The key boxing action this past Friday was the Boxcino Middleweight semi finals in the US.

The first of these semi-finals saw Brandon Adams (14-0, 9) take a split decision over Raymond Gatica (14-3, 9). It was a split in the eyes of perhaps 3 people with many feeling Adams had taken a pretty clear decision over Gatica who tried to make the fight but was out boxed for the vast part of the bout.

Adams was the favourite in his bout though in the other contest we saw an upset as Ukraine's previously unbeaten Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-1, 13) was out boxed by the often frustrating, but clearly talented, Willie Monroe Jr (17-1, 6) who really shone in a very impressive victory.

The Adams/Monroe Jr bout is now scheduled to take place on May 23rd.

As well as the Boxcino show there was some other interesting results in the states, three of which took place on a card in Texas.

These Texas bouts saw former Yoshihiro Kamegai opponent Jorge Silva (20-6-2, 16) suffer his 4th loss in 5 bouts since draw with Kamegai. Silva, who looked like a tough, tough guy against the Japanese puncher was stopped in 6 by Alan Sanchez (13-3-1, 7). The same show also saw the promising Errol Spence (12-0, 10) wiping out Raymond Charles (12-3-2, 5).

The best bout on the Texas show though was the 10th round stoppage victory for Sergio Perales (24-2, 16) who over-came former world title challenger Raul Martinez (30-4, 18). Martinez had previously lost in world title bouts to Nonito Donaire and Rodrigo Guerrero but was expected to beat Perales who will likely find himself moving towards and IBF Bantamweight world title fight. Interestingly Perales was controversially beaten by current IBF champion Stuart Hall last year and would almost certainly love to avenge that loss in the next year or so.

In a notable upset in Pennsylvania fans got to see the under-rated Rod Salka (19-3, 3) give a boxing lesson to the highly outed Cuban Alexei Collado (18-1, 16). Collado went into the bout with a big reputation though was dropped in round 3 and never really recovered as Salka won pretty much every round of the bout with his clever defence and accurate shots.

(Image courtesy of http://www.pound4pound.com)

Whilst we're really looking forward to Saturday's fights we've got to admit that Friday looks disappointing to us with only a handful of even semi-notable notable bouts. There doesn't appear to be any major contests but there is enough C level fights to keep us all interested enough.

A couple of those interesting bouts come on the ESPN telecast which will show the semi-final's of the Boxcino Middleweight. In our eyes the more competitive of those semi's will see the unbeaten Brandon Adams (13-0, 9) facing the twice beaten Raymond Gatica (14-2, 9) in what is a pretty even match up. Adams is the big betting favourite but it's certainly not as one sided as the odds suggest.

The second semi pits the clear favourite Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-0, 13) against the skilled but timid Willie Monroe Jr (16-1, 6). It's hard to see anything but a Kopylenko decision here as he does look a little bit special.

Other than those two bouts there is an interesting 10 rounder between Alan Sanchez (12-3-1, 6) and Yoshihiro Kamegai's former foe Jorge Silva (20-5-2, 16). Kamegai and Silva drew in an a very fun to watch tear up in 2012. Since then Silva has lost 3 of 4 and appears to have been a broken man following the shellacking he took from Kamegai and then Alfredo Angulo.

(Picture, of Kopylenko, is courtesy of boxrec.com)

This past Friday wasn't just a busy one in Asia but also in the US with two major televised US shows on rival channels "ESPN" and "Showtime".

Of the two shows the one that interested us the most was the ESPN show which kicked off the "Boxcino Middleweight" tournament.

The competition, an 8 man knock out tournament, seeks to create a star though on this particular show we really didn't get anything that looked likely to become a break out fighter. Saying that however one man did shine one the card. That was Ukrainian Vitaliy Kopylenko (23-0, 13), pictured, who looked very sharp and very skilled as he dominated and stopped Cerresso Fort (17-3-1, 11) in just 2 rounds. 

The victory for Kopylenko will see him instilled as the tournament favourite with out any doubt at all.

Kopylenko's opponent in the semi final will be American Willie Monroe Jr (16-1, 6) who looked talented though lazy in his decision victory over the crude but game Donatas Bondorovas (18-5-1, 6). Bondorovas brought the action and tried to make the fight but Monroe showed his defensive skill to take a decision even though his performance was described as being very "Devon Alexander-ish".

In the other quarter finals Brandon Adams (13-0, 9) defeated Daniel Edouard (23-5-2, 14) who retired between rounds 4 and 5 and the previously perfect Sena Agbeko (15-1, 15) was stopped by the average Raymond Gatica (14-2, 9). 

Edouard was knocked down in round 4 before staying on his stool at the start of round 5 signalling he no longer wanted to continue. As for Agbeko his performance was poor to say the least. He went in swinging for the fences though didn't appear to have the power that his record suggested. By the end of round 3 he was gassed and sooner became a punch bag for Gatica who will fight Adams in the other semi final.

From what we saw we would expect to an Adams versus Kopylenko final later in the year.

On the Showtime card we had the "Mayweather Promotions" show. The card was supposed to be a show case of the Mayweather stable though turned out to be a nightmare for "The Money Team".

It started badly for Mayweather with the much touted Luis Arias (9-0, 4) only just squeaking past journeyman Dashon Johnson (15-15-3, 5) on a non-televised bout. Arias, viewed by some as a champion in the making, was very fortunate to escape with the win and appears to lack the traits needed to become a world champion.

After Arias's near miss there was then a very close televised contest that saw Christopher Pearson (11-0, 9) needing to pick himself off the canvas to take a split decision over Lanardo Tyner (31-9-2, 20). Tyner, who is incredibly tough, had Pearson in all sorts of trouble before the bell saved the unbeaten man in round 6. Although Pearson had made a good start to the bout he ended it with more than a just a few question marks over his head.

If Arias and Pearson had both been lucky then it seemed the luck for Mayweather fighters had run out when it came to Badou Jack (16-1-1, 11) who was stopped in just 61 seconds by tough but limited Derek Edwards (27-3-1, 14). Edwards landed a perfect right had about 30 seconds in to the bout that sent Jack down hard. Although Jack did recover to his feet from the first knockdown he was set to the canvas again just 20 seconds later and upon rising to his feet the referee waved off the contest. 

The final bout on this card saw J'Leon Love (17-0-0-1, 10) stopping the very limited though game Vladine Biosse (15-3-2, 7). The bout was bloody with both men cut though it was controlled by Love who was too quick, too skilled and too big for Biosse. Unfortunately the stoppage, with just over 2 minutes of the bout left, did leave a poor taste in the mouth in due to the fact Biosse was in no real trouble at the time.

(Picture courtesy of boxrec.com)

This Friday's action outside of Asia feels massively lacking in terms of quality match ups with only a handful even worth noting. Thankfully it lightens our work load though it does leave fans perhaps feel a little under-whelmed at the relative lack of action.

The most notable action for us is on ESPN in the US and is the second week of "Boxcino". Last weeks "Boxcino" action was in the Lightweight division, this week however we move up the weights to Middleweight and unfortunately we have no direct interest in this weeks bouts.

Whilst there are no Asian fighters involved this time we still get 4 interesting bouts.

In one quarter final we will see US based Lithuanian Donatas Bondorovas (18-4-1, 6) taking on the once beaten Willie Monroe Jr (15-1, 6). On paper this looks like a bout that you'd favour Monroe in, though Bondorovas is better than his record indicates and some are tipping him as the competitions dark horse.

Another of the quarter finals will see Cerresso Fort (17-2-1, 11) fighting the unbeaten Vitaliy Kopylenko (22-0, 12). The winner here will face the Monroe/Bondorovs winner and whilst again one man has to be favoured by record it's probably the man with the more losses who is actually the more proven and more complete fighter here.

A third quarter final will see another unbeaten man in action as Brandon Adams (12-0, 8) takes on Daniel Edouard (23-4-2, 14) in a bout that probably should see the unbeaten man favoured. The winner of Adams/Edouard will be fighting against the winner of the final quarter final, which pits together Sena Agbeko (15-0, 15) and Raymond Gatica (13-2, 8). It's fair to say Agbeko will be favoured but he is taking a major step up here.

As well as the ESPN card their is a rival card on Showtime that features a number of promising US prospects who are fighting under the "Mayweather" banner.

These fighters include the highly rated Christopher Pearson (10-0, 9), who will be fighting the tough Larnado Tyner (31-8-2, 20), and the talented Luis Arias (8-0, 4), who fights the experienced Dashon Johnson (15-14-3, 5).

It's hard to imagine any of the unbeaten men, which also include J'Leon Love (16-0-0-1, 9) and Badou Jack (16-0-1, 11) losing, though if any of them really stand out they may be able to feature on the Floyd Maywerather/Marcos Maidana undercard on May 3rd. With that in mind we may well see some of the man really trying to put on a show.

This coming Friday is a busy one in Asian boxing with shows scattered about Asia though it's also a big one in the US with a number of fights that should interest our audience for various reasons.

The clearest reason is the Lightweight "Boxcino" tournament which gets under-way on ESPN Friday Night Fights in Nevada.

For us the most interesting bout is the quarter final that pits Fedor Papazov (14-0, 9) against Petr Petrov (32-5-2, 15) in an all Russian bout. As we've mentioned this in the upcoming bouts segment of our site we won't go into too much detail though we do expect this be a great fight between two men looking to prove their value to an American audience.

The Papazov/Petrov fight is one of 4 Lightweight contests on the show and amazingly the other 3 all look great. These include Miguel Gonzalez (22-3, 16) fighting against the big punching Miguel Angel Mendoza (21-2-2, 21). This bout is one where intuition makes you favour Mendoza though in reality we'd favour Gonzalez who has beaten better men that Mendoza. Another bout sees Mexican southpaw Fernando Carcamo (15-5, 12) fighting the unbeaten Samuel Kotey Neequaye (21-0, 15) in a very good match up, despite the difference in their record.

For us the the tournament favourite takes part in the remaining contest which sees the highly experienced Yakubu Amidu (21-4-2, 19) fighting Chris Rudd (12-1, 8). Amidu is, for us, the clear tournament favourite and although he has lost 2 of his last 4 he should go through Rudd relatively easily. Importantly for us, the winner of this fight will face the winner of the all Russian contest giving it a little bit of extra significance. 

On a separate US show Ukrainian former amateur sensation Ievgen Khytrov (2-0, 2) takes on Julius Kennedy (7-7-1, 3) in what we're going to guess will be a mismatch. Khytrov, who beat Ryota Murata in the 2011 World Amateur Championship final could do with much stiffer tests than this and is, in terms of ability, around the same level as Murata. There is little point in this sort of match up for the Ukrainian when you consider that Murata fights the following day against a former world title challenger.

In terms of female boxing, the only fight of notice is in Argentina as Fernanda Soledad Alegre (17-1-1, 8) defends her WBO Light Welterweight title against the over-matched Marisol Reyes (13-7-1, 6). Don't be shocked if this one is over early as it really is a border-line criminal mismatch.