This past Monday was a busy day in Asian boxing with notable fights taking place in both Japan and Korea. Osaka, Japan The most of two Japanese shows came from Osaka as Osaka Teiken put on a very notable 9 fight card that showcased prospects and domestic contenders as well as novices. The most promising fighter in action was Japanese youngster Sho Nakazawa (7-0, 4), who scored his biggest win to date as he out pointed former world title challenger Silvester Lopez (24-10-2, 18) over 10 rounds. The Japanese 22 year old was dropped early in the fight but then found his groove and took a comfortable decision win over Lopez. Following this win Nakazawa seemed to suggest that he was eyeing up a Japanese title fight with Yukinori Oguni. Another of the main bouts saw tough Flyweight contender Myung Ho Lee (19-4-1, 6) take a clear decision win over Akiyoshi Kanazawa (12-4-4, 6), as Lee continued his hunt for a title fight of his own. Talking about title fights it's now clear that Kenichi Horikawa (29-13-1, 6) will be fighting Shin Ono for the Japanese Light Flyweight title later in the year. Horikawa booked his place in that fight by scoring an 8th round TKO win here against Il Che (7-9-5, 1), who was stopped for just the second time in his career. Although a number of bouts were notable in and around the title level there was one, major bout, that wasn't even close to being relevant at the top of the domestic level. That bout saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi (2-0, 2) continue his career with a 2nd round KO win against Naoki Okamura (1-4). Tatsuyoshi, the son of the charismatic Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, already appears to be a huge draw despite facing poor opposition and it's clear that his team are going to make the most of his surname. In low level action we had a number of novices all facing off. The most notable of those bouts was a split decision win for Toshiki Kawanishi (3-4, 1), who over-came Yosuke Taniguchi (3-4). Another split decision saw Shintaro Ukezono (2-0) over-come the debuting Masayuki Kuroko (0-1). In competitive decision bouts Hayate Ikuta (2-0) out pointed the win-less Wolf Nakano (0-1-2) and Kazunori Harima (1-1-1) over-came Ryo Inagaki (1-1, 1). There was also a blow out on this opening portion of the card as Ryuta Miyoshi (1-2, 1) stopped Kenji Okawa (0-2) in just 129 seconds. Fukuoka, Japan A second Japanese show took place in Fukuoka where fans got an 8 bout card. In the main event of this show we got a mild surprise as Satoshi Ozawa (10-6-1, 2) claimed a split decision win against the much more experienced Yoshihiko Matsuo (18-6-6, 3). The co-feature also ended in a split decision as Koki Ono (8-3, 4) out pointed Aki Koto (8-3-1, 4), though the judge scoring in favour of Koto does seem to have gotten this one wrong. Another very competitive match up here saw Yusuke Sekido (9-11-2) take a majority decision win over Takanori Hayashida (5-10-3) in a very well matched bout. The remaining bouts here were all 4-rounders. These included a female bout that saw Maika Fukuzaki (1-1) claim her first win as she out pointed Arisa Iwanaga (0-2), a very competitive win for Tsunehiko Aitoku (3-3-1), who out pointed the previously unbeaten Yukinori Yamaguchi (4-1-1, 2) and a wonderfully competitive split decision draw between Kaito Akiyoshi (1-0-1) and Akito Terada (1-1-1). The only one sided bouts among these 4 rounders, other than the female bout, was a clear decision win for Shuma Nakazato (3-0, 2) who impressed en route to out pointing Hiromichi Kurokawa (4-3-1, 1) and a 4th round TKO win for Fumiaki Sueyoshi (2-0, 2), who stopped Takafumi Uryu (0-2). Interestingly Nakazato is the son of former OPBF champion, Shigeru Nakazato, who was a multi-time world title challenger. Ulsan, South Korea The only show outside of Japan came from South Korea where fans had televised action under the KBF banner. The show featured a couple of televised international bouts and a number of others bouts, though only one of the bouts on the show has been included on the boxrec.com database. The one bout that is on boxrec is an IBF Asia Super Bantamweight title fight that saw defending champion Ye Joon Kim (12-1-2, 6) retain his title with a 7th round retirement of Japan's Yoshihiro Utsumi (12-7-3, 7), who suffered his first stoppage loss. The talented Korean was in fine form to defend his belt for the first time though now needs to look towards making a mark on the world stage. Another international bout on this show saw Sa Myung Noh (8-2-1, 1) take a narrow decision win over Filipino fighter Jaymart Toyco (15-8, 11) in a very hotly contested 8 round bout that could easily have gone Toyco's way. Frustratingly there was one other televised bout on the show, though we're unsure who was involved. The bout was a 6 round that saw a now 6-1-1 (1) fighter taken the unbeaten record a fighter now 5-1 (1). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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This past Thursday was a great day for Japanese fans who had two shows with a lot of action and a number of interesting match ups. Osaka, Japan The bigger of the two shows, by far, came from Osaka where fans got a bit of everything. They got a world title fight in the main event, they got the next fight in the development of a brilliant young prospect, they got the debut fight of a former amateur standout, they got a huge debut involving the son of a true legend and they also got a minor upset. All in all fans in Osaka got value for their money. The main event saw the hugely popular and destructively hard hitting Shinsuke Yamanaka (23-0-2, 17) continue his impressive reign as the WBC Bantamweight champion as he easily disposed of the horribly over-matched Diego Ricardo Santillan (23-1, 15). The Argentinian challenger had come to the ring with an unbeaten record and a lot of confidence but was dominated by Yamanaka who dropped in rounds 6 and 7 with the Argentinian staying down following the second knock-down. In some ways this was the perfect performance by the champion though in other ways it was disappointing to see such a poor challenger thrown in with Yamanaka. In the chief support bout fans saw the talented youngster Sho Nakazawa (6-0, 4) take a wide 8 round decision win over the game but relatively limited Alexander Cazares (9-4, 3) of Mexico. The young Japanese fighter did have some issues, more than he'd had in his previous 5 bouts, but nothing major in what was a routine win. It now sees like Nakazawa will begin the hunt for titles. In another of the major support bouts we saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi (1-0, 1) batter Tadao Iwaya (1-3) in just 2 rounds. Juiki is the second son of the great Joichiro Tatsuyoshi and at times showed some of his father's traits though it's going to take a very long time for him to develop into a fighter like his father. It was an impressive debut but it did come against a very over-matched foe. Another debutant on this card was the touted Shuya Masaki (1-0, 1) who made very light work of Phanthong Por Panya (1-2, 1). Masaki, who has a solid amateur pedigree, stopped Phanthong after just 134 seconds of their scheduled 6 rounder. It was all perfect for the touted Japanese fighters on this card however as for Rookie of the Year winner Tatsuya Ikemizu (12-1, 5) suffered his first defeat. The youngster was out gunned and out gritted by Japanese based Filipino Mark John Yap (20-12, 10). Yap took a very close 8 round decision over the youngster though it was a bout that Ikemizu will have learned a lot from, a “good loss” if you will. As well the higher profile bouts this card featured 3 relatively low profile 4 rounders. One of those was over in just 26 seconds as Takaaki Maeda (3-1, 1) blew away Takuya Olivia Hase (2-1-1, 1) in double quick fashion. The other contests were both razor thin decisions with one of those seeing Kenji Kihisa (3-2, 1) over-coming Akito Terada (1-1) whilst the other saw Kazuma Fukuyama (4-4-3) defeat Ryuta Miyoshi (0-2), both of those were majority decisions. Tokyo, Japan Whilst the big show of the day was in Osaka there was also some highly entertaining action in Tokyo where fans had 3 bouts of note as well as an interesting and well matched under-card. The most competitive of the main bouts saw former Japanese champion Koji Umetsu (22-16-3, 10) battle to a split decision loss against Kazunori Takayama (21-8-4, 4) in a bout that really could have gone either way. Umetsu, who was the Japanese Featherweight champion back in 2006, has had an up and down career but at 38 years old he has got to be considering retirement. Takayama on the other hand may be able to work himself towards a title fight later in the year. Incidentally this was the third meeting between the two men. Another exciting main bout saw the heavy handed Akinori Watanabe (32-4, 27) take a rare decision win as he over-came the teak tough Arnel Tinampay (22-17-1, 8), a Japanese based Filipino tough-guy. This looked like a great bout when it was signed and it prove to be enthralling in the ring, though it was a worthy win for Watanabe who stated that he'd like a fight with Yoshihiro Kamegai after the fight. The third notable bout proved to be a bit of a mismatch as Takeshi Inoue (3-0-1, 2) made light work of Thai foe Kriburee Sithniwat (0-3-1). The Thai was stopped in the 2nd round of the scheduled 8 round bout. According to boxrec.com this was Kriburee's first bout in almost 6 year, though as with many Thai's it's hard to verify the record one way or another. In the sole 6 rounder we again saw a Thai being stopped early as Takuya Yamaguchi (9-9, 7) saw off Pornsak Chomram (0-1) at the very end of round 3, technically scoring the KO at 3:09 of the 3rd round. The card featured 5 bouts scheduled for the 4 round distance. Of those only a couple went the completed schedule. One of those that went the distance saw Daichi Honma (1-0) claim a debut win as he over-came Akihiro Yashiro (2-2-1) in a wide decision win, the other ended in a split decision as Yutaka Uemura (3-2-1, 2) just out did Tomoki Takada (1-1-1). One bout that almost made it to the final bell saw Shunta Terai (1-2-1, 1) take a 4th round TKO against Ryusuke Arai (0-4-1). The other two bouts lasted less than a completed round. One of them saw Shu Muramatsu (1-1, 1) blow away Masahiko Abe (2-2-1, 2) in 74 seconds whilst the other saw Fire Terakado (1-1, 1) defeat Keisuke Imabuchi (0-1) in 98 seconds. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Monday was an incredibly busy day though unfortunately we were very slow to receive the results for the day, hence why we're only able to put them up now, almost 48 hours after the bouts. Thankfully in the interim we have managed to get together some video's from some of the bouts, so we guess it wasn't all bad. IMP Hall, Osaka, Japan One of two Osaka shows came from the IMP Hall and was probably the most notable of the 4 Asian cards. The show wasn't big by any means but did feature but some interesting bouts and a very notable pro-test bout. The first of the pro-tests saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi, the second son of the legendary Joichiuro Tatsuyoshi, qualify for the C license with the intention for him to make his debut next year in a rookie style match up. Unlike his father he's not got a deep amateur pedigree but is said to possess genuine power, something his father also had. The main event on this card saw saw former OPBF Flyweight title challenger Myung Ho Lee (17-4-1, 5) struggle past Takashi Omae (12-4-5, 1) with a very competitive unanimous decision. Omae put up a great fight but was narrowly beaten by the more experienced Lee. One of the chief support bouts saw the heavy handed and unbeaten Ryuto Kyoguchi (13-0-1, 9) take a 7th round technical decision against Shohei Fujimoto (9-4-3, 8). Prior to the finish Kyoguchi was comfortably in the lead on two cards whilst the third had the bout close, he had however scored a knockdown early in the bout and seemed to be able to cope with Fujimoto's determined effort to upset the unbeaten man. For us the most interesting bout on this card was the contest involving the much touted Sho Nakazawa (5-0, 4) who stepped up brilliantly to over-come former OPBF Super Bantamweight challenger Jhunriel Ramonal (14-8-4, 7). Ramonal lasted the 8 round distance with Nakazawa though failed to win a round in what was a genuinely impressive performance by the Japanese youngster who we suspect will move into the title mix in 2015. Prior to this bout Nakazawa looked like he was very flawed though this performance was a much more mature and complete one that we had expected and we now suspect that he is as talented as the hype suggests. This card consisted of 3 undercard as well as the main trio of bouts. The first of those saw the unbeaten Kyosuke Tsutsumimoto (2-0, 2) stopping Tetsuya Kudo (3-4, 2) in the third round. Another of the under-card contests saw Kei Fujita (3-2, 1) take a very close decision over Kenji Khisa (2-2, 1) in a bout that was really close on all 3 cards which read 39-38, all in favour of Fujita. The third under-card bout was an all debutant clash that saw Ryo Inagaki (1-0, 1) stopping Yoshihisa Tanabe (0-1) at the very end of the first round, despite both of these guys being debutants were impressed by both. Sumiyoshi Ward Center, Osaka, Japan The other show in Osaka came from the Sumiyoshi Ward Center and also featured a notable pro-test bout as well as 4 interesting main bouts. The pro-test fighter here was 17 year old Hinata Maruta, a man who some in Japan are tipping as a future world champion despite his age and his pre-debut status. Maruta was very impressive in his test bout and has received a B class license and it seems that his intention is to have a US based training camp next year before debuting in the fall against a world ranked foe. Yes Maruta want's to debut against an opponent with a world ranking, it's fair to say he's ambitious, young, talented and going to be very fun to follow. As for the actual bouts on this show the most notable was a Middleweight bout between #6 ranked Japanese Middleweight Koki Tyson Maebara (7-1-1, 7) and WBC Youth Light Middleweight champion Petchsuriya Singwancha (12-9, 6). Petchsuriya, a talented Thai who has been in great form recently, was no match for Maebara who was far too big and too strong for the Thai who was dwarfed in comparison to the Japanese fighter who announced that he will be targeting a Japanese title fight in 2015. As well as the Maebara bout there were 3 other notable contests. The most interesting of those saw the heavy handed Jumbo Oda Nobunaga Shoten Petagine (9-2, 7) avenge his most recent loss as he out pointed Shohei Kanemoto (9-9-1, 3) and even the score for a loss in April to Kanemoto. A second bout that went the distance saw Cyborg Nawatedani (8-2-2, 3) take a hard fought and well earned decision over Shunji Nagata (10-12-2, 3). The most exciting of the main bouts to watch saw Yuta Uetani (16-5-1, 7) pull himself off the canvas to stop the usually tough Marjohn Yap (19-12, 10) in the 5th round of a back and forth bout. Uetani was down earlier though recovered well to drop Yap who looked unsteady when he recovered his feet and it forced the referee to stop the bout. On the lower part of the card fans saw two draws from the 5 undercard bouts. One of those draws saw the unbeaten Kaminoko Okamura Kentokid (3-0-3, 2) fight to a split draw with Takuya Sugiyama (3-3-1) whilst the other saw Hiroaki Iwakura (2-1-1, 2) fight to a draw with Ryota Shimizu (3-6-1, 1), both the draw were split decision draws. As well as the draws there 3 other undercard results. One of those went the distance and saw Tadao Iwaya (1-2) record his first win as he out-pointed the still win-less Shinchi Yokozato (0-4). The other two both ended in stoppages with Daiki Miyayama (3-2-1, 2) scoring an opening round victory over Yosuke Taniguchi (2-3) whilst it took 3 rounds for Takuya Olivia Hase (2-0-1, 1) to defeat the debuting Shigi Hosokawa (0-1). Industrial Hall, Gifu, Japan A third show in Japan was held in Gifu where the promising Genki Hanai (3-0, 2) battled against Filipino foe Crison Omayao (16-9-2, 4). Omayao, a man familiar to Japanese following losses to super prospects Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka, surprisingly managed to see out the 8 rounds with Hanai and actually took a few points from Hanai who in some ways showed he was a full level behind his much touted compatriots. The main event here was the only standout bout on the show and was supported by 7 relatively uninspiring undercard bouts including a trio of 6 rounders. One of those saw Yujiro Nakamura (5-8-1, 2) taking a fifth round technical decision over Takayuki Morimoto (5-10, 3). The other 6 rounders both went the distance as Reiko Sugiyama (4-4-3, 2) out pointed Masami Moriizumi (5-5-1, 4) and Shota Okuda (5-2, 2) over-came Hajima Ikeda (4-5). In the 4 rounders on this card Kazuyoshi Toguri (4-6) out pointed Keita Sakai (1-1, 1) in a competitive contest, Yoshiaki Inoue (1-4-1) claimed his first win with a very close decision over Kenta Yokoe (3-9-1, 1), the previously win-less Kazunori Takai (1-0-1, 1) claimed a second round stoppage against Genki Inoue (1-4-1, 1) and the previously win-less Yusuke Kubota (1-2, 1) took a second round KO win over the debuting Takumi Koroki (0-1). Bukidnon, Philippines In the Philippines we got the results for one bout as Anthony Sabalde (9-4, 4) defeated Bonnie Makiling (5-8, 4) with a 10 round decision victory. (Image, of Maebara looking over a fallen Petchsuriya, courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Kyoto, Japan In this sport there are fighters destined for greatness. Fighters who has such unreal natural talent that they are viewed as blessed. One such fighter who falls in to that category is Japanese Middleweight sensation Ryota Murata (4-0, 4) who scored his 4th stoppage earlier today with a very straight forward victory over Mexico's Jesus Angel Nerio (12-3, 6). The bout started with Murata in charge, with him coming forward, showing off lovely variety in his work and generally showing that the two men were in completely different leagues. This continued through to the end of round 4 with Murata hardly breaking sweat whilst dominating the bout with accurate and heavy handed attacks. In the 5th round the Japanese fighter began to up his work rate and he seriously rocked Nerio after connecting with a huge head shot. He was unable to put the Mexican down in a follow up attack, with the bell coming just before Nerio was knocked down, but the damage had been down with gust busting body shots and vicious head shots, The minute break between rounds wasn't so much respite for Nerio but more a case of delaying the inevitable which came in round 6 after Nerio suffered a second knockdown in the round and decided to stay down for the count. It was clear the Mexican was done though it hardly looked like Murata had even began in a very impressive performance, Murata's bout was the headline contest, the main event, though it wasn't the only bout on the show. Earlier on the card had featured several other bouts. For Japanese based Filipino Malcolm Tunacao (34-3-3, 20), the former WBC Flyweight, things were tough but successful as he out pointed South Korea's very tough Joo-Hyun Jung (6-3-1, 2). Jung put up an excellent effort and gave Tunacao the type of work out that he'll have wanted despite the fight being tougher than anyone would have expected. Tunacao's former rival Christian Esquivel (27-5, 20), a man Tunacao stopped in 7, had a nightmare showing as he was stopped by Japanese youngster Shohei Omori (12-0, 7). Omori, a relative unknown in international boxing circles, was thoroughly impressive and could, or rather should, find himself in the next WBC world rankings considering that Esquivel was the #9 ranked Bantamweight prior to this bout. Incidentally both Tunacao and Esquivel had been stopped in recent WBC title fights by the sensational Shinsuke Yamanaka. Omori however stopped Esquivel quicker than Yamanaka in a performance that really should open the eyes of a lot of fans. Tatsuya IkemizuOmori was one of 3 highly regarded man on the under-card. Another one of those men was Sho Nakazawa (4-0, 4) who, like Murata in the main event, scored his 4th successive stoppage. Nakazawa made very light work of Indonesia's Gun Tinular (11-17-1, 6), and ended the bout with a nasty body attack as he continued to impress fans with his speed, skills and power. The other highly regarded unbeaten prospect on the card was Tatsuya Ikemizu (10-0, 4) who stopped Oke Haryanto (5-2-1, 2) inside a round as he put on one of his most impressive performances so far. (Image, of Murata landing a body shot, courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Osaka, Japan Not many days this year were as highly anticipated as Wednesday 23rd April and the world title double header at the Castle Hall in Osaka. The show was one that seemed to have boxing fans around the world excited and whether you were American, British, Belgian, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Japanese or Thai you almost certainly had some interest in what happened. What ended up happening split emotion like very, very few shows ever will. We had pure sadness felt by everyone in the arena and we had the joy of one of Japanese boxing's current elite fighters. The sadness was that felt for former WBC Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa (33-5, 15) who was stopped in his attempt to become a 3-weight world champion. Hasegawa, fighting against Spain's IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23), looked only like a shadow of the man who had once dominated the Bantamweight division. Although as game and as fast as ever Hasegawa simply didn't have the legs or energy to hold off the marauding Spaniard who scored a knockdown in round 2 that seemed to worry the fans. Less than 30 minutes later the crowd were shocked in to a silence that said it all, as Hasegawa was stopped in the 7th round. For those who had seen the recent WWE Wrestlemania the crowd had that same shocked silence and tearful look as they had had when Brock Lesnar had beaten The Undertaker. Just like the WWE show this seemed to be the end of an era, the end of a man's career and the end of a fan favourite. Whilst Hasegawa hasn't actually announced his retirement the fight and the crowd said it all. Hasegawa isn't the fighter he once was and the crowd really want this to be it for him. We hope he takes a night or two to think about his future then decides it's best to retire with his health. His legacy is already secure and he will go down as one of Japan's most popular fighters in history. Thankfully for all those in attendance the sadness turned into happiness and after giving Hasegawa a standing ovation they got to see the immensely skilled Shinsuke Yamanaka (21-0-2, 16) successfully defend his WBC Bantamweight title with a 9th round KO against Stephane Jamoye (25-5, 15). Yamanaka, who was defending a title held not only by Hasegawa but also by his idol Joichiro Tatsuyoshi who is in he picture, managed to cheer the crowd up with a one sided and relatively pain free beat down of Jamoye who was dropped 4 times before the referee waved the contest off. Whilst Yamanaka is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter currently plying his trade in Asia it was actually Jamoye who did much to keep this bout interesting. Sadly for the challenger it was interesting as he was being used as a willing punch bag who was being tagged with powerful straight lefts both upstairs and downstairs as Yamanaka recorded his 6th defence overall and his 5th successive by stoppage. Amazing to think Yamanaka started his career 6-0-2 (2) and has since reeled off 15 wins with 14 by T/KO! Talking about men who have just began their career this show also featured a selection of novices in action. The most notable of those was Sho Nakazawa (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thailand's Petchnakulua Sornattasak (0-1). Nakazawa is regarded very highly as a prospect and his 63 second victory over the Thai showed enough to be excited about him. Although Nakazawa is a few fights in to his career the show did feature one Japanese prospect just beginning his career, Ryo Kakutani (1-0) who clearly out pointed fellow debutant Sho Hasegawa (0-1). Kakutani wasn't the only man scoring his first win as the previously win-less Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-4, 1) stopped the still win-less Kimiharu Oura (0-6) inside a round. Although Hasegawa and Yamanaka were the main events they weren't the only world class fighters in action and fans in attendance also got the chance to see former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (26-3-1, 12) . Unfortunately Ao failed to really impress and although he over-came Mexican visitor Marco Lopez (23-4, 14) he really did little to remind fans that he is a world class fighter, in fact his struggle here represented less a "world class" talent and more a man who is already looking at the end of the line. Ao is supposedly looking for a Lightweight title though on this performance he doesn't even look like a top 15 fighter at 135lbs. (Photos courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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