In 1986 fans saw an all-Korean fight for the then lightly regarded IBF Light Flyweight title as Jum Hwan Choi battled compatriot Cho Woon Park. The title had been vacated earlier by Dodie Boy Penalosa and the two Koreans threw down in a bout for the vacant title was narrowly won by Choi in what was a very well contested bout. Choi's reign lasted a little less than 2 years before he lost to nemesis Tacy Macalos, though he would later claim the WBC title. For Park this was one of just 2 world title bouts that he was involved in with his second coming in the middle of 1988 when he was out pointed by the IBF Flyweight champion Rolando Bohol.
In 1996 we saw the heavy handed Myung Sup Park suffer a devastating loss to the fantastic Ricardo Lopez. Park, challenging for the WBC Minimumweight title, was dropped hard in the opening round and although he beat the count he didn't last much longer as Lopez went for the finish. The bout was Park's sole world title bout and his sole bout in the US. In 2011 Japanese fans had a Kameda card that featured all 3 brothers in action. In a non-title bout Tomoki Kameda over-came Eduardo Garcia with a 7th round KO. In the first title bout Daiki Kameda found himself coming up short to Thailand's Tepparith Kokietgym, with the talented Thai taking a clear decision over Daiki, despite some misleading cards. The main event was a success for the Kameda's as Koki Kameda made a very easy defense of his WBA Bantamweight title stopping the hapless Mario Macias in the 4th round. Prior to being stopped Macias had made several trips to the canvas in a terrible effort to over-come Koki.
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In 2000 Keitaro Hoshino battled against the then WBA Minimumweight champion Joma Gamboa in their first meeting. Hoshino, a Japanese fighter from Kanagawa, managed to take a narrow decision victory over Gamboa who was attempting to defend the belt for the first time. Gamboa, a talented Filipino, would unfortunately come up short in a rematch with Hoshino in January 2002, again for the WBA Minimumweight title. Sadly by the time of his retirement Gamboa's record read 33-10-2 (22), giving the hint he wasn't particularly good when in all honesty he was much better than his record indicated and was matched incredibly hard. Hoshino's reign was short lived with the Japanese fighter losing the belt in his first defense, against Thailand's Chana Porpaoin. Sadly Hoshino would also end up with a misleading record losing his last 3 contests before retiring with a ledger of 23-10 (6). A year later Thai great Pongsaklek Wonjongkam made light work of controversial Argentinian Luis Alberto Lazarte who was stopped when his corner threw in the towel in the second round of their bout. This was Wonjongkam's 3rd defense of the title that he had won just 9 months earlier and he would continue to defend the belt until until 2007 when he lost his third bout with Daisuke Naito. Whilst Wonjongkam is regarded as a modern great it's fair to say Lazarte is known as a controversial figure and his bout with Johnriel Casimero is one of the most disgraceful bouts in recent memory. In 2008 we saw Manny Pacquiao go from talented lower weight star to boxing superstar as he put on a masterclass against a weight drained and shot Oscar De La Hoya. Going into the bout Pacquiao was the under-dog and was viewed as being too small for De La Hoya, weight problems however saw a sluggish De La Hoya taking a pounding for 8 rounds before being retired in his stool and announcing his retirement from fighting after the bout. The bout helped make Pacquiao a cross over star and seemed to begin the talks of the super fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, sadly however that bout still hasn't been made and is looking very unlikely as time goes on. Most recently, just last year in fact, we saw a number of notable bouts with the headliner being a WBC Flyweight title fight. The bout saw Akira Yaegashi successfully defending the title against mandatory challenger Edgar Sosa with a clear decision win. Yaegashi used his speed and movement excellently to take the win however the bout was was probably one of the least exciting of Yaegashi's bouts, then again it was hardly dull. The same show also saw Takuma Inoue make his professional debut and Naoya Inoue claim the OPBF Light Flyweight title with a dominant win over Jerson Mancio. (Image courtesy of boxrec.com) In the past we've seen a lot of Thai's fighting in major shows on December 5th to celebrate the King's birthday, with that in mind 3 of the 4 bouts we've mentioned below come from Thailand.
In 1994 we saw the professional boxing debut of former Muay Thai great Veeraphol Sahaprom. The Thai, who was then 26 years old, began his career with a scheduled 12 rounder though he only needed 3 to take out Joel Junio and claimed the WBC International Super Flyweight title. Just 9 after this fight Sahaprom had a record of 4-0 and was the WBA Bantamweight world champion having narrowly out-pointed compatriot Daorung Chuwatana. At the time the lead to Sahaprom being the second quickest man to a world title, taking just a fight more than compatriot Saensak Muangsurin. Exactly 6 years after his debut Sahaprom fought for the 30th time. Sahaprom, then the WBC Bantamweight champion, recorded the 5th defense of his world title as he stopped Oscar Arciniega in 5 rounds. The bout was Sahaprom's 5th of the year and amazingly his third defense since the start of the year, coming less than 6 months after his first win against Toshiaki Nishioka. In 2002 there was more notable action in Thailand as featherweight Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai made the first defense of the WBA Super Featherweight title. Yodsanan scored a 9th round KO against American fighter Lamont Pearson. This bout was fought in front of a huge crowd and was to be Pearson's sole world title bout. After this bout Yodsanan managed to score 2 further defences before losing a thrilling contest against Vicente Mosquera in 2004. More recently, in 2010, Indonesian fans had the chance to see their greatest boxer in action as Chris John successfully defended his WBA Super Featherweight title against Argentinian challenger Fernando David Saucedo. This bout marked John's return to an Indonesian ring after 3 successive bouts on the road and saw him nearly shut out his experienced but light hitting challenger. December 4th has been a remarkable day in recent years and we've found 3 very notable bouts...
In 1998 Thai fans saw the birth of a future superstar as Filipino banger Manny Pacquiao, a then unrefined southpaw slugger, traveled to Phuttamonthon in Thailand and claimed the WBC Flyweight title with a shocking knockout of the then champion, and local star, Chatchai Sasakul. Sasakul, who entered the bout with an impressive record of 33-1 (24) had been unbeaten in 3 years, a run of 13 fights, and had avenged his sole loss over Yuri Arbachako. This was supposed to be the third successful defense of his world title however an early lead from the Thai was wiped out with a monster left hand from the Filipino youngster who was fighting in his first world title bout. In 2010 we saw another Filipino impress as Nonito Donaire made his mark on the Bantamweight division and battered Ukrainian Volodymyr Sydorenko in 4 very one sided rounds. Although this bout wasn't a world title contest it was one of the best performances from Donaire who, in his next bout, claimed unified Bantamweight titles as he stopped Fernando Montiel. For many this was Donaire's best weight and it's a shame we didn't see more of him at 118lbs as the Filipino moved up and up eventually running into men he couldn't beat at 122lbs and 126lbs. More recently, 2012, we saw Koki Kameda getting the rub of the green in a close bout with Mexico's hard hitting Hugo Ruiz. The bout was one the toughest in Kameda's career and he was very lucky to retain his WBA Bantamweight title. The Japanese fighter would add a further 3 defenses of the belt, 2 of which were close decisions, before finally leaving the division to focus on the Super Flyweight division. December 3rd has been an interesting day in Asian boxing boxing with several notable bouts, in fact there was 3 last year alone. We won't pretend to have hunted them all down but we have got 5 of them you!
The first came in 1996 when Thailand's Pichit Chor Siriwat shocked the then WBA Light Flyweight champion Keiji Yamaguchi with a 2nd round stoppage of the Japanese fighter. Yamaguchi was seeking his second defense of the belt but was flattened by a monster shot from Pichit which dropped the champion hard. Pichit managed to regain his feet but was clearly still feeling the effects as the referee waved off the bout. In 2004 Christ John, then then WBA Featherweight champion, fought to a technical draw with Jose Rojas courtesy of a nasty headclash between the two men. This was Johns's second defense of the title and was the first mark on his record in 35 bouts. The two men would have a rematch in 2007 which was clearly won by John who twice dropped Rosas. In 2013 we had the aforementioned trio of title fights. The least notable of those saw Katsunari Takayama successfully defending his IBF Minimumweight title against Vergilio Silvano in an excellent performance from the Japanese fighter. Takayama was like a buzzsaw here as he out boxed, out moved and out landed the Filipino challenger who was never in the bout. On the same show we saw Tomoki Kameda retain the WBO Bantamweight title with a clear decision over Immanuel Naidjala in what was a clear but not impressive victory for the Japanese youngster, who was defending his title for the first time. The same also saw on a very controversial contest between Daiki Kameda and Liborio Solis. The contest was supposed to unify the WBA and IBF Super Flyweight titles though Solis missed weight, massively and went on to beat Kameda. The Japanese fighter wasn't stripped though vacated whilst the JBC banned the Kameda gym and now, a year on, the JBC still haven't let a Kameda fighter fight in Japan. December 2nd has been an interesting day in Asian boxing history and has seen several notable fights, one of which has featured one of the sports all time greats destroying a former champion.
In 1995 Nicaraguan tough guy Rosendo Alvarez traveled to Thailand and dethroned local star Chana Porpaoin of the WBA Minimumweight title via split decision. The win was especially impressive given that Chana entered the bout as the unbeaten local champion whilst Alvarez, himself an unbeaten fighter, had traveled to one of the hardest countries to win in and managed to scored a close decision win. Interestingly Alvarez would later defeat Chana's twin brother Songkram Porpaoin by stoppage, also in Thailand. Exactly 5 years after Alvarez beat Chana we saw his nemesis, Ricardo Lopez, defeat a Thai, Ratanapol Sor Vorapin. Lopez, one of the all time greats recorded what would be his 50th professional victory as he stopped Ratanapol in the 3rd round of what had been a one-sided contest prior to the finish. Lopez was defending the IBF Light Flyweight title for the first time and, unfortunately for fans of the Mexican sensation, this would be his penultimate bout. Strangley in Lopez's final contest he defeated Zolani Petelo the man who had beaten Ratanapol for the IBF Minimumweight title back in 1997 ending the Thai's long unbeaten run in world title bouts that stretched back to 1992. More recently, 2008, fans saw Nobuo Nashiro over-come Eduardo Garcia to successfully defend the WBA Super Flyweight title. Sadly for Nashiro he would lose his title in his follow up bout, suffering a 12 round decision loss to Alexander Munoz. Nashiro would later have a second reign as the champion though that too was short lived lasting less than 2 years. A new month is upon us but sadly we've struggled to find much to celebrate through the history on December 1st. Thankfully we have found a few recent bouts, both from 2007 in fact, even if they aren't the biggest or best bouts.
In New Mexico fans saw Thai veteran Medgoen Singsurat suffer his 5th stoppage loss as he was taken out in a round by Jorge Arce in just 47 seconds. The loss was the last notable bout to feature the former WBC and Linear Flyweight champion who was, admittedly, years past his prime. Although on paper it was a bad loss it was one that the Thai being caught by a monster body shot that he was never going to recover from. What was bad for the Thai however was that he never managed to land a punch, according to compubox. In Conniticut on the same day fans saw Filipino puncher Nonito Donaire retain his IBF Flyweight title with a dominant victory over Luis Maldonado. This was Donaire first defense of the title after he had shocked the world in stopping Vic Darchinyan several months earlier and continued the Filipino's rise through the rankings |
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