September 30th is a day that is somewhat notable for almost every "boxing country" in Asia even if it's not going down as an historic day in the minds of many.

The first of the bouts of interest for us was in 1977 when the debuting Tae Shik Kim was stopped in 3 rounds by fellow debutant Kee Bong Koh. At the time both were relative nobodies in the boxing world and in fact this would be Koh's only professional bout. As for Kim he would later go on to claim the WBA Flyweight title with a sensational victory over Luis Ibarra. Kim would hold the world for just shy of 10 months and defend it once before falling short against Arnel Arrazola. 

Talking about South Korean world champions it was on this day in 1978 that tragic Sung Jun Kim claimed the WBC Light Flyweight title with a 3rd round KO over Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh. Netrnoi was attempting to make the second defense of his belt but was unable to match Kim's intense aggression and the Thai was left in agony on the the canvas. Sadly for Kim his reign was short lasting less than 10 months though he did make 2 defenses of the belt. Sadly both of these men died young. The Thai died in a car crash at just 23 years old whilst Kim sadly committed suicide when he was 35 by jumping off a building with issues regarding his health and finances.

The date hasn't always been a bad one for Thai's and it was on this day in 1980 that Thai legend Saensak Muangsurin scored his final career win defeating Mike DeGuzman in 5 rounds. Sadly for the Thai legend this was his only win in his final 6 professional bouts. Muangsurin, who still holds the join record for fewest professional bouts to being a world champion, was a shadow of his former self by this point and it was often saddening to see him in the ring during this latter stage of his career.

For Filipino's it was on this day in 2007 that Donnie Nietes claimed the WBO Minimumweight title with a narrow victor over Thailand's Pornsawan Porpramook. The bout was incredibly close though Nietes appears to have won the bout courtesy of a knockdown in round 4 and a point deduction from Porpramook in round 10. This was the first of numerous world title victories for Nietes is now a 2-time world champion and is preparing to defend his WBO Light Flyweight title.

More recently, in 2009, we saw Nobuo Nashiro successfully defend his WBA Super Flyweight title with a split decision draw against Hugo Fidel Cazares. Unfortunately for Nashiro he would lose his title in a second bout with Cazares the following year.

(Image, of Nashiro, courtesy of boxrec.com)

September 29th is, thankfully, a day etched in Asian boxing history for a number of days

On this day in 1979 fans saw the very talented, though sadly long forgotten, Venice Borkhorsor beat down the exceptional Betulio Gonzalez to claim the WBC Flyweight title. Borkhorsor managed to literally beat the submission out of Gonzalez who had spent several rounds doing little more than take a pound in a career defining win for the Thai man who would hold the title for little over a year. Although not a legend of the ring Borkhorsor was there or there abouts at the top of the Flyweight division for a long period of time.

In 1990 we saw another Thai in a world title action as the legendary Khaosai Galaxy defeated Yong-Kang Kim in 6 rounds to record his 15th defense of the WBA Super Flyweight title! Galaxy, one of the great Thai boxers of all time, showed off his power and skills to take out Kim though it did appear he was slowing a little around this time and his last fight came around 15 months laser, although he did add 4 more defenses of his belt between this bout and his final one. Blessed with destructive power Galaxy made his name as one of the hardest hitting Super Flyweights of all time and recorded a sensational 47-1 (41) record. A truly amazing puncher.

A third world title fight came in 2001 when yet another Thai, Fahlan Sakkreerin, lost in a WBO Light Flyweight title bout to Puerto Rican champion Nelson Dieppa. Dieppa was defending the title for the first time and took a clear win over the Thai, who had previously held the IBF Minimumweight title.

In a non-world title bout, yet still notable contest, it was on this day back in 1989 that Japanese legend Joichiro Tatsuyoshi made his professional debut. Tatsuyoshi defeated South Korean Sang Myon Choi in 2 rounds before beginning progress on one of the most legendary careers of any Japanese fighter in history. We know his record isn't great but "Joe" really was a fighter who reinvigorated Japanese boxing and the effects of his career are still being felt now leading some to consider him as one of the most significant post-war fighters anywhere on the planet.

(Image, of Khaosai Galaxy, courtexy of boxrec.com)

September 28th seems likely to be a controversial date due to boxrec which gives some contradicting information for the day. For sake ease we'll explain this in a moment with out first bout.

The controversial bout took place in 1968 in Los Angeles as Japan's Shozo Saijo successfully claimed the WBA Featherweight title with an excellent 15 round decision win over Raul Rojas. The bout was the second meeting between the two men with Saijo having beaten Rojas in a non-title bout 3 months earlier. This time around Rojas's had his title on the line and was clearly beaten by the talented Japanese fighter who would continue to hold the title until 1971 when he was stopped by Antonio Gomez and decided to retire having had an excellent and thoroughly under-rated career. Now the controversial part, this bout appears to have taken place on September 27th US time but September 28th Japanese time, where Saijo is from. With that in mind we've included it though under-stand why other may not have wanted it including. 

In 1996 Thailand's great Ratanapol Sor Vorapin successfully defended the IBF Minimumweight title with a 5th KO over Oscar Andrade. Andrade had been dropped several times before being finished off with a cracking shot that allowed the Thai to record the second defence of his second reign. The Thai had been stripped temporarily for failign to make weight though had re-won the title almost immediately. Ratanapol would retain the title until December 1997 when he was finally dethroned by Zolani Petelo and forced to move up in weight.

The most recent bout of note on this day came in 2004 when Filipino Donnie Nietes suffered his first, and so far only, loss. The loss came in Indonesia as Nietes went and fought the well over-weight Angky Angkotta and lost by controversial split decision. Since this loss Nietes has gone an impressive 10 years and 26 fights with out a defeat as he's risen to become one of the stars of Filipino boxing and a 2-weight world. Nietes might not be on the level of Manny Pacquiao or Nonito Donaire but he's amongst the most impressive Filipino fighters in the sport.

(Image, of Nietes, courtesy of boxrec.com)

We really hate days where we find little of interest for this segment and September 27th is certainly one such day where we've had to include a bout or two that wouldn't usually make it's way into this segment. We're sorry to those who love this section of our site but we really, really struggled this time around.

In 1970 we saw a tremendous contest as Japan's Yoshiaki Numata climbed off the canvas and stopped Raul Rojas to retain his WBC Super Featherweight title. Numata had really been in some trouble in round 4 and in round 5 though managed to pull it all out with just seconds left in the 5th. Prior the stoppage Numata had taken a 9 count in round 4 with Rojas complaining about the count being long after the fight, replay though shows it wasn't actually long. It was a marvelous comeback by the Japanese fighter who would defend the title twice more before being stopped by Ricardo Arredondo in 1971.

In 2008 we saw another world title fight as Filipino Sonny Boy Jaro traveled to Mexico in an attempt to win the WBC Light Flyweight world title. Sadly for Jaro he came up short despite flooring Edgar Sosa in round 9 and went on to lose a very, very clear decision. Despite the loss here Jaro has remained on the world stage since and actually went on to claim the WBC and Linear Flyweight title with a win over Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, though his reign was short lived and he would lose his title in a very memorable clash with Toshiyuki Igarashi.

Unfortunately the Jaro and Numata bouts were the only 2 major ones we found, though we have included 2 bonus bouts below.

In 1994 Thai fans in Bangkok had the chance to see Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai in action. Whilst Yodsanan fighting isn't notable it is worth noting that he was stopped inside a round by Sang-atit Worsuteera, this was the quickest loss of the Thai's career and saw him falling to 8-2. It would be 11 years later before we saw Yodsanan lose again with his next loss coming in 2005 to Vicente Mosquera in a bout that saw the Thai losing his world title, by then he had gone 37 bouts with out a loss, winning 36!

In 1987 Indonesian fans saw Nico Thomas score a 3rd round KO over Daud Sanusi. By it's self again this wasn't impressive though it did end a 4 fight winless streak for Thomas who would later become the second Indonesian fighter to become a world champion when he claimed the IBF Minimumweight title in 1989.

(Image, of Numata, courtesy of boxrec.com)

Whilst looking for notable events on we didn't come across a lot, but we did stumble on some very interesting bouts and 3 bouts in total that we felt deserved to be included in our "On this Day" segment.

The first of the bouts was the most shocking and should possibly be remembered as one of the biggest upsets on Asian soil, a real contender to actually being a bigger upset than Buster Douglas's win in Japan against Mike Tyson. This bout came in 1973 and saw Korean Yong Kang Kim lose his WBA Flyweight title to Aquiles Guzman via a unanimous decision. What made this bout very notable wasn't just that a Korean lost a clear decision at home but that Aquiles's record at the time was somewhat odd. According to boxrec Aquiles entered the bout with a record of 6-5-3 (4) and thus had one of the worst records of a world champion on the day that he won the belt. It's fair to suggest however that boxrec.com doesn't have the complete record for Guzman.

In 2003 we saw the start of Chris John's long reign as a world title holder. It was on this day that John over-came Oscar Leon via split decision to claim the WBA interim Featherweight title. That title would later be upgraded and John would hold one variant or another of the WBA belt until 2013 when he was beaten by Simpiwe Vetyeka and soon afterwards retired. Although many do slate John's reign as champion he did beat numerous well known or respectable fighters such as Derrick Gainer, Juan Manuel Marquez, Rocky Juarez, Daud Cino Yordan and Hiroyuki Enoki with the Enoki bout certainly being a highlight in terms of action.

More recently fans saw Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdeanggym travel over to Ireland to put away Bernard Dunne and claim the WBA Super Bantamweight title in a memorable victory for the Thai. Dunne, a hugely popular Irish fighter, was stopped in 3 by the Thai who sadly only had a short reign as champion though did, on his day, look a tremendous fighter.

(Image, or Poonsawat stopping Dunne, courtesy of boxrec.com 

In 1973 Sang-Hyun Kim made his professional debut. Kim, from Busan, would actually fight 3 times on this date including his debut and would win all 3 of those bouts including a 10 round decision over Kwang-Min Kim in 1980. Although none of his big wins came on this day he was known in the 1970's for winning the WBC Light Welterweight crown that he defended twice between 1978, when he won it from Saensak Muangsurin, and 1980, when he lost it Saoul Mamby.

In 1994 we saw Thailand's very talented Saen Sor Ploenchit completely dominate Korean Yong-Kang Kim. Saen was defending his WBA Flyweight title for the third time in what was an excellent year for the Thai. Saen had won the title in February with a victory over David Griman and had defended is against Jesus Rosas in April and Aquiles Guzman in June. After beating Kim the Thai would fit in another defence in December in what was close to a career defining year.

A year after Saen's defense over Kim we saw another Thai in action, this time the great Chatchai Sasakul who suffered his first loss with a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of the great Yuri Arbachakov, then then WBC Flyweight champion. The bout between unbeaten men saw both entering with records of 20-0 (15) and was the 7th defense for Arbachakov who would later lose a rematch with Sasakul in 1997 before retiring with a record of 23-1 (16).

In 2005 we saw a Japanese world title double header. The bouts here saw Yutaka Niida defending his WBA Minimumweight title against Filipino challenger Eriberto Gejon, via a 10th round technical decision, whilst Hozumi Hasegawa retained his WBC Bantamweight title with a win over Gerardo Martinez, via a 7th round TKO. For Niida this was the third defense of the title which he had captured for a second time around 14 months earlier whilst for Hasegawa it was the first defense of the title he had taken from Thailand's Veeraphol Sahaprom earlier in the year.

On this day in 2010 we saw Japan's Daiki Kameda successfully defend his WBA Flyweight title for the first time with a decision win against Takefumi Sakata. The defense came some 7 months after Kameda had taken the title from Thai veteran Denkaosan Kaovichit and would be one of just 2 successful defenses by Daiki.

(Image, of Arbachakov, courtesy of boxrec.com)

After a few very, very disappointing days we've finally come to a day that has a number of more interesting contests with some legends in action.

Our first bout of interest in 1989 when the legendary Myung Woo Yuh who recorded the 13th defence of his WBA Light Flyweight title with an 11th round KO victory over Kenbun Taiho. Prior to the stoppage Yuh had dominated the fight and was a mile up on the cards going in to the championship rounds, he however didn't let that stop him hunt the finish which he got Taiho who was fighting in his one and only world title bout. Yuh would hold the belt until December 1991 when he lost a much debated split decision to Japan's Hiroki Ioka though he would regain the title 11 months later and hold it until he retired in 1993.

On this day in 2001 we saw the first of two contests between Masamori Tokuyama and Filipino legend Gerry Penalosa. The bout saw Tokuyama retaining his WBC Super Flyweight title for the third time with a unanimous decision over Penalosa though the decision was very much debated and many felt Tokuyama had done more running than fighting. A rematch the following year say Tokuyama again beating Penalosa though that bout ended in a split decision, and again it was much debated with many feeling Penalosa had done enough to usurp the champion.

Not every world title fight on this day has been an all-Asian one and in 2007 we saw Japan's Kuniyuki Aizawa challenge the very hard hitting Alexander Munoz for the WBA Super Flyweight title. Unfortunately for Aizawa he found out that Munoz wasn't just heavy handed but also a good boxer and in the end Aizawa was nearly shut out with a very, very wide decision in favour of Munoz. This was Munoz's first defense of his second reign having won the title several months early with a decision victory over Aizawa's compatriot Nobuo Nashiro.

One additional bout we'd like to mentioned occurred in 2010. This bout saw Japanese female fighting legend Naoko Fujioka claiming her first title as she out pointed Kanittha Kokietgym to claim the OPBF female Minimumweight title. The two women would meet again the following year with Fujioka making the first defense of her WBC world title with a 9th round TKO of the Thai.

(Image of Tokuyama courtesy of boxrec.com)

We've got to admit that we again struggled to get a lot of interesting things for September 23rd. We have come up with a few things but we need to admit, very openly, that we've struggled immensely and. For that we're sorry.

The first we found was in 1937 when Filipino legend Ceferino Garcia battled against sensational Barney Ross for the third time. Garcia, fighting for the world Welterweight title this time around, was unable to match Ross who was on top of his game and able to show off masterful skills despite breaking one of his hands. For Ross this was sensational whilst for Garcia it was the first of two failed shots at the Welterweight crown, also losing to Henry Armstrong the following year.

It was on this day in 1962 that Hwan-Kil Yuh was born in Namhae. The Korean fighter held the IBF World super featherweight title for 10 months in the mid 1980's making 1 defense of the belt, against Sak Galaxy, before losing it in a split decision to Lest Ellis. Sad Yuh's life was cut short in 2009 following a hit and run accident. He was just 46.

Due to lack of notable events on this day we've also thought it worthy to mention that Czar Amonsot, the man pictured, suffered his most humiliating defeat on this day in 2006. Amonsot was fighting against Indonesian Simson Butar Butar in a bout contracted at Super Featherweight, Amonsot however failed weight badly, coming in 5lbs over the limit, and was stopped after just 47 seconds by Butat Butar. Interesting this was the second time Butar Butar had stopped Amonsot who has never been stopped by anyone else. Despite those losses to the Indonesian we've seen Amonsot prove his toughness several times, the most famous of which came in his bloody war with Michael Katsidis in 2007.

(Image courtesy of boxrec.com)

The first notable September 22nd was all the way back in 1960 when Thai legend Pone Kingpetch successfully defended his World Flyweight crown against Pascual Perez with an 8th round TKO. This was the second meeting between the two men who had fought 5 months earlier, in the first meeting Kingpetch took a split decision over Perez and became the first world champion from Thailand. The second bout was Kingpetch's first and saw him fighting in the US for the first and only time in his legendary career. Kingpetch would hold the title until October 1962 when he lost it to Japanese great Fighting Harada though he would regain it the following year to become Thailand's first 2-time world champion and in 1964 he became a 3-time world champion!

In 2008 Nobuhiro Ishida scored a 12 round split decision over Marco Antonio Avendano to become the mandatory challenger for the WBA Light Middleweight title. Instead of getting a shot at the title however Ishida would rematch Avendano the following year to claim the interim world title title. Unfortunately for Ishida he was unable to secure "real" title fight though would defend the interim title twice before losing a controversial decision to Rigoberto Alvarez, the older brother of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. It was it a none-title fight that Ishids scored his most famous win, stopping the then unbeaten James Kirkland inside a round in one of the biggest upsets in recent years.

In 2011 it was the turn of the female fighters with a trio of female world title fights in Japan.

One of those 3 fights saw Mari Ando defeat Thailand's Amara Kokietgym to claim the previously vacant WBA Atomweight title. Ando, who later hold a world title at Minimumweight, would manage 1 successful defense before losing the title to the great Ayaka Miyao in 2012.

At Minimumweight fans saw the great Naoko Fujioka retain her WBC female Minimumweight title with a 9th round TKO victory against Kanittha Kokietgym. This was Fujioka's first successful defense of a world and since then she has become one of the greatest active female fighters, arguable the #1 pound-for-pound female fighter on the planet.

The other bout saw Etsuko Tada retaining the WBA female Miniumweight title with a 10 round decision against Nongmuay Kokietgym. Tada would hold the title until 2013 when she lost it to Mexico's Anabel Ortiz.

(Image, of Kingpetch, courtesy of boxrec.com)

We're sorry for this "On this day" but we've sadly struggled to find much of note for September 21st.

The most notable thing we found was the birth of Kyung-Duk Ahn back on this day in 1962. Ahn isn't a former world champion though did appear in a very high profile bout against Mexican great Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 1990. That bout saw Ahn challenge the Mexican legend for the WBC and IBF Light Welterweight titles and although Ahn was stopped in the third round he still got the chance to perform on the biggest stage, something many fighters can't claim. The Chavez fight was Ahn's last as a professional and he retired after the bout with a 29-2 (12) record.

One of the few notable fight to fall on this day came in 1989 when Indonesia's Nico Thomas lost the IBF Minimumweight title to Eric Chavez. Thomas, the second Indonesian to hold a world title, was defending the title for the first time though unfortunately for him he was stopped in just 5 rounds by Chavez ending Thomas's reign after less than 100 days with the title.

It was on this day in 2001 that former Olympic champion Muhammad Abdullaev claimed his first professional title, the PABA Welterweight belt. Abdullaev, best known for his rivalry with Miguel Cotto, defeated Rey Pelonia in 2 rounds to win the previously vacant title. Sadly Abdullaev failed to become an elite professional and was stopped in 9 rounds by Cotto in his sole world title fight.

If you guys can think any extra suggestions here then let us know in the comment section!

(Image, of Abdullaev, courtesy of boxrec.com)