Goto (12-11-1, 5) A third bout on this card saw Takuma Okada (5-9, 2) take a 6 round against the light hitting Tsuyoshi Nishimura (4-7-1, 1). The win for Okada saw him ending a 2 fight losing streak though it did extend Nishimura's losing run to 2 fights. We know at the moment that we have more results to come from Japan though for now these are the only ones we have. Pathum Thani, Thailand On a televised card in Thailand fans got to see the world ranked Nawaphon Por Chokchai (22-0, 16) successfully defend his WBC Asian Boxing Council Flyweight title for the 9th time! Nawaphon defeated Thailand's usually durable Jay-ar Estremos (10-8, 4) inside the distance the retain his title and inflict just the second stoppage loss on to Estremos. Interestingly Estremos had, earlier this year, pushed Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym all the way in a bout many felt Kwanpichit had been gifted a win in and with that in mind you need to realise just how good this win was. There were other bouts on this card but at the moment we aren't sure on the specific results. What we do know however is that Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (37-5-1, 16) won a decision and Kongfah Nakornluang (14-0, 8) took a stoppage. Hopefully we'll be able to fill in the full results in the coming day or two. New South Wales, Australia In Australia we had more disappointment as former Japanese and OPBF Bantamweight title challenger Jerope Mercado (26-7-3, 9) suffered a very debatable split decision loss to Valentine Borg (7-1, 4). Jerope, best known for his fights with Rolly Lunas, Ryosuke Iwasa and Kohei Oba, was judged to have been shut out on two of the cards though it's doubtful that anyone else could possibly have had the bout a shut out. Notably for Borg this was his first bout since his stunning stoppage loss to Joebert Delos Reyes and it appears that loss has damaged the confidence of Borg who was previously unbeaten and tipped to move on to bigger and better things. East Cape, South Africa It was also a disappointing day in South Africa as Filipino Edrin Dapudong (29-6, 17) lost the IBO Super Flyweight title in a controversial split decision to South Africa's very own Lwandile Sityatha (17-3-1, 7). The bout was the first defence of the title by Dapudong, who took the belt with an opening round KO against Gideon Buthelezi, though unfortunately this is his second controversial loss in South Africa following a split decision to Buthelezi back in 2012. With 2 split decision losses in 3 bouts it's fair to question whether or not "The Sting" will ever return to fight in South Africa. New York, USA The disappointment for Asian fighters continued in New York where "Mongolian Mongoose" Bayarn Jargal (17-5-3-1, 11) saw his bout with Cletus Seldin (13-0-0-1, 10) end in a No Contest. Jargal was injured around the eye from a clash of heads and was unable to continue forcing the bout to a No Contest. Prior to the ending Jargal was making Seldin look limited, though we're not sure if he was managing to over-come the naturally bigger American fighter. California, USA It wasn't all bad for Asian's however and in California we had the chance to see the impressive debut of Chinese Heavyweight giant Taishan Dong (1-0, 1). The 6'11" giant managed to drop Alex Rozman (2-7, 1) several times before he told the referee that he couldn't go on. Dong didn't have things all his own way though he he'll have learned more by fighting Rozman, who came to win, than fighting someone who was happy to fold the first time they were hit. For those who missed this fight it's now on our video section. Also on this card was a victory for popular Filipino Mercito Gesta (28-1-1, 16) who looked genuinely sensational as he beat up and broke down the experienced Luis Arceo (28-13-4, 18) who was stopped by the doctor late in the fight. Arceo came to fight but Gesta was too good, too fast, too talented and too powerful, in fact this was possibly the most complete performance we've ever seen from Gesta who looks to be finally be reaching his potential. No one doubted how good Gesta could be but they had questioned whether he would ever fulfil his promise, this performance suggests he can. Whilst the entire boxing world was getting excited about Saturday's big show from the US, including the return of the Pacman, there was actually some fighters take part in their job across Asia. Nonthaburi, Thailand Arguably the most significant fight of the day was in Thailand as the highly ranked Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (50-1, 32) had to avoid a potential banana skin. With a WBO world title eliminator on the books Chonlatarn had to make sure he got the win and he did just that as he stopped Nouldy Manakane (25-15-1, 15) in 6 rounds. We now expect Chonlatarn to be meeting Joel Brunker next, possibly as soon as May for a fight to decide the mandatory challenger. Chonlatarn wasn't the only ranked fighter in action as the unbeaten Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym (26-0-2, 11) stopped Khunpol Chaiyonggym (0-1) and defended his own world rankings in the process. We're not sold on Kwanpichit being world class but he knows a slip up could cost him big time. Other stoppages on the card included Yodkhunsuk Mor Poowana (3-1, 1) stopping the debuting Korporn Sithpornsak (0-1) in 3 rounds and female fighter Napaporn Superchamps (8-8, 2) stopping Ploynapa Sakrungrueng (10-5-1) in 4 rounds. This Thai card also had one of the oddest bouts as Denis Castle (1-0, 1) scored a debut stoppage over Dorkmaipah Kiatpompetch (0-3). From what we understand Castle is a 42 year old British Minimumweight. The only bout that actually went the distance in Thailand saw Thewa Tor Surat (5-0, 1) take a 6 round decision over Jen Yu Jia (1-8-1). Southern Leyte, Philippines The only Filipino card of the day was one that may not have has a lot of fights but it did have a couple of very interesting fighters on it. The show began with 10 amateur bouts before we moved on to professional action. At the lower end of the interest spectrum fans got to see Jess Rhey Waminal (2-0, 1) out point the win-less Dondon Amparado (0-4), Richard Barrios (7-0, 3) take a close decision over Lito Dante (7-4-3, 4), Whilst Brian Lobetania (8-0-2, 6) stopped Boyce Sultan (8-4, 5) and Elmo Traya (4-1, 3) stopped Rey dela Cruz (2-6, 2). Although the under-card was relatively deep those in attendance were there for the Pagara brothers and neither of them failed to deliver. The unbeaten Albert Pagara (20-0, 14) made late work of limited Indonesian Skak Max (6-14, 6), scoring a third round stoppage, whilst Jason Pagara (33-2, 20) broke up and then stopped Rusmin Kie Raha (12-5-2, 2) who was forced to take a 10 count. Tokyo, Japan One of the more interesting cards was in Japan where we had a 7 bout show at the Korakuen Hall. The most interesting bout from Japan, in our opinion, saw a minor upset as Jo Tanooka (8-1-4) narrowly out pointed the previously Japanese ranked Ryuto Oho (6-1, 2). We had backed Oho to win this one though will admit that these two are both likely to be competing for Japanese titles some where down the line. Although the Tanooka/Oho bout was the one that interested us the most the main event as actually a bout between Ryuji Yokoyama (11-1, 3) and Koya Sato (7-1-1, 1). This saw Sato suffering his first professional defeat via a razor thing 6 round technical decision that was effectively decided by a point on 2 of the scorecards. Most of the bouts in Tokyo were highly competitive and we actually got just a sole KO as Masajiro Honda (5-4, 4) took out Takashi Sakamoto (4-3, 1) in 2 rounds to inflict the first stoppage loss on to the record of Sakamoto. As well as the single stopped we also only had one clear decision as Yuto Sasamori (7-4, 3) almost shut out the limited Hideki Suzuki (4-4-1) over 6 rounds. The close decision on the undercard saw Koji Okubo (2-1-1) take a majority decision over Kenji Motegi (2-3-1) and likewise Shuntaro Ouchi (1-0) also took a majority decision as he overcame Ryusuke Arai (0-1). The closest bout on the show however was a draw as Tomoki Takada (0-0-1) was held on debut by Tomotsune Mitsuyasu (1-1-1, 1). Suwannakhet, Laos There were also recognisable Thai's in action in Laos as former world title challenger Terdsak Kokietgym (53-4-1, 33) was in action for his second bout of the year. Terdsak recorded his third straight decision victory as he out pointed Filipino Rene Bestudio (16-7-4, 5) and claimed the previously vacant WBO Oriental Super Featherweight title in the process. Although Terdsak has failed in previous world title bits he does seem to be wanting another and he'll be hoping that this WBO regional title will help him get a fight with current WBO champion Mikey Garcia. On the same card in Laos was a victory for Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (25-7-1, 10) who out pointed the debuting Gasper Empolo (0-1). This was Petchbarngborn's third straight victory since being stopped by the fact rising Sho Ishida last September. California, USA Finally fans in the US got the chance to see the return to the ring of former Lightweight world title challenger Mercito Gesta (27-1-1, 15) who showed no mercy as he stopped Edgar Riovalle (37-18-2, 26) in the final round of a bout scheduled for 8. This was Gesta's first fight in over a year following his loss to Miguel Vazquez in an IBF title fight that unfortunately saw Gesta being over-awed by the big stage. On the same show as Mercito was his younger brother Anecito Gesta (2-3) who was unfortunately on the wrong end of a close decision losing to the debuting Riccy Hood (1-0). Nevada, USARussian Light Heavyweight prospect Egor Mekhontsev (3-0, 3) continued the very impressive start to his career as he stopped Dwayne Williams (5-2, 2) and it now seems like Mekhontsev is ready for a big step up. Unfortunately he's just too good for this level of fight to learn anything and he could well be sped up significantly in his development. New South Wales, Australia Filipino journeyman Michael Correa (3-12-3, 1) was surprisingly blown away inside a round as he took on unbeaten Australian Kye MacKenzie (8-0, 6). Correa is usually tough and went 8 rounds with MacKenzie last year so this blow away loss really was a surprise despite Correa's less than impressive record. (Picture, of Chonlatarn, courtesy of Onesongchai) |
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