This past Sunday was an incredibly busy day for Asian fight fans who had a bit of everything. Osaka, Japan In the most significant bout of the day, at least the most significant in Asia, fans got a treat as a determined Takahiro Yamamoto (16-4, 13) stopped Yu Kawaguchi (23-7, 10) to claim the OPBF Bantamweight title. The two men, traded shots earlier this year in a 12 round split decision, engaged in one of the most entertaining bouts of the year here with Yamamoto scoring a knockdown in round 2 before being dropped in round 3. Despite trading knockdowns it was cuts to Kawaguchi that forced the bout to end, with the defending champion looking a bloody pulp by round 7 when the referee eventually called a halt to proceedings. Although Kawaguchi was easily stopped it wasn't a bad day for his fast rising gym mate Kazuki Tanaka (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thai visitor Kamraiyok Orwandavee (0-3) who was blitzed inside a round. Interestingly Kamraiyok had taken Yamamoto 3 rounds at the end of last year and whilst it may be too early to talk about Tanaka Vs Yamamoto it does seem to be a possibility for the future. Another stablemate of Kawaguchi's to taste victory was was Takayuki Okumoto (15-6-2. 6), who took an 8 round decision win over Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-20). Sadly though another fighter at the Greentsuda gym, Shohei Kanemoto (9-10-1, 3) was on the losing end of a decision as he was out pointed by Kazuyasu Okamoto (10-4, 3). In a Light Middleweight bout Ryota Yada (8-3, 6) scored a 4th round TKO against the limited Marcos Sogabe (6-11-1, 5) as he recorded his 5th straight victory. Lower down on this card fans saw Genki Maeda (2-0, 1) takes a 6 round decision win against San Saknarong (2-4) whilst a 4 round decision saw Ryosuke Nasu (2-1-1) defeat Seita Mochizuki (3-8). Also on this show was the retirement ceremony of Nobuhiro Ishida who waved good bye to professional boxing life. Osaka, Japan Another Osakan show was just as interesting, even though it lacked a title bout, though it did feature a title prelude. That title prelude was at Middleweight where Koki Tyson Maebara (9-1-1, 9) blew away Thailand's Kungsuk Sor Sompong (0-2) in just 2 rounds. Following this win Maebara announced that he was going to be challenging for an OPBF title in December, in what will be his first title bout, and a major step up in class. Another notable name in action here was former Japanese Light Middleweight champion Takayuki Hosokawa (27-10-4, 9) who took an unexpectedly close decision win over Jung Hoon Yang (9-7, 2), himself a former OPBF Welterweight title challenger. Hosokawa had been told to retire if he lost this bout though the uninspiring win may well send him into retirement anyway. Another bout that went the distance saw Ryuya Yamanaka (10-2, 2) take a wide 10 round decision win over Yoshinori Wakahara (7-6, 4) in what is a solid win for the 20 year old Yamanaka. Although not the most talented youngster in Japan we do expect to see Yamanaka compete at title level in the near future. An all Japanese based Filipino bout saw veteran Jonathan Baat (30-6-3, 14) take a wide decision win over Dado Cabintoy (15-5-2, 8), sadly for Cabintoy this loss sees a 5 fight winning streak, dating back more than 2 years, come to an end. For Baat this win secures him an October 19th bout with the much touted Hikaru Marugame (5-0, 3) in what looks like a really good looking match up. Another Japanese based Filipino picking up a win here was Mark John Yap (22-12, 10), who out pointed Shun Ishibashi (10-17-1, 4). One judge had this one far too close, scoring it 77-76, but Yap did get a well deserved unanimous decision win. In a bout scheduled for 6 rounds fans saw a blow out as Yuki Nagashima (6-2, 33) swiftly dispatched of Jaroenlek Chaiyonggym (0-2). The only other under-card bout saw the debuting Akio Furuya (1-0) take a split decision over the win-less Sumeeman Shoki (0-6). Aichi, Japan The least significant of 3 Japanese shows came from Aichi where much of the action was based around Middle Japan Rookie of the Year finals. The main event of the show was one bout which part of the Rookie tournament. This bout saw Kazuya Maruki (19-3, 12) take a dominant decision win over Indonesian visitor Heri Andriyanto (21-19-2, 10). This was a very one sided bout, though Andriyanto did make things interesting at times. The lowest weight of the Rookie of the Year bouts was at Light Flyweight where Hiroki Yajima (5-5, 3) scored a 2nd round KO against Tomohiro Shimokata (1-2-1, 1). Another stoppage occurred in the Flyweight final as Katsuteru Yoshifusa (4-0, 1) blew away Hiroshi Tanase (2-6) inside a round. At Super Flyweight we saw another unbeaten man pick up a win as Takuma Matsushita (3-0, 1) claimed a split decision win over Ryo Shibata (3-2, 2). Another unbeaten man who picked up a win here was Takuya Mizuno (6-0-1, 6) who took a 3rd round KO win over Yusuke Kubota (3-3, 1). It wasn't all great for unbeaten fighters however as Michitaka Umemoto (1-1, 1) suffered a split decision loss to Masatsugu Ito (3-2-1, 1) in a very competitive match up. At Featherweight Japanese based Peruvian Kevin Mendoza (2-0, 1) scored a blow out victory over Naoki Masukawa (3-3). Another stoppage occurred in the Super Featherweight bout as Yuya Shimakura (5-0-1, 2) stopped Kazuaki Okada (3-5, 2) in the 4th round of their bout. At Lightweight the promising 19 year old Daiki Ichikawa (5-0, 3) took out Kohei Furusawa (4-6) in the 2nd round. At Light Welterweight Tetsuya Yamaguchi (3-2-2, 2) took a 4th round TKO against Eisuke Hara (4-2, 3). The remaining bout was at Welterweight where Shingo Saiki (2-0, 2) stopped Masanori Kawai (1-3-1, 1) inside a round. Florida, USA Sadly in the US we saw Filipino veteran Dennis Laurente (49-6-5, 30) lose a wide decision to the faster, younger and more skilled John Jackson (20-2, 15). Laurente did his best to force the action but was also two steps behind Jackson who looked bigger and faster throughout. Despite the loss Laurente managed to maintain of never being stopped, an impressive feat given the power of Jackson who did drop in round 3 but never came close to stopping him. Lanao del Norte, Philippines As for actual action in the Philippines there was two bouts in Lanao del Norte. One of those saw Joel Dela Cruz (19-23-3, 7) take a decision victory against journeyman Dondon Lapuz (19-48-7, 7). The other bout on this card saw former OPBF title challenger Jovylito Aligarbes (12-3, 6) score a 6th round TKO against Edil Bastian (4-4-1, 1). This was Aligarbes's second stoppage win since he was stopped, 18 months ago, by Shingo Wake and it seems like the youngster is slowly rebuilding his career. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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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) This past Sunday was a busy day in the Japanese boxing scene with 3 notable domestic shows. Although the shows weren't attention grabbing on an international scale they were big enough to feature some well known fighters. Osaka, Japan The most well known fighter in action was Nobuhiro Ishida (26-10-2, 10), who was on one of two separate shows held at the Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka city. Ishida, pictured, was fighting for the second time as a Heavyweight and managed to out point Frenchman David Radeff (5-8-2, 2) in an 8 round bout. The win for Ishida was his first win as a Heavyweight and has seen him taking a step towards a rematch with Kyotaro Fujimoto, a bout that Ishida wants so as to claim the Japanese Heavyweight title and avenge a close loss from earlier this year. Without a Fujimoto rematch the odds are that Ishida will have to think very hard about his future. Another man thinking about his future right now is former Japanese Bantamweight champion Kohei Oba (36-3-1, 14) who announced his retirement following a hard fought decision win over domestic rival Keigo Soma (6-11-1, 3). This 8 round bout was Oba's first following his stoppage loss to Randy Caballero earlier this year and it's clear that the loss to Caballero took a lot out of "The Mayweather of Nagoya" who at just 29 has called an end on his career. On the same show we also saw a return to the ring for recent Japanese Bantamweight title contender Yu Kawaguchi (21-6, 9) who looked less than impressive in scoring a narrow 8 round win over Seizo Kono (14-7-1, 9). For Kawaguchi this was his first bout following a 10 round loss to Kentaro Masuda in a bout for the vacant Japanese national title at Bantamweight and although he was competitive in that one the bout appears to have taken it's toll on him here. The undercard of this show featured 5 bouts all scheduled for 4 rounds. These saw a pair of blow out wins for debutant fights. The quickest of the debutants to record a win was Yuto Nagano (1-0, 1) who took just 34 seconds to blow through Norio Shimizu (0-1). It took just 2 minutes for fellow debutant Tomoaki Matsumura (1-0, 1) to get off the mark with his own opening round victory which came against Shuichi Inagaki (1-1, 1). The other 3 bouts all went the distance as Hirohide Murakami (2-2) took a clear decision win over Masatetsu Hirano (1-2, 1). A second, closer, decision saw Ryosuke Nasu (1-0-1) score his first win as he over-came Yuki Sueyoshi (1-3, 1). The closest of the 3 decisions saw Genki Inoue (1-3-1, 1) fight to a draw with Ryota Shimizu (3-5-1, 1). Osaka, Japan The other show at the Bodymaker Colosseum was the Rookie of the West finals with 10 bouts on the show, all featuring novices competing for their chance to be Rookie of the Year later this year. The lowest weight featured was Minimumweight where we saw the unbeaten Reiya Konishi (5-0, 4) continue his unbeaten run with a 2nd round stoppage against the win-less Naoki Yoshimura (0-2-1). Konishi kicked off a good run for unbeaten fighters with unbeaten men winning every division from Minimumweight all the way up to Super Flyweight, as well as Super Bantamweight. At Light Flyweight that saw Seigo Yuri Akui (2-0) over-come the previously unbeaten Michitaka Muto (3-1-1) with a 4 round decision, Flyweight saw a 5 round decision for Shun Kosaka (8-0) who managed to rack up his 8th straight decision win with a clear victory over Takahiko Nakajima (4-5-1). At Super Flyweight we saw Ioka prospect Masayoshi Hashizume (5-0, 3) blow away Takeshi Kajikawa (3-1, 2) in very impressive fashion, this win notably won Hashizume the MVP for the show. The Bantamweight bout was won by the heavy handed Keisuke Tabuchi (7-1-2, 5) who took a very narrow majority decision over Takaaki Kitagawa (4-3, 2) in one of the more exciting bouts on the show. At Super Bantamweight we saw another unbeaten winner as Shohei Kawashima (7-0-2, 1) took a 5 round decision over the heavy handed Kohei Iwai (4-3-1, 4). The remaining 4 bouts on this show were all very competitive with little to split the fighters. These included a Featherweight bout that saw Kyohei Tonomoto (4-1, 2) take a very narrow split decision over Toru Kageyama (5-6-1, 4) whilst Chocoboy Oizumi (4-2-2, 2) took the Light Welterweight crown with a split decision over Kazuma Fukuyama (3-3-3). In a unanimous decision Shota Yamamoto (5-1, 3) defeated the previously unbeaten Ryo Kanda (2-1, 1) for the Welterweight crown. Arguably the most surprising result came at Middleweight where the previously win-less Ryota Ikawa (1-5) over-came American Brandon Lockhart Shane (3-3, 2) in a narrow split decision. Hyogo, Japan The third Japan show was in Hyogo and was headlined by former world title challenger Atsushi Kakutani (15-4-1, 7) who scored a 4th round TKO against Thai visitor Dawut Manopkanchang (10-7-1, 3). After the fight Kakutani, who is best known for his loss to Adrian Hernandez in a WBC Light Flyweight title fight, hinted strongly that he was wanting to get an OPBF title fight for December. In the chief support bout we again saw a Japanese fighter fighting a Thai. This time however the bout was much more competitive with Yuichi Arai (9-8-1, 2) narrowly over-coming Saensak Sithvarunee (0-2) with an 8 round majority decision. The only 6 round bout on the show saw Yushi Fujita (6-6-3, 1) defeat Takuya Hashimoto (4-5, 4) in 3 rounds. Fujita scored his first stoppage though it shouldn't be taken as too much of an impressive achievement considering Hashimoto has now been stopped in all 5 of his losses. The card kicked off with a trio of 4 rounders. These saw Kazuki Kimura (3-2) take a 4 round unanimous decision over Naoya Hamaguchi (4-2-1, 1) in a minor upset, Kazuyoshi Toguri (3-6) managed to take a narrow split decision over Tomohiro Tatani (3-9, 2) and a split decision draw between Kenta Ide (1-1-1) and Keigo Yokoyama (1-1-1). Jakarta, Indonesia In Indonesia fans saw Ruben Manakane (14-11-1, 9) score a 5th round TKO against Egy Rozten (3-6-1, 3). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Sunday was a crazy day in Japan with 5 separate shows run across the country. Unfortunately with so much action it has taken us a few days to get all the results together but here they are. Osaka, Japan The biggest show of the day was in the IMP Hall in Osaka as Green Tsuda put on a 10 bout show, headlined by a Japanese Bantamweight title fight. This show began with 6 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. These 4 rounders included just 2 stoppages with the quickest of those being an first round retirement scored by the debuting Naotoshi Nakatani (1-0, 1) who saw his foe Takafumi Yamada (4-4, 1) pull out at the end of the opener. In the other stoppage bout scheduled for 4 rounds it didn't take much of round 2 for the unbeaten Yuki Nagashima (5-0, 2) to stop Hiroto Sugai (1-3, 1). A third of the 4 rounders here failed to go the distance as the previously win-less Shosuke Jo (1-1) took a third technical decision over the debuting Kewpie Tsubasa (0-1). In the other 4 rounders Shohei Kawashima (5-0-1, 1 nigh on shut out Hikaru Matsumine (3-1), the unbeaten Michitaka Muto (2-0-1) was given a great run for his money by fellow novice Hirohide Murakami (1-2) and Kazuma Fukuyama (3-2-2) struggled past Ryota Yada (3-3, 2). The sole 6 rounder on this card lasted just 166 seconds as Tomonori Ota (5-4, 3) swiftly took care of Hisashi Kawanishi (4-6, 1). In a pair of 8 rounder we saw very competitive action. The most competitive, on the score cards, saw Yoshihito Ishizaki (9-6-1, 4) take a split decision over Ryota Kihara (6-8-4, 5) whilst in the other bout Takayuki Okumoto (11-6-2, 5) took a hard fought victory over the previously perfect Yuki Yonaha (3-1, 3). We had feared, going in to Okumoto/Yonaha, that the novice's lack of decent level competition would bite him in the backside though he put up a valiant fight and we'd not complain at seeing him at this level again. In the main event we got Japanese title action as Kentaro Masuda (19-6, 10) defeated Yu Kawaguchi (20-6, 9) via technical decision to claim the Japanese Bantamweight title. The belt, which had been vacated by Kohei Oba prior to his fight with Randy Caballero, now belongs in the the arms of Masuda who had previously failed in a Japanese title fight against the excellent Ryosuke Iwasa back in 2012. Ishikawa, Japan We got a second title bout on a card in Ishikawa which had a certain international feel to it with visitors from Thailand, the Philippines, China and South Korea. The only all-Japanese bout on this card saw Katsuteru Yoshifusa (1-0) claim a 4 round decision over the previously undefeated Kazuyuki Tomita (2-1). Following the all-Japanese bout we then had a trio of bouts pitting Chinese fighters against Japanese fighters, this 3 fight series ended at a very even 1-1-1. The Japanese win came in a female bout as the debuting Miki Matsumoto (1-0) out pointed China's poor Li Yun Ting (1-5, 1), who incidentally recorded her first distance fight. The Chinese win came as Xu Chan (2-0) over-came a 7lb weight disadvantage to defeat the debuting Kota Hamamoto (0-1). The series found no winner as Yukiya Hanabusa (5-2-2) was held to a 6 round majority draw by Xiang Jing (7-3-1, 1). After the undercard bouts we then got down to real action with a pair of well regarded Filipino's in action. These saw bouts went 2-0 for the Filipino fighter with Marlon Tapales (25-2, 9) taking a 5th round technical decision over Japan's Hayato Kimura (21-6, 15) and Mark Gil Melligen (18-4-1, 9) stopped the previously unbeaten Thai Bualuang OnesongchaiGym (12-1, 4) midway through the 5th round. The main event was the title bout as South Korean Ye-Joon Kim (8-1-2, 3) scored a 9th round TKO over Akihiro Matsumoto (12-5-1, 6) to claim the WBC Youth Super Bantamweight title. An interesting side note to this card is despite there being 7 Japanese fighters on this show only 2 actually won. Gifu, Japan Although there were no titles on the line at the Industrial Hall in Gifu we did see some very notable debutant action. The show began with 3 nondescript bouts which began with Yuya Shimakura (2-0) who outpointed Shinnosuke Yonekawa (1-3) over 4 rounds before Reiko Sugiyama (3-5-2, 2) stopped Hajime Ikeda (4-4) in 2 rounds and Hajime Kawase (5-7-2) took a competitive 6 round victory over Yujiro Nakamura (4-7-1, 2). It was after those undercard bouts that we got the debutant action. The second of the bouts involving debutants was an expected win for the very highly regarded former amateur stand out Genki Hanai (1-0, 1) who easily saw off fellow debutant Atiwit Munyapho (0-1) in 159 seconds. Hanai is seen as one of the potential stars of the future and made headlines in Japan when he announced his intention to turn professional. Although Hanai's victory is a good one it really pales in significance to the upset we saw in the other bout featuring a debutant as Thailand's Saranyu Intakaew (1-0, 1) scored a 48 second blow out of Japan's very own Toshihiko Adachi (13-7, 6). Although Adachi isn't one of the best Light Welterweight's in Japan this has certainly been a result that could leave Intakaew as one to watch. The main even on this show saw Futoshi Usami (12-1-1, 9) make light work of Akira Shono (7-6-2, 4) scoring a stoppage at the very end of round 2. Osaka, Japan A second show at the IMP Hall, though one with much less significance than the Japanese title bout spoken about above tough a lot more competitiveness, took place courtesy of Taiho Promotions. This show featured 8 bouts and began with some extremely competitive bouts as Ryosuke Morioka (0-0-1) was held to a split decision draw with Daiki Miyayama (2-2-1, 1), a split decision was also seen when Keisuke Tabuchi (4-1-2, 3) narrowly took a win over Noboru Osato (2-2-2, 1). Another competitive contest saw Chocoboy Oizumi (2-2-2, 1) take a slim unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Naoki Taniwa (1-1, 1) whilst another 3 rounder saw the stoppage run of Takuma Hayashi (4-0, 3) come to an end with majority decision over the tough Yukitaka Nishida (4-8-2, 1). It wasn't just the 4 rounders that were well matched with both 6 rounders also being very narrow victories. These saw Takahito Osaka (6-0-2, 4) keep his unbeaten record with a razor thin unanimous decision over Hideo Mikan (6-6-1, 2) whilst Ken Osato (5-1, 3) only just beat Katsuhiko Kanno (8-8-7, 3) who is now win-less in 7. Even the main bouts were competitive as So Takenaka (20-7-2, 8) was given a hard work out by Thai debutant Wanchana Wilaiphut (0-1) and Satoru Sugita (8-2-1, 5) could only take a split decision over the more experienced Ryota Kajiki (22-9, 14). This may not have been the headline card but in terms of value for money this genuinely great, competitive and the sort of well matched bout that will bring people back to boxing! Well done Taiho. Hiroshima, Japan The remaining show took place at the Green Arena in Hiroshima and featured 10 bouts in total. For those wanting to see quick finishes this was the show for them with 7 bouts finishing inside the distance. Of the 3 bouts to go the distance one was the main event as Takashi Omae (12-3-5, 1) took a majority decision over Koji Itagaki (12-9-2, 5) in what turned out to be more competitive than we had expected. Another of the distance bouts saw the debuting Kazuya Okubo (1-0) taking a majority victory over the more experienced Teruyuki Kobashi (2-9-1, 1) whilst the other saw a shut out by Morihisa Iju (4-0, 3) who over-came Takuya Fujio (1-2-1) with ease. The quickest of the 7 stoppages on the card came after just 2 minutes as Toshiki Yanari (2-0, 2) won a battle of unbeaten Minimumweights stopping Takahiro Morisaki (1-1, 1). The only other opening round KO saw the debuting Takahiro Maeda (1-0, 1) score a stoppage at 3:09 of the opening round as he took out Makoto Yoshimura (0-2). The second round brought us 3 stoppages. The quickest of those saw Taiyo Inoue (1-1, 1) take out Garyu Takuma (1-5, 1) in just 63 seconds. Inoue's win was 8 seconds quicker than the one scored by Daigo Nakahiro (24-4-2, 10) over Thai novice Phetsaifar Lukmaelamperigym (0-3) which it's self was 9 seconds quicker than the one scored by Yuya Okazaki (9-7-1, 3), who took out another Thai novice in the form of Kittisak Sithsaithong (0-2). Both of the remaining stoppages came in round 4 with exactly the same time recorded, 1:00. These saw Shisato Okuma (6-1-2, 5) score a KO over Ryusuke Hoashi (1-4, 1) whilst Taichi Yoshizato (1-1, 1) scored his first pro victory with a TKO over Junya Akitake (0-2). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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