October 28th

October 28th seems to have been a very quite day in Asian boxing history and we've struggle to find much of interest in out brief search through time. Thankfully we have found a few events and hopefully these will interest you, at least slightly.

On this day in 1965 Filipino fighter Tacy Macalos was born. Although not an all time great the Filipino did have a very interesting 44 fight career that began in 1984 and lasted a decade with his final bout coming in 1994. Macalos didn't look like a star earlier in his career and actually began 0-1-2 in his first 3 bouts and was a bizarre 3-2-3 after 8 professional contests in less than 7 months. Despite the poor start Macalos would find his groove and in 1987 he fought Jum Hwan Choi for the IBF Light Flyweight title. He came up short in that bout, losing a close split decision, but 16 months later would avenge the loss to become a world champion. Sadly Macalos's reign as the IBF Light Flyweight champion lasted just shy of 6 months before he was beaten by Thailand's Muangchai Kittikasem, via split decision. From then on his career hit a serious downwards spiral and he would win just 4 of his subsequent 11 bouts before retiring with a record of 29-12-3 (12).

In 1979 Japanese fans got a treat as the great Yoko Gushiken scored his 20th straight win and his 10 successful defense of the WBA Light Flyweight title as he stopped Filipino fighter Tito Abella in 7 rounds. At the time Gushiken was ripping through challengers at an amazing rate and this was his 4th defense in 1979, he would add 3 more defenses the following year before finally losing his title in 1981 and retiring as one of the most loved Japanese fighters of all time. For Abella this was his only world title bout and seemed to be the start of the end for him with his record falling to a depressing looking 22-23-1 (9) when he retired. Interestingly in 1985 Abella actually fought Macalos, losing a 10 round decision to the future world champion.

More recently, in 2012, Japanese female great Naoko Fujioki defended her WBC Minimumweight title against the then unbeaten Victoria Argueta. The talented Japanese fighter dominated the visiting Mexican who sufferent her first, and currently only, loss whilst Fujioka recorded her second and final defense of the title. Just 13 months later Fujioka would move all the way up to Super Flyweight and claim the WBA title at 115lbs. In just a few days time Fujioka will be attempting to become a 3-weight world champion as she travels to Germany to fight popular German fight Susi Kentikian in a true female super fight.

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

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