October 20th

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)

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