Knockout and Hosono retain belts, Okada's career on the rocks, Matsumoto makes a statement and more!3/6/2015 This past Thursday was a great day for fight fans in Asia with action in both Japan and Thailand Chonburi, Thailand The most notable action occurred in Thailand where fans got the chance to see a bit of everything, ranging from former world champions to novices beginning their careers. The former world champion was Indonesian veteran Muhammad Rachman (65-12-5, 35) who was hoping to call himself a world champion for the 3rd time as he went up against unbeaten Thai Knockout CP Freshmart (10-0, 5). Knockout, who was defending his WBA interim Minimumweight title for the first time, quickly showed that his 19 years of youth “advantage” was more than enough to over-come the Indonesian fighter who had previously held the IBF and WBA world titles. Knockout was too good, too energetic, too fast and over-all too good for his experienced for gave his best but was never really in the bout. In an under-card bout fans saw the highly experienced Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (44-2, 26) retain his PABA Bantamweight title with an 8th round KO against the smaller but game Mateo Handig (13-9, 7). Panomroonglek is said to be targeting a world title shot and this was more about ticking over than anything else, though the PABA title was on the line. Another bout on this card saw Noknoi Sitthiprasert (53-4, 30) extend his winning streak to 52 straight wins as he took a decision win over Filipino journeyman Donny Mabao (21-25-1, 4) in what was a third meeting between the two men. Noknoi had beaten Mabao in both 2009 and 2010 and is now 3-0 against the busy Filipino who has now lost 4 in a row. We are aware that there were other bouts on this show though unfortunately we've not had those results as of yet. From what we understand one bout involved Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, who returned to the ring for the first time since he was stopped by Juan Carlos Reveco at the end of 2014, whilst another involved the exciting Chanachai Cp Freshmart. Hopefully we'll get those results shortly. Tokyo, Japan In Japan fans had a great day of action which culminated in a really exciting Japanese title fight though also showcased an OPBF title holder, a female world champion and a former Japanese title holder as well as several novices. The least experienced fighter on the card was Toru Kiyota (1-0, 1) who made a successful debut with an opening round victory over Kohei Isozaki (1-2). Although Kiyota now has some professional experience under his belt it is worth noting this bout lasted just 123 and was Isozaki's second successive stoppage loss. Another undercard bout that failed to last long was a Middleweight clash that saw Rasher Aoki (3-2, 1) blow away Tomoki Akutsu (1-2) in the second round. This Akutsu's first bout since he was stopped inside a round by Kenyu Ojima last June and it seems clear that his durability will hold him back. In an interesting Light Flyweight bout fans saw the promising Kenichi Miyazaki (8-1-1, 2) take a clear 6 round decision over the experienced Takuro Habu (11-10-2, 3). This was Miyazaki's 3rd straight since being stopped in the West Japan Rookie of the Year back in November 2013 and it seems clear that he has a lot of potential. Another 6 rounder saw WBA Atomweight champion Ayaka Miyao (20-5-1, 4) take a clear and comprehensive victory over Momoko Kanda (8-7-2, 2). The bout showed the class difference between a world champion and a domestic level fighter however it comments made after the bout that served as being notable with Miyao suggesting she was open to fighting WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki. If that bout can be made it would be the first ever Atomweight unification bout. In an 8 rounder fans saw Tatsuya Yanagi (11-2, 4) take a razor thin decision over the more experienced Toru Suzuki (24-5, 8) in a minor upset. Yanagi had entered on back-to-back losses, including a decision loss to the much touted Johnriel Maligro, though had won the 2012 All Japan Rookie of the year. Suzuki, the more experienced man, had been stopped in 3 of his previous 5 and appears to have found his level as being below national title level. Notably Suzuki was testing the water as a fully blown Super Featherweight having previously made his name as a Featherweight. In another 8 rounder we saw Masaki Saito (12-10-4, 3) score an upset win over former Japanese Super Featherweight champion Seiichi Okada (18-6, 11). Sadly for Okada, who made 3 defended of the national title in 2011, it appears this will have been the final nail in his coffin. The popular 32 year old has lost 5 of his last 7 now and has been stopped in 4 of those bouts suggesting it's time he though about retirement. It's a shame for Okada if that's it but he's had a good career over-all. For Saito this is a huge win and he's now 4-1-1 (2) in his last 6 suggesting he's turning his career around. The most notable of the 8 round bouts saw OPBF Super Flyweight champion Ryo Matsumoto (14-0, 12) make light work of Thai visitor Thanuthong Chor Kangwal (0-1) who was stopped after 33 seconds of round 2. The talented Matsumoto landed a liver shot that left Thanuthong in agony and showed the huge gulf in class between the two fighters. Prior to the fight Matsumoto had hinted at aiming for a Bantamweight world title later in the year and on this showing he does look healthier as a Bantamweight than as a Super Flyweight. In the main event the fans got a real treat as Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono (27-2-1, 20) over-came a very spirited effort from Rikiya Fukuhara (30-8-1, 22). Fukuhara, who had previously been stopped by Hosono, started really well but had to pull himself off the canvas in round 4 as Hosono's power and toughness forced Fukuhara into the wrong type of fight. Late on Fukuhara managed to find some success but it was too little too late to over-come the tough Hosono who is hoping to get another world title fight, though seems unlikely to beat any of the current champions, sadly. For Fukuhara this may be the end of his long career, which has seen him claim the Japanese Super Bantamweight title and challenge for titles at both Featherweight and Super Featherweight. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Unfortunately when boxing is spread about we can struggle to keep up to date with the results. One of those sorts of days was today when there were fights in Japan, Laos and Indonesia, all of differing significance. At the time of posting we're still yet to get all the results from the various Asian cards. Thnakfully however we have received a number of them and feel that, with the day coming to a close, we should share them. Jayapura, Indonesia The most notable result, at least for us, was in Jayapura as Muhammad Rachman (65-11-5, 35), a 2-time world champion, scored his 65th career victory and claimed another title to add to his impressive collection. Rachman, aged 42, was 16 years older than Thailand's Thongthailek Sor Tanapinyo (18-16, 7) though that didn't prevent the veteran from scoring a final round stoppage over the much younger man. It seems unlikely that Rachman will ever reclaim a world title though he will have to be pleased with the IBO International belt whoch he claimed courtesy of this victory. At the moment of writing we are still awaiting the other results from this card. Suwannakhet, Laos In Laos, near to Thailand, we saw another world champion in action with former Super Flyweight title holder Tepparith Kokietgym (26-3, 16), pictured, forcing a stoppage of Filipino Alvin Bais (13-4, 3). Bais, challenging for Tepparith's WBC Asia Council Continental Bantamweight title, suffered his 4th straight loss and loss in 4 fights as Tepparith repeated the act of compatriots Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Tiger Tor Buamas. On the same card in Laos we did actually have a very competitive contest with Saenmuangloei Kokietgym (19-5-3, 3) narrowly overcoming Michael Landero (16-11-4, 5). This bout was much better than the Tepparith one and saw plenty of back-and-forth action with neither man really having the power to take the other out. For Saenmuangloei this was his 3rd straight victory following a stoppage loss last year to Akira Yaegashi. The only other result on this show saw Petchchorhae Kokietgym (1-0, 1) take a victory over fellow debutant Nattapol Wor Por Srisaket (0-1) who was stopped in the 4th round. Tokyo, Japan From the Japanese card held at the Korakuen Hall we've heard that Toyoto Shiraishi (24-8-1, 11) managed to take a clear, but very hard fought, decision over Yuki Fukumoto (15-9, 5) in the headline fight. The cards all had Shirishi winning but none of them had him as a clear winner in a bout that can only be described as close. The only other early result from this card that we had saw Shusaku Fujinaka (10-3-2, 6) taking a much expected victory over the very limited Kota Oguchi (8-13, 1). Although this looked like a mismatch before the opening bell it turned out to be very competitive and Fujinaka will know that he had to dig deep for the victory. Since the early results we have managed to get all the result from the card. These included a razor thin decision for Seiya Fujikita (6-1, 1) over Ryuji Hirano (6-3-1, 1) over 6 rounds. The only bout to see a stoppage saw Takahiro Fujii (6-2-1, 2) unexpectedly finishing off the wonderfully named Dragon Jun (5-11, 3) in the final of a 6 round bout. Whilst this was Dragon's 6th stoppage loss it was still a shock to see Fujii stopping an opponent, Although Fuji was the only man to score a stoppage his bout wasn't the only one with an early conclusion. This was because Kenta Yamada (6-3) took a technical decision over Tsuyoshi Nishimura (4-6-1, 1) after 3 and a bit completed rounds of a scheduled 6 rounder. In both of the 4 rounders on the opening of the card we heard the final bell. These bouts saw Takaki Sakurai (5-4-1, 1) narrowly out pointing Nobuya Kasai (3-5-1, 2) and Daiki Yoshimatsu (3-2, 1) taking a close decision over the debuting Yasutaka Maeda (0-1). Nevada, USA In the US we saw the start of the wonderfully exciting "Boxcino" tournament. The tournament, which will be aired on ESPN in the UK, featured an all Russian bout that got us relatively excited. This bout, which featured an unbeaten prospect and a former world title challenger, saw an unexpected result with the previously perfect Fedor Papazov (14-1, 9) being completely out boxed by compatriot Petr Petrov (33-4-2, 15) who recorded his first victory since November 2012 as a result. Delaware, USA Papazov wasn't the only Russian losing his unbeaten record in the US as Ray Robinson (17-2, 7) took the 0 of Aslanbek Kozaev (25-1-1, 7). This bout, in Delaware, was Kozaev's 4th in the US but he was completely out pointed by the talented Robinson who has often been over-looked by fans and media alike. A loss to Robinson might look bad for Kozaev but it really isn't a bad one at all, even if it did see him losing his unbeaten record. (Picture courtesy of boxrec.com) |
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