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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Boy, did we ever have a busy Saturday with fights taking part all over the globe. Some were thrilling, some were close, some were one sided, some ended in upsets and some were controversial but man did we ever have a lot of action! Tokyo, Japan The first card of real significance for the month came from the Korakuen Hall where Nakaya put on a brilliant show with a trio of main event level fights. The card began with the 4 rounders that typically make up and under-card. These 4 rounders saw Sho Nagata (2-1, 1) score his first decision win as he over-came the limited Ryo Sugimoto (1-7-1) with a clear decision and Takahiro Yoneshige (2-1, 1) also claimed his first decision win as he defeated the win-less Kazuya Nomura (0-3-1). The only stoppage in the 4 rounders was scored by the debuting Shuji Kato (1-0, 1) who began his career with an opening round win over Masayuki Kondo (1-2, 1). The show's only real upset came in it's only 6 round bout as the limited Quaye Peter (6-5-2, 3) easily out pointed Japanese ranked Lightweight Kazuya Maruki (17-3, 11). This loss for Maruki ends a 6 fight winning streak whilst Peter scores his first win in in over 2 years and ends a run of 5 fights without a victory, including a loss to a then debuting Koki Koshikawa. The first of the main bouts was a truly compelling Japanese Super Bantamweight title bout between Yukinori Oguni (14-1, 4), the former OPBF champion, and Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-8, 7). The bout was close through out with neither man managing to take control of the contest. Although neither man came close to stopping the other it was highly competitive and the sort of even match up we love even if the action isn't explosive. For Oguni this sees him winning his second professional title and it appears he has eyes on a world title fight next year though in all honesty he's unlikely to beat any of the division's top fighters. In the second of the 3 big fights fans saw unified Japanese and OPBF Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (24-8-1, 10) scoring a rare stoppage as he retained his titles and forced the referee to save former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-10, 12). Fuchigami was down early in the bout and never seemed capable of really testing the champion who has now won 3 straight since being stopped a then debuting Ryota Murata back in August 2013. For Fuchigami this really could be the end and he's now 3 of his last 4, and 4 of his last 6. The highlight bout of the show wasn't a title bout but was a rubber match between current Japanese Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (29-5-1, 9) and former champion Nihito Arakawa (25-5-1, 16). The bout, fought in great spirits, saw Kato having too much for the tough Arakawa who was competitive but never seemed to be quite able to get into any sort of a groove. It's a shame that Arakawa has now lost 3 of his last 4 though we wouldn't be shocked to see him back in the ring next year against a possibly lower level opponent. For Kato this bout is a perfect ending to the year, a year that began with him losing the OPBF Lightweight title to Masayoshi Nakatani, and it could be that 2015 will see him kick on with things and possibly even work towards a world title fight. Pathum Thani, Thailand In Thailand we had two bouts, one of which was interesting and one of which wasn't interesting, at all. The less bout saw the world ranked Norasing Kokietgym (13-0, 10) make very light work of Indonesian visitor Jack Madison (2-4) in a bout that really wasn't worth making. Madison genuinely looked like someone who didn't want to be there and Norasing looked like he was embarassed by how poor his opponent was. Without trying to sound too rude we never want to see Madison fight again. The more interesting contest saw the very promising Kongthara KKP (6-0, 5) go the 12 round distance as he defended the WBA Asian Boxing Council silver Super Bantamweight title against former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane (27-16-1, 17). Manakane came in to the bout to win though was clearly beaten despite putting up a solid effort. Despite his record Manakane is a solid fighter for a prospect like Kongthara and this bout will certainly not have done Kongthara's any harm despite the fact his stoppage run has come to an end. Cotabato (del Norte), Philippines In the Philippines there was an interesting but low profile show courtesy of Sonshine Sports Management. The headline bout here saw Rolando Magbanua (25-2, 17) make light work of the over-matched JP Macaumpuis (9-5-1, 3), who has now been stopped 5 times in 15 bouts. A more interesting bout was the co-feature which saw the heavy handed Lorenzo Villanueva (27-1-0-1, 14) go the 8 round distance with the incredibly tough Jamie Barcelona (38-57-1, 10). Villanueva may have had the clear edge in power but was fortunate to come out on top here with a majority decision over the experienced Barcelona. Another majority decision went the way of Jaime Quitoriano (2-3, 1) who narrowly beat Vergel Deguma (2-2). The rest of the card was thrills and spills as prospects scored blow out after blow out on local journeymen. The most notable of those prospects was youngster Jade Bornea (2-0, 2) who dispatched Armando Yee (2-6-3, 1) in the 2nd round. Jade's brother Jake Bornea (8-1, 4) also took a win in the 2nd as he stopped Rowel Garcia (6-16-3, 1). Others to score stoppages were Roskie Cristobal (10-0, 8), who stopped Rey dela Cruz (2-8, 2) inside a round, Jelbirt Gomera (8-0, 4), who beat Dingdong Quinones (4-12-1, 2) and Michael Bravo (7-1, 2) who beat Jessie Suacasa (3-4, 2) Sonora, Mexico Possibly the most surprising performance of the day came from unheralded Filipino Joebert Alvarez (14-1-1, 6). Alvarez was, and still is, an unknown in the eyes of many but he genuinely gave a really tough test to unified Flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (31-2, 22) in a bout much, much more competitive than the score cards suggest. The bout, scored 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92 to Estrada make the bout look like an easy win for the Mexican but it was anything but easy for “Gallo”. Hopefully we see Alvarez back in the ring soon and hopefully in the mix for an OPBF title as he has the ability to go a long way though seems to lack the experience at the moment. Nuevo León, Mexico Sadly it wasn't just in Sonora where the judges failed to show their impartiality and in Nuevo León fans saw Shindo Go (14-3, 9) lose the WBC female Flyweight title to Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) with a split decision defeat. The bout, a very competitive one, was marred by the regular “WTF” card which read 99-91 in favour of the home time town fighter. The other card in favour of Mucino had the contest 96-94 whilst one judge had the contest 96-93 in favour of Go who unfortunately loses for the second time on the road. We suspect that Go's team will begin to think twice before allowing the fighter to compete outside of Japan as both of her losses on the road were controversial to say the least. California, USA In the US the ever popular Brian Viloria (35-4-0-2, 21) made light work of Armando Vazquez (21-12, 4) as he attempts to rebuild towards another world title fight. This really wasn't much of a work out for Viloria who stopped his foe in the 4th round of their contest with a left to the body. Incidentally there is now talk about Viloria getting a rematch with Estrada. On tonight's performances Viloria actually has a chance against the man that almost stopped him last year. New South Wales, Australia In Australia there was a pair of Indonesians who were both embarrassed by unbeaten Australian's. One of those was Gun Tinular (11-19-1, 6), who was announced as “Gumilar”. Tunilar was stopped inside a round by Tony Bates (10-0-1, 8), who previous to this bout had stopped a trio of Thais. The other was Elly Pangaribuan (3-5, 1) who was stopped in the second round by Ahmed Dib (15-0, 9). (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) Big Wave, Wakayama
This past Sunday saw 3 Japanese shows, one of which was at the Big Wave in Wakayama, a show promoted by Wakayama Kuratoki Promotions and headlined by a female world title fight and featured 7 bouts in total. The headline bout saw WBC female Flyweight champion Shindo Go (13-2, 8) retain her title with a decision victory over determined Mexican challenger Judith Rodriguez (6-6, 4). Although this was Rodriguez's 4th straight loss she did prove that she's a better fighter than her record and recent form suggests and Go will be very pleased to have gotten the hard fought win on her record. Notably the main event was 1 of 3 female bouts on the show. The most notable of the other 2 was the debut of Tomomi Kida (1-0) who took just 46 seconds to defeat Shione Ogata (1-5). Whilst Ogata is nothing special few would have expected Kida to have blasted her out so quickly in what was a genuinely impressive feat. The other female bout saw Rumiko Hamamoto (2-1-1) come out on top against Tomoko Hayashi (1-2, 1) with a unanimous decision. The 2 female bouts on the undercard were 2 of the 5 under-card bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. The other 4 rounders saw Aoi Saijo (3-5, 3) stopping Takuya Hashimoto (3-3, 3) at the very end of the first round with an official time of 3:08; Hiroki Yatomi (2-0, 1) stopping Shoki Nozawa (0-4) in just 133 seconds and Yu Konomura (1-1-1) managed to take a decision over Hirofumi Yamashita (0-2). In the only other bout on the show, a 6 rounder, Yushi Fujita (5-6-1) managed to claim a decision victory over Chikashi Hayashizaki (4-4-1, 1). This bout, the co-feature, was moderately competitive and saw Fujita ending a 2 fight losing streak, for Hayashizaki this was his second successive loss and he's now more than a year removed from his last victory |
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