October 21st has been a very busy day in Asian boxing circles with a number of very big and very exciting fights falling on this day. In 1979 South Korean Sung-Jun Kim successfully defended the WBC Light Flyweight title for the final time as he overcame Hector Melendez in a 15 round decision. For Kim this was the third and final defense before he lost the title, 3 months later, to Shigeo Nakajima in a 15 round decision in Japan. Kim is sadly one of the forgotten men of Korean boxing and his sad suicide in 1989, aged just 35, is one of Korean boxing's saddest tales. In 1993 Shiro Yahiro came up short as he attempted to claim the WBA Light Flyweight title. Yahiro, battling against Venezuelan legend Leo Gamez, was stopped in 9 rounds in what was Yahuro's first defeat as a professional. Sadly for Yahiro he would later lose in two WBC title fights and fail to win a world title despite being given 3 opportunities. Just 2 years, in 1995, South Korean Yong Soo Choi claimed the WBA Super Featherweight title with 10th round TKO against Victor Hugo Paz. Choi, fighting in Argentina, managed to ignore the local fans who were supporting Paz as he claimed victory in one of his career defining victories and he would hold the title in 1998 when he lost in his 8th defense against Takanori Hatakeyama. (Image, of Choi, courtesy of boxrec.com)
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October 20th has been an interesting day in Asian boxing history with a number of bouts falling on it over the years, several of which have been major bouts. One of those major bouts came in 1990 when Sung Kil Moon successfully defended the WBC Super Flyweight title with a 5th round technical decision victory over Kenji Matsumura. The bout was certainly an interesting one with Moon cut over both eyes from head clashes, both men throwing a ridiculous volume of shots, point deductions, Matsumura getting dropped 3 times and just unrelenting violence. It was 15 minutes of violent chaos and a bout that really needs to be watched to be fully appreciated. If you've never seen moon before then this really is a great starting point despite the some what unsatisfying ending that we always get with technical decisions. Just 2 years after the Moon/Matsumura bout we got the chance to see the sensation Yuri Arbachakov successfully defend the WBC Flyweight title with a 12 round unanimous decision win over the previously unbeaten South Korean Yun-Un Chin. For Chin this was his final contest whilst for Arbachakov this win was followed by 8 more successful defenses as he went on to prove his skills as one of the best Flyweights in recent memory. Sturdy, skilled and heavy handed Arbachakov beat everyman he faced before retiring in 1997 after suffering his sole career defeat to Chatchai Sasakul, a man he had beaten 2 years earlier. More recently , in 2012, we saw Thailand's Pungluang Sor Singyu claim the WBO Bantamweight world title as he stopped popular Filipino AJ Banal in 9 rounds. Sadldy for the Thai, who actually won this bout in the Philippines, his reign was short as he lost the belt in his first defense less than 5 months later. Sadly for Pungluang an attempt to regain the title in 2014 saw him suffering a KO loss at the hands of Tomoki Kameda who landed a devastating and paralysing body shot to the Thai. (Image, of Moon, courtesy of boxrec.com) October 19th hasn't been one of the best days in Asian boxing but it has certainly been an interesting one with several notable bouts, including bouts that have sadly ended some fighters careers. One of those men who fought for the final time was Japanese Flyweight great Hiroyuki Ebihara. Ebihara last fought on this day in 1969 when he lost the WBA Flyweight title to Bernabe Villacampo via a 15 round decision. For Villecampo, a Filipino fighter from Cebu, this was his crowning glory though he would lose the belt just 6 months later to Berkerk Chartvanchai. Given that Villecampo wasn't a great fighter it's fair to say that Ebihara retired knowing he was clearly on the slide and didn't need to take any more punches to age him any quicker. Another man who fought for the last time on this day was was Saen Sor Ploenchit, another Flyweight great. Ploenchit was beaten on this day in 2003 by Shoji Kimura and retired afterwards, with that loss being a second successive one following a loss 10 months earlier to Joichiro Tatsuyoshi. In his prime Ploenchit was a really good Flyweight and defended his title against the likes of Yong-Kang Kim, Hiroki Ioka, Yong-Soon Chang and Leo Gamez though in his final bout he was fighting as a Super Bantamweight and was unable to over-come Kimura who would later challenger for a Featherweight world title. It's not been all about retirement bouts however and heavy handed Thai Saman Sorjaturong will remember this day in 1996 as one of his easiest world title bouts as he successfully defended the WBC Light Flyweight world title with a 2nd round TKO against Chilean challenger Alli Galvez. This was the 5th defense by Sorjaturong who would continue to hold the title until 1999 when he lost the title via decision to Yo Sam Choi. (Image of Saman courtesy of boxrec.com) October 18th has been an interesting day in the world of Asian boxing with several very interesting bouts coming on this day through out history. Some of those bouts have been great, others memorable and we've also got a birthday that came on this date. The first bout of note came in 1974 when when the excellent Susumu Hanagata successfully won the WBA Flyweight title with a 6th round stoppage over Thailand's Chartchai Chionoi. The bout was the second between the two men and saw Hanagata avenging a defeat from the previous year though the notable feature of this contest was that it was the beginning of the end for both men. Hanagata would lose the belt in his first defense, to Erbito Salavarria, before going out on a trio of successive losses whilst Chionoi would go 1-1 in his subsequent bouts before retiring. Just 5 years after the Hanagata/Chinoi bout we saw a true legend of the ring make his US debut though was sadly only a shadow of the fighter he once was. That was Saensak Muangsurin, the Thai who had won a world title in just his 3rd professional bout. Sadly Muangsurin's US debut came against the fast emerging Tommy Hearns and at the time Muangsurin looked like an old and badly damaged fighter. It was easy for Hearns to take the win and over the following years Hearns would become on of the true stars of global boxing whilst Muangsurin would become a very ill man and die an untimely death that was likely hastened by his long fighting career. In 1989 we saw another Thai suffer an ugly defeat as the great Khaokor Galaxy, the twin brother of Khaosai Galaxy, suffered the one and only stoppage defeat of his career. The teak tough Thai was stopped in a round by Filipino fighter Luisito Espinosa in a shocking contest that saw Galaxy losing his WBA Bantamweight title and announce his retirement with some suggesting he had suffered a major neurological injury whilst others accused the bout to be a case of match fixing. Whatever the reason for the ending it was certainly bizarre and shocking. The final bout of note was in 2003 when South Korean tough-guy In Jin Chi traveled to Britain to partake in his first, of two, bouts with the UK's Michael Brodie for the WBC Featherweight title. The bout, an hellacious battle between to two and proud warriors, was fantastic from the start to the end with the only disappointing part of the bout being it's ending, a controversial and confusing draw. A rematch less than 6 months later saw Chi stopping the British fighter to win the title for the first time whilst Brodie's dreams were shattered. Sadly Chi was the last great South Korean fighter and the last to prove his ability against other, world class, fighters and the country really needs someone to follow in his footsteps. As well as the bouts we have also got the birthday of the brilliant Payao Poontarat to celebrate and a chance to remember the Thai who sadly died in August 2006. Poontarat first made his name in 1976 when, as a teenager, he won an Olympic bronze medal in Montreal. He would later go on to claim the WBC Super Flyweight title and, in later life become a Thai politician. Unfortunately his life was taken at the age of 48 due to Lou Gehrig's disease. (Image, of Espinsosa, courtesy of boxrec.com) In 1973 we saw a rematch between Filipino puncher Ben Villaflor and Japan's Kuniaki Shibata. In their first meeting, in March the same year, Shibata had defeated Villaflor by 15 round decision to claim the WBA Super Featherweight. The Japanese fighter's reign as champion was short lived however and after just one successful defense he ran into a bomb from Villaflor which left him flat on the back and allowed Villaflor to become a 2-time champion. Strangely Villaflor's reign came to an end almost 3 years later with Samuel Serrano out pointing him over 15 rounds, as for Shibata he would later claim the WBC version of the title. If you've not seen this bout we suggest you give it a look here. In 1999 tragic South Korean fighter Yo Sam Choi claimed the WBC Light Flyweight world title. Choi won this title by over-coming Thailand's experienced Saman Sorjaturong with a 12 round decision victory in the first of two meetings between the two men. This was the start of the end from Saman who would go 5-5 over the next 6 years before retiring on a streak of 1 win in 6 bouts, including a stoppage loss to Choi in their second bout in 2001. For Choi this was the crowning win of his career that was sadly ended in 2007 after a victory over Heri Amol. Although Choi beat Amol he did suffer fatal injuries in the bout that sadly took his life in early 2008, aged just 35. In 1982 Chan Hee Park, a former WBC Light Flyweight champion, scored his final career victory by out pointing Rocky Pineda. Park, who had held his world title for 14 months at the turn of the 1980's, is best known for his trio of defeats to Shoji Oguma though he had scored major wins over Miguel Canto and Guty Espadas in his prime. Unfortunate for Park 4 losses in his last 7 bouts really left his record looking a mess. (Image, of Choi, courtesy of boxrec.com) After a few relatively poor days we then arrive on a much better day with October 16th really being a notable, exciting and interesting day in Asian boxing history, even it's not been one of the truly tremendous ones. On 1976 we had two bouts of interest and note, one in South Korea and one in Puerto Rico, of the two it's the South Korean we want to focus on first. This South Korean contest saw Soo Hwan Hong fighting in his first world title fighter as he took on the tremendously hard hitting Alfonso Zamora and was stopped in 12 rounds. The bout was the secnd meeting between the two men and saw the Korean attemping to win back the WBA Bantamweight title he had lost to Zamora the previous year, in just 4 rounds. This time around the Korean lasted longer than he had in their first meeting but was unable to over-come Zamora, one of the all time greatest punchers. Interestingly this was Zamora's last successful woruld title bout and after losing to Carlos Zarate the following year he was never quite the same fighter. Whilst the loss was a painful one for Hong he would bounce back from it and won the newly created WBA Super Bantamweight title the following year over-coming Hector Carrasquilla in one of the greatest comebacks of all time. In Puerto Rico was saw Filipino Ben Villaflor end his career as he suffered a clear decision loss to the talented Samuel Serrano. The bout was their second meeting in a little over 6 months with their first seeing Villaflor held to a draw by Serrano, in this one Serrano did enough to take the win and the WBA Super Featherweight title. Notably this was Villaflor's 66th and final bout in a career that spanned just over a decade and took place when he was just 24, an amateur career that saw him becoming a 2 time world champion and avenging his most notable loss in spectacular fashion (more about that tomorrow!) More recently we saw Japan's Takuya Muguruma call an end to his career. The "Endless Fighter" fought for the final time on October 16th in 1988 when he was stopped in 11 rounds by Juan Jose Estrada, the then WBA Super Bantamweight champion. Earlier in his career Muguruma had held the WBA Bantamweight title, though it was for just shy of 2 months in 1987. (Image, of Hong, courtesy of boxrec.com) Another "lesser" day in Asian boxing history is October 15th which has seen us again struggle to find many bouts of real seriousness.
The first of two bouts that we've got an interest in was from 1978 when Japanese great Yoko Gushiken successfully defended his WBA Light Flyweight world title for the 6th time. Gushiken made light work of South Korean challenger Sang-Il Chung, who was stopped in 5 rounds by the fantastic Japanese warrior who would add a further 7 defenses in a little less than 2 years. For Chung this was his only world title bout though he was a multi-time OPBF title holder. Exactly 16 years after the Gushiken/Chun bout we saw Filipino fighter Pretty Boy Lucas, real name Domingo Lucas, challenger South African great Jacob Matlala. Unfortunately for Lucas he was widely out pointed by Matlala and would fight just once more, losing by 9th round TKO to Chang-Jae Kwon before retiring in in 1995. Sadly we've got to report another disappointing day for October 14th which, like it's predecessor. doesn't appear to have been a great day.
It appears that one of the best days was actually October 14th 2013, a day in which we had a number of recognisabe names in action, albeit at a sub-world level. One of the cards last year saw two OPBF title bouts. One of those was for the Featherweight championship which was won by current champion Hisashi Amagasa, who actually defends his title tomorrow, Amagasa over-came former world champion Ryol Li Lee to win the belt and avenge and earlier career defeat to Lee. Since this bout Amagasa has already made 2 defenses of the belt and will look for a third tomorrow when he takes on Ryo Takenaka in a bout that the champion is heavily favoured in. The other OPBF title fight on the same day saw Shingo Wake successfully defend the Super Bantamweight title with a 3rd round TKO against Filipino challenge Jhunriel Ramonal. The Filipino was not match for Wake who was defending the belt for the second time following his title win 7 months earlier over Yukinori Oguni. Unlike Amagasa, who is still odd defending his belt happily we do believe that Wake is on the verge of a world title fight, possibly as soon as November! One world title fight we did find on this day came back in 1992 when the great Hideyuki Ohashi defeated the previously unbeaten Hi Yong Choi to claim the WBA Minimumweight crown and become a 2-time champion. Ohashi, who had held the WBC title in 1990 before being beaten by Ricardo Lopez, won this fight almost 2 years after his loss to Lopez unfortunately his reign would last just 4 months. Interestingly just 6 days before Oashi lost his title Choi actually won the WBA Light Flyweight title with a victory over Leo Gamez. We've got to apologise in advance here, but sadly we've been unable to find much of note coming on this day with plenty of lesser fights but very little major fights. As a result we've only got 2 fights of note for October 13th.
The first of those two bouts came back in 1996 when Yong Soo Choi successfully defended his WBA Super Featherweight title for the 3rd time and over-came hard hitting Japanese challenger Yamato Mitani. Choi had won the title in 1995 with a 10th round stoppage of the highly experienced Victor Hugo Paz and had already beaten Mitani in his first defense of the belt before scoring this second win over him. In total Choi made 7 successful defenses with Mitani accounting for 2 of them, Lakva Sim was one of them, Koji Matsumoto was another and Takanori Hatakeyama was another, sadly for Choi a second meeting with Hatakeyama saw him losing his belt to the Japanese fighter. Sadly for Mitana he would never get another world title fight and would retire in the late 1990's have had 2 reigns as the OPBF champion and one as the Japanese champion. The other bout came in 2012 in the USA as we saw Nonito Donaire defeat Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka in 9 rounds. The bout was advertised as a special clash between one of he sports rising stars, Donaire, against one of Japan's best though in reality it was a case of Nishioka collecting a retirement fund after more than a year of inactivity. This proved to be the case as Nishioka looked less than a shadow of himself and although he showed some heart in the bout there was no fighting spirit left in him. It was a shame to see this version of Nishioka in the ring but he was happy to announce his actual retirement after the fight and we've not seen him in the ring since, in fact we've seen him regularly at ringside where he often works as a very good commentator. For October 12th we've selected 3 fights, it's not we'll admit but they all have a real legend of the sport in them, in fact so legendary are the fighters that we suspect many fans call them 3 of the greats. The first great wasn't actually an Asian, it was Nicaraguan boxing icon Alexis Arguello who, in 1975, sucessfully defended the WBA Super Featherweight title against Royal Kobayashi. Arguello, otherwise known as "El Flacco Explosivo"-"The Explosive Thin Man", stopped Kobayashi in 5 rounds to retain the title and live up to his nickname. Kobayashi gave a solid account of himself but it really was a case of two men at completely different levels competing each other and whilst Kobayashi was world class, as shown by the fact he would later win the WBC Super Bantamweight title, Arguello really was just something special. Another man regarded as something special, especially by Japanese fans, is Yoko Gushiken who made the final successful defense of the WBA Light Flyweight title as he over-came Pedro Flores via a 15 round decision. Flores was dropped in the second though fought back really well to push Gushiken all the way and make a strong case for a rematch. Unfortunately for the man known as the "Kanmuriwashi" a rematch was forth coming and Gushiken would lose that by 12th KO before retiring aged just 25. Although his career was short Gushiken did enough in just 7 years to be regarded as one of the greatest Light Flyweights of all time and one of the most exciting little men in boxing history. Notably Flores's reign wouldn't last long and he would lose the belt in his first defense to Hwan-Jin Kim The third legend was Thai hero Khaosai Galaxy who, in 1987, retained his WBA Super Flyweight title with a 3rd round stoppage of Korean challenger Byung Kwan Chung. Galaxy, one of the greats, was making the 6th defense of his title in a little under 3 years and recorded his 10th straight stoppage with this win. For Kwan, a former OPBF and Korean champion, this was to be his only world title fight and it was also the start of the end of his career with the Korean only winning 2 of his subsequent 7 contests. (Image, of Kobayashi, courtesy of boxrec.com) |
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