This past Saturday was a notable day in Asian boxing with several interesting fighters in action. Tokyo, Japan At the Korakuen Hall fans has an intriguing show that featured fighters across various levels of the sport. The most notable man in action was former Japanese Light Flyweight champion Yu Kimura (17-3-1, 3) who really shined as he comfortably out pointed Mexican visitor Jesus Faro (14-10 9). Kimura controlled the bout through out and looked at his best as he came out the clear winner in a bout that seemingly acted as a “world title prelude” and it now seems that he's angling for a fight with WBC champion Pedro Guevara. Another man looking for a title fight is Yuto Shimizu (10-2-2, 3) who recorded his 7th successive win as he over-came veteran foe Yosuke Kirima (21-5-2, 14). On paper this looked like a bout where Kirima was the favourite but Shimizu proved his quality once again and he really deserves a title fight after recent wins over Hikaru Nishida, Toru Chiba, Taakehiro Shimokawara and now Kirima. Sadly for Kirima, himself a former title domestic title challenger, this loss ends a 4 fight winning streak. A minor upset saw the light hitting Hirotsugu Yamamoto (17-11-2 2) take a very wide decision win against Koichi Ito (10-4-3, 9), with Ito struggling to win a round. Coming in to this bout Yamamoto was 1-5 in his last 6 but really turned in a performance to be proud of here. Sadly for Ito, who really was second best in every which way, this was his his 3rd loss in 5 bouts and his future really doesn't look too good right now. Whilst Ito looks done it's fair to say things are only getting started for Light Flyweight hopeful Kenji Ono (9-1, 4) who took a solid win over Kenta Motoki (6-8-1, 1). Ono, won won a hard fought 8 round decision, has now won 7 in a row and he'll be hoping to move towards a Japanese ranking in the next 12 months ago. Talking about fighters looking forward to the future it's fair to say the future is very bright for Lightweight prospect Shuya Masaki (2-0, 1) who scored a solid 6 round decision win over Shintaro Nakamura (5-5-1, 2). Masaki might be slightly disappointed that he didn't get a stoppage but he really was a run away winner. At Welterweight fans saw Masaya Tamayama (5-1, 3) bounce back from his sole loss as he out pointed the more experienced Shingo Yabu (4-6). On paper this was a solid win for the young prospect however it does need saying that Yabu has been stopped 4 times, suggesting that Tamayama doesn't his as hard as his record indicates. The only 4 rounder on this card saw Ryo Matsubara (3-1, 3) score a 2nd round stoppage of the previously unbeaten Seiyu Gunji (1-1-1, 1). This was Matsubara's second stoppage since being narrowly out-pointed by Takunari Yokoyama in June 2014, and despite that loss it does seem that he has serious power. Bucheon, South Korea In theory “world” title bouts are the highest level of fights. Yesterday however we had a world title bout that really wasn't at the top level, but yet was still a very intriguing contest as “WIBA” Minimumweight champion Ji Hyun Park (22-2, 6) took a clear, but hard fought, decision over Filipino foe Gretchen Abaniel (15-8, 6). Abaniel came to rip the title from the champion and, during the early rounds, had real success but eventually Park found her range and took the later rounds to retain her title Also on this card was a bout featuring Thai based Iranian Mohamadreza Hamze (6-6-1, 2), who lost a decision to a local fighter, though sadly we've been unable to put a name to the Korean who beat him. Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico In Mexico things didn't end well for the over-matched Kazuki Hashimoto (11-5, 7) was saw a 4 fight winning streak come to a quick end at the hands of former world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (58-9, 49). Gonzalez, who was making his Super Featherweight debut, stopped Hashimoto in the 2nd round and it now seems likely that he begin targeting a bout with Takashi Miura. Tasmania, Australia In Australia there were a couple of Asian fighters in action. One of those bouts ended in a genuine upset as Australian based Thai Paitoon Jaikom (4-15, 2) scored a very rare win as he over-came the debuting Jakob Daureen (0-1) with a 4 round decision. Paitoon started well, scoring a knock-down in the opening round, and never really let the lead slip out of his hands. In the main event of the card fans saw former Bantamweight world title challenger Nouldy Manakane (29-18-2, 18) suffer a 3rd round loss to unbeaten Super Featherweight hopeful Luke Jackson (9-0, 4). It's been a while since Manakane lost to Koki Kameda, in a WBA Bantamweight title fight, but it's now clear that he is fight well above his natural weight and that he's becoming little more than a journeyman. (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) |
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