Today has been a very busy day in Japanese boxing with 2 notable domestic cards. Hyogo, Japan The less significant Japanese show of the day came from Hyogo where we still had several interesting contests. The main event of the card saw OPBF female Light Flyweight champion Kei Takenaka (8-0, 3) dominate a Thai opponent to record her first defense of the title. The fight was a real mismatch with Takenaka dominating from the opening round and never looking like she was in any trouble at all against the Thai who looked completely out of her depth. Sadly for Takenaka her lack of power saw her fail to put away the Thai who we believe was 10-5 (1) coming into this bout. The co-feature saw another dominant display from a Japanese fighter who clearly beat an over-matched Thai foe. This one saw Shinichiro Morikawa (17-4-1, 12) score a 3rd round victory over Kaenpetch Manoprungroj (4-2, 2) after a devastating left hook to the body left the Thai in too much agony to continue. For us the most interesting contest on this card was actually a 6 rounder that featured the debut of former amateur stand out Kazuma Yokoya (1-0, 1) who dispatched Thailand's Fahpetch Sor Praithong (8-7, 1) at the end of the opening round. The bout was a mismatch with Yokoya, a very touted prospect, dominating his Thai opponent from the opening bell and dropping him early in the round. The Thai showed bravery to continue but was dropped again at the end of the round from a body shot and failed to beat the count, officially counted at at 3:07 of the opening round. Tokyo, Japan Whilst there was a title fight and a huge debut in Hyogo the biggest show of the day was at the Korakuen Hall where we had the East Japan Rookie of the Year finals. This show, which consisted of 12 bouts, decides the Eastern Japan representative at the upcoming All Japan Rookie of the Year in December. The opening bout of the show saw Yuki Kubo (6-1, 2) claim a narrow decision over the previously undefeated Masayuki Ichikawa (5-1, 2) to become the East Japan Minimumweight Rookie of the Year. Ichikawa dropped Kubo early in the bout but couldn't finish him off and instead the knockdown seemed to inspire Kubo who went on to out-box Ichikawa for much of the contest to claim a decision with scores of 47-46 and 48-45, twice. At Light Flyweight Kenji Ono (6-1, 3) narrowly over-come the bull like Akira Kokubo (1-4-3) who again showed that records were for DJ's. Kokubo brought the pressure and work rate and really put Ono under-pressure, though Ono did just enough to take a narrow win over Kokubo with a split decision. The cards, which read 39-38, twice to Ono, and 37-39 to Kokubo show just how close this one was. On paper the stand out bout came at Flyweight where the heavy handed Kenya Yamashita (6-0, 4) battled against Sonin Nihei (5-1-1, 1) in what was, going in, a battle of unbeaten men both looking to score the biggest win of their career. The bout, like many on the show, was very hard fought with Yamashita narrowly taking a split decision that really could have gone either way. Despite the loss for Nihei we suspect both men have very bright futures ahead of them and a rematch at title level is certainly not out of the question considering what they showed here. In the Super Flyweight division we saw the show's first stoppage as Shogo Yonenaga (6-1, 3) took a 4th round stoppage victory over Hokuto Sakata (5-4-1, 3). The bout was fought at a wonderfully high tempo from both men, unfortunately for Sakata he was dropped late and ruled unfit to continue as he was unsteady on his feet. On this performance we're very excited to see Yonenaga in action again though we do wonder how far he can really go despite this excellent victory. In an impressive Bantamweight performance we saw Ryohei Takahashi (4-1-1, 1) score a clear and decisive decision victory over the previously unbeaten Ken Kodama (4-1-1, 1). From the opening bell Takahashi seiezed the iniative and boxed at a fierce tempo behind his jab in an outstanding performance that really did catch the eye. We were genuinely impressed by the work rate but do need to wonder about how his lack of power may hold him back in the future. The Super Bantamweight division saw a genuine one-sided bout as Yuki Matsudo (8-1, 4) thoroughly dominated Yoshifumi Tamaki (5-2-1, 2) over the course of 5 rounds. The all Southpaw bout started even but Matsudo really upped the pace as the bout went on there was no doubt about the winner, despite one or two momentary scares fo the slightly more experienced man. On paper one of the shows more interesting bouts on paper was the Featherweight contest, sadly however it turned out to be the shortest as Reiya Abe (7-1, 4) took just 113 seconds to see off Naoto Moriya (6-2-1, 3). Abe dropped Moriya early in the opening round and a follow up barrage finished the bout with Moriya looking unable to come with Abe who looked sensation. Although numerous fights on the show were exciting nothing compared with the all action Super Featherweight clash between the very fun to watch 17 year old Yuichiro Kasuya (5-0, 1) and the tough Yutaka Ekawa (5-3-1, 2). The bout was an insanely hard fought war between two fighters who knew what a win here meant and really let their hands go in a fight that excited the fans. It was thrilling with neither fighter ever looking safe from hard for long. At the end Kasuya won a unanimous decision with all 3 cards reading 47-45 though the only thing that was clear about the fight was that this was a special one. We hope to have the video of this shortly as it really was something special. We had another thriller in the Lightweight division as the much touted Andy Hiraoka (6-0, 3) was forced to work incredibly hard to over-come the determined Shintaro Nakamura (5-3-1, 2). The bout saw Hiraoka need to pick himself up from a knockdown and battle incredibly hard to over-come his shorter but older opponent in what was clearly the toughest contest of his career saw far. The teenage prospect, who won 48-47 on all 3 cards, will know that this was a serious learning experience and he should feel that it he's proven a lot more in this one fight than he had in his previous 5. We had another very exciting battle at Light welterweight as Naoharu Kida (6-0, 3) won an all action phone-booth war against Yasuki Katagiri (4-1, 1). The two men refused to budge and just let their hands do it all in a bout that was amazingly difficult to score either way and almost impossible to look away from as the both just unloaded in a back and forth war. The thrilling action saw Kida just nick the bout with a split decision though with scores of 48-47 from all 3 judges it's clear just how close this one was. Rematch in 2015 please! In an undefeated showdown at Welterweight fans saw Hironobu Matsunaga (6-0, 3) retain his unbeaten record with a clear win over Masaya Tamayama (4-1, 3). The bout was a high paced boxing contest between two well school fighters, unfortunately for Masaya it just always seemed like the southpaw stance of Matsunaga was too much for him and allowed the Yokohama based man to control swathes of the bout behind his razor like southpaw jab. The Middleweight division saw the aggressive Hisao Narita (7-1, 4) over-come Asahi Hatsumi (4-2, 2) in what turned out to be another exciting bout. Narita struggled early on but really put his foot on the gas as the bout went on before eventually doing enough to impress the judges into giving him the bout with a close decision. Narita appears to be a fun guy to watch but we're unsure about how he will fare in the long run, especially with his aggressive style. For those wondering about the MVP it was awarded to Yuichiro Kasuya for his excellent victory in his war with Yutaka Ekawa. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp and is from Yokoya's debut)
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