Prediction number 6 - DAZN to remain a minor player Japanese boxing market
In the DAZN USA have become one of the major services to watch boxing on, rivalling ESPN, Showtime and Fox Sports. It's a service that has received a lot of media attention, both positive and negative, and is something that has, mostly, been a positive for boxing in the US, and some other regions.
 
Whilst their are calls for DAZN UK to begin sooner rather than later, due to what it offers and the lack of PPV shows, there are countries where the boxing content of the service has been woefully lacking. That's been particularly notable in Japan.
 
Firstly let us start this by pointing out there has been boxing on DAZN Japan, there has been some pretty big bouts on their such as Ryota Murata's first bout with Rob Brant, Jamie Munguia against Takeshi Inoue and TJ Doheny against Ryohei Takahashi. That however is about it for DAZN fights featuring Japanese fighters. They've had other boxing content, but in reality with out Japanese fighters being shown on the service it's going to be very, very difficult for the service to build momentum in a market place where boxing is available on terrestrial TV, and traditional satellite channels, such as WOWOW and G+.
 
What DAZN has done well in Japan is offer a lot of content, with J League football, or Soccer for our American readers, and Nippon Professional Baseball being among their big hits. They do have deals with UFC and Golden Boy and Matchroom, but the reality is that the shows aren't geared to the Japanese audience, and even then some of the content you would expect to be on DAZN Japan isn't. A great example being the upcoming Andy Ruiz Vs Anthony Joshua rematch, which will be on WOWOW. Another example is the WBSS, which was available on free TV, though Fuji, 8K TV, though BS8K, and through WOWOW on tape delay.
 
There has long been talk of Matchroom Sport and Eddie Hearn planting a flag in Japanese boxing. The reality however is that it's a very complicated market, and DAZN aren't going to be the platform to shake things up in Japan. The countries biggest stars are on free TV, with Fuji TV and TBS being the biggest players in the Japanese TV market, that's where the viewers are, and it will be very, very difficult to pull fighters from free TV.
 
Whilst like channels like Fuji TV and TBS are free to watch they are commercial channels, and they have seen the audiences they can draw. Those numbers dwarf the numbers that DAZN reportedly have in terms of subscribers, worldwide.
 
The issue for DAZN could get even more tricky if prediction #5, NHK becoming a major force in Japanese boxing, comes true. If that happens DAZN will struggle to make a mark post Tokyo 2020 in terms of signing up Japanese Olympians.
 
The prediction here is simple, but one that really seems obvious. DAZN Japan will struggle to make a mark in the Japanese boxing scene, in 2020 and 2021. In fact it could be a very, very long time before this changes.

Prediction number 5 - NHK to become a major player in boxing
Way, way back in Japanese boxing history national broadcaster NHK were a major broadcaster of the sport, showing many of the early champions of Japan. As the years went on domestic commercial TV put money into the sport and repelled NHK from the market place, with the channel rarely showing professional boxing afterwards. 
 
They weren't totally done with the sport, but they had quickly gone from a major player to a minor player, showing occasional amateur tournament finals and little else, in fact only a few days ago they showed the the 89th All Japan Boxing Championship on their BS1 service.
 
Things began to change in 2019 when NHK showed 8K coverage of the WBSS Bantamweight final between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire, and they will repeat the 8K experiment in December when they show Ryota Murata's bout with Steven Butler, also on their 8K channel BS8K.
 
The WBSS Bantamweight final was the first ever bout to be shown live in 8K and whilst that was partly a gimmick it did come with suggestion to the media that NHK would be getting back into the boxing game properly in 2020. If that happens, and we now have every reason to believe it will, then TV boxing in Japan is set to have a massive change.
 
Unlike every other TV channel in Japan NHK is publicly funded, similar to how BBC is run in the UK, and has notable international arms, with their NHK World service. They also run both terrestrial TV, NHK General and NHK Educational in Japan, and satellite TV, NHK BS1 and NHK BS Premium, also with ultra high definition channels NHK BS4K and NHS BS8K.
 
Their service, potentially, offers a fighter a chance to appeal right across the country in a way no other service does. If a fighter can fight on NHK General they are instantly going to be given the largest potential audience of any fighter in the country. When we already know that Naoya Inoue and Ryota Murata can draw multi-million viewer audiences in Kanto, we can only begin to imagine what a fighter could, potentially, draw on NHK from across Japan.
 
Two other things also help back up the prediction of NHK becoming a major player. One is that they have certain high ranking officials who now believe sports can be a major part of their programming. The other is much bigger and more obvious. They have the Tokyo 2020 rights, and can obviously help a young fighter from the Olympics roll that momentum into professional success.
 
If a fighter wants to make an immediate, national impact after the games then NHK are surely the way to go, and they could quickly become a massive force for good for Japanese boxing.
 
Our prediction is that by the end of 2020 NHK will have shown professional boxing on both a terrestrial channel and a satellite channel, as well as their amateur boxing content, which will include the 2020 All Japan Championship and the Olympics.

This coming December is absolutely insane with notable fights taking place almost daily. As has become traditional Japan has a packed scheduled for the month, but this time around it's not just Japan delivering the action in the final month of the year, in what is really a massive month all around the globe!
 
December 2nd
Tokyo, Japan
Koki Inoue (14-0, 11) Vs Jheritz Chavez (9-3-2, 7) - Tokyo, Japan
The first notable show of the month will see unbeaten Japanese national champion Koki Inoue look to add the WBO Asia Pacific Light Welterweight title to his collection as he takes on Filipino foe Jheritz Chavez, This should be a really interesting match up between two men who have power and can both take a show. Inoue should be favoured, as the unbeaten local is a real talent, but Chavez will not be there to just make up the numbers, and the Filipino has proven himself to be a dangerous fighter, having come close to beating Rikki Naito. This could end up being much, much tougher for Inoue than many expect.
 
December 7th
Jerwin Ancajas (31-1-2, 21) vs Miguel Gonzalez (31-2, 8) - Puebla, Mexico
On a packer Saturday we'll see a lot going on. Among the most notable bouts, for us at least, we'll see IBF Super Flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas take on Chilean challenger Miguel Gonzalez, in what looks like a good bout on paper. Sadly we suspect the paper lies here and can't see anything other than an Ancajas win. The Filipino world champion should be too quick, too sharp and too powerful for the game, but light hitting and limited, Gonzalez who has come up short the two times he has mixed at close to world class. One thing worth noting is that Ancajas was supposed to fight a few weeks earlier, before having that bout cancelled, and may well look lacklustre as a result of having a change of opponent. Even with that in mind we still see this as being an easy win for the "Pretty Boy"

Marlon Tapales (33-2, 16) vs Ryosuke Iwasa (26-3, 16) - New York, USA
A second major IBF bout on December 7th will see former world champions collide for the IBF "interim" Super Bantamweight title. In one corner is the criminally under-rated Marlon Tapales, who is a former WBO Bantamweight and has proven himself as a hard hitting road warrior who is much more dangerous than his record suggests. Tapales will be up against former IBF Super Bantamweight champion Ryosuke Iwasa, who is the naturally bigger man, but very much a fighter who blows hot and cold. This is a hard one to call, though we are leaning to Tapales, and is a wonderful bout mixing fighters with different styles that should gel, and heavy hands. A potential hidden gem for the month, despite the "interim" title.

Joe Noynay (18-2-1, 7) vs Kenichi Ogawa (24-1, 18) - Tokyo, Japan
In 2019 Filipino fighter Joe Noynay has has impressed. He travelled to Japan and stopped Kosuke Saka to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Super Featherweight title and then returned to stop Olympic bronze medal winner Satoshi Shimizu. Noynay looks to make it 3-0 against Japanese fighters this year as he takes on Kenichi Ogawa in a really, really, good looking bout. Ogawa is attempting to move towards a second world title bout, but will need to over-come the in form Noynay, which is tough for anyone. There's a lot on the line here, and the winner will be in the world title mix in 2020, whilst the loser will have some genuine rebuilding to do in the new year. This bout is very much high risk, high reward, for both men.
 
Masaru Sueyoshi (19-1-1, 11) vs Kosuke Saka (19-5, 16) - Tokyo, Japan
A second title bout at 130lbs, on the same show in Tokyo in fact, will see Japanese national champion Masaru Sueyoshi defending his title against Kosuke Saka, who looks to bounce back from his loss to Joe Noynay. For Sueyoshi this bout will mark his 5th defense of the title as he continues to edge closer and closer to a bout for some form of international or world title. The talented, though often frustrating, Sueyoshi is a tricky man to beat, though we do have questions over his chin. Hopefully Saka will manage to test Sueyoshi's whiskers though we suspect that the boxing brain and unique rhythm of the champion will be too much for the naturally smaller Saka to deal with here.

Quebec, Canada
Sadriddin Akhmedov (10-0, 9) vs Jose Antonio Villalobos (12-5-2, 7)
Hard hitting Kazakh youngster Sadriddin Akhmedov looks like he has got superstar potential, with an exciting style, a great look, and the ability to box or bang. He is as a good a prospect as Kazakhstan has right now and his promoters in Canada seem to know they have a special talent on their hands. Despite Akhmedov being a special talent Eye of the Tiger Management aren't rushing him, and here he gets another fight to develop his experience and talent, as he goes up against tough Argentinian fighter Jose Antonio Villalobos, who has only been stopped once. This should be another win for Akhmedov, who already has 4 wins this year, but we're glad he's being kept active and getting experience at such a young age. Bigger fights will come for the 21 year old, and this is just the next step to those bigger bouts.
 
December 8th
Osaka, Japan
Musashi Mori (10-0, 6) vs Takuya Mizuno (17-1-1, 14) - Osaka, Japan
Unbeaten Japanese youngster Musashi Mori has been tipped as one to watch for a while by those in the know in Japan and the currently WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight champion is certainly an excellent prospect, with a lot of potential. Here we'll see him risking his title and unbeaten record against the heavy handed Takuya Mizuno in a very interesting test. Mori once looked like a bit of raw talent, but has been getting nurtured this year and has been taken under the win of Ismael Salas, who is expected to to help round off the rough edges that Mori has, and calm his offensive mentality. That'll be a big ask, but if Salas can get Mori to buy into the philosophy he can go a very long way. Mizuno is technically quite crude, but with heavy hands he tends to be able to punch his way to victory, and if he catches Mori the youngster could be in trouble. We suspect Mori should have the scales to win, but this is no walk in the park for the youngster.
 
Takayuki Okumoto (23-8-4, 11) Vs Kenta Nakagawa (17-3-1, 12) - Osaka, Japan
Takayuki Okumoto looks to make his next defense of the Japanese Super Flyweight title as he takes on former champion Kenta Nakagawa in what looks like a decent match up. Okumoto has been in great form over the last few years in terms of results, but looks to be very much a transitional champion, who is rather lucky the division is a weak one in Japan right now. Nakagawa held the title for 5 months in late 2016 and early 2017, but lost in his first defense and hasn't really impressed since then. Nakagawa has the skills to test Okumoto, but we suspect the champion will retain again here.
 
Yuki Beppu (20-1-1, 19) Vs Ryota Yada (19-5, 16) -Osaka, Japan
We'll see a potential shoot out at Welterweight as former Rookie of the Year Yuki Beppu faces former Japanese champion Ryota Yada for the WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight title. Both of these men can bang, both are aggressive and both believe in their power. Of the two Yada is the more proven, but he's also been stopped multiple times, whilst Beppu has shown a gritty toughness that could help here in what could be one of the most exciting bouts of the month. We don't expect this one to go the distance, and instead we expect fireworks, a lot of fireworks! If you're watching this one, don't blink!

Toshiki Shimomachi (10-1-2, 6) vs TBA -Osaka, Japan
The once beaten Toshiki Shimomachi is pencilled in to make his first defense of the JBC Youth Super Bantamweight title. At the moment no opponent has been named, sadly, We suspect an opponent was in mind but that bout has failed to materialise and Shimomachi has been left opponent-less. There is a chance his team will secure a decent opponent in the coming days but it is looking less and less likely as the days go by. As for Shimomachi he's a very talented, having won Rookie of the Year in 2018 and the Japanese Youth title earlier this year.
 
Thanongsak Simsri (12-0, 11) vs Christian Bacolod (12-0, 9) - Osaka, Japan
One of the most interesting match ups for the month comes quite low down the profile scale, but features two unbeaten young hopefuls in what could be a truly compelling match up. In one corner is Thai punch Thanongsak Simsri, who has already been compared to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, whilst the other corner plays home for world ranked Filipino Christian Bacolod. On paper this looks excellent, and despite being quite far down the card, and lacking any immediate title honours, we suspect this could be a bit of a thriller.

Prediction number 4 - GGG gets stopped!
For years Gennady Golovkin looked invulnerable to punches. They bounced off him and it was as if Golovkin was Hulk Hogan in the 1980's when he was "Hulking up", shaking off everything thrown his way. More recently however Golvokin has began to look like a man who has been in a lot of fights, and has taken accumulated punishment. He still looks solid, but their are cracks forming and we've seen him backing off more, and even seen him hurt once or twice. Our prediction is that in 2020 he will fail to hear the final bell, with his body finally taking too much punishment to go.
 
Sure we haven't even seen Golovkin getting dropped yet, but in 4 of his last 6 bouts, the Danny Jacobs, the two bouts with Saul Alvarez and the recent contest with Sergiy Derevyanchenko he has taken heavy shots and has likely been given more punishment in those 4 bouts combined than his other 36 bouts combined. With natural ageing, slowing reflexes, and accumulative damage it seems only a matter of time before one fighter finally drops him, breaks his heart and forces "GGG" to say no more.
 
There was several times when in the October bout with Sergiy Derevyanchenko where Golovkin was wincing, showing real discomfort, and like a man who was battling through pain. This wasn't the same Golovkin we had seen earlier in his career. This was a Golovkin who looked like he was in a war he didn't want to be in, he wanted to box, whilst Derevyanchenko wanted to fight. 
 
With his 38th birthday coming in April and several fights left on his huge DAZN contract we really do see Golovkin going on too long, in fact he may already have gone on too long. If he lands the much talked about third bout with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez we genuinely see Golovkin being taken out by body shots. That wouldn't be too bad, in the grand scheme of things, but the reality is that if he fights just 2 or 3 times more it could be someone much less notable that gets to him at just the right time.
 
Golovkin's next bout is likely to be against Poland's Kamil Szeremeta, a bout that shouldn't be too problematic for the Kazakh, but after that there will be sharks swimming looking to get at him, and the first stoppage loss of Golovkin's career will come to one of those sharks.

What a bizarre week we had in boxing last week. We had some truly amazing fights, some great announcements, one decision that left a disgusting taste in the mouth of fans, and a cheater finally put in his place. Oh and we got arguably the most homo-erotic poster in boxing history...boy has this been a weird 7 days!
 
The Good
1 - Can Xu contines to show he can do!
We need to start this by talking about someone who has been such a great ambassador for Asian boxing this year, Can Xu. A year ago he was an unknown outside of Asian fight fans but today he sits as the WBA Featherweight champion, with 2 defenses behind him, 3 great wins in 2019, and as one of the revelations of the year. Those who saw him struggle past Enrique Bernache in September 2018 will hardly believe the same guy has gone on to beat Jesus M Rojas, former Super Bantamweight champion Shun Kubo and the unbeaten Manny Robles III. If a fighters year is to be marked solely by how far they've come in a year then Can Xu is up there for Fighter of the Year. As only the third Chinese world champion it's faint praise to celebrate him as China's greatest ever professional fighter, but it really is getting hard to argue. This charismatic young action fighter is someone we should all be celebrating.
 
2 - Hajime No Ippo Tournament 20th anniversary tournament
From one great fighter to a great tournament! The Hajime No Ippo 30th Anniversary tournament began last week with 3 quarter-final bouts and 2 of those were breath taking fights. For those who have a Boxing Raise subscription and missed them we need to advise you to check out Tsuyoshi Tameda's war with Jae Woo Lee and the up and down battle between Shungo Kusano and Qiang Ma. These might not have been high profile contests but my god they were something special. Even the third quarter-final, between Daisuke Watanabe and Koshin Takeshima, was worthy of a watch even if was the worst of the bouts by far. Who ever managed to put this tournament together deserves a huge round of applause for making a tournament that has already provided 2 incredibly bouts, and looks likely to give us more in the next round!
 
3 - Jhon Gemino
The "Disaster" struck again with another upset. The hard hitting Filipino might not have a dangerman's record but this was his third upset in 12 months, all in different countries, and it's becoming clear that if a prospect isn't legit he will be more than a handful. With double digit losses to his name he's not some unbeatable fighter, but he's crafty, rugged and has power in both hands, and will be someone who is always a danger. As fans of seeing "opponents" come to win we can't help but love Jhon Gemino and his willingness to travel for fights against unbeaten hopefuls....and show up more than a handful of those unbeaten foes.

The Bad
1 - The poster for Dangan 231
We've seen some poor posters in our years of Asian boxing but maybe the poster for Dangan 231 is perhaps the very worst. We really have no idea what those behind the poster, excuse the pun, were thinking here and it's taken what was a great fight on paper and made the poster a bigger talking point than the fight. Had the fighters been either clothed or completely silhouetted out this might have worked, but with both guys being naked it's a poster that has given us more questions than answered. Still we guess it's gotten more people talking about the show than we would have had anyway...even if no one likes the poster.
 
2 - NHK's coverage of the All Japan Championships
We understood scheduling can be a problem but this year's All Japan Championships were bizarrely televised by NHK who showed some of the bouts on BS1, some on BS1's sister channel and then more on BS1. We are pretty sure that a year ago it was all on one channel as a coherent broadcast, but this year it split by a sumo tournament. We understand sumo is huge in Japan though surely with NHK having so many channels they could have shown all of both events with no real issue, using NHK General, BS1 and BS Premium. 
 
3 - Felix Alvarado's illness
We were all looking forward to the planned WBC/IBF Light Flyweight unification bout between Kenshiro Teraji and Felix Alvarado, a bout that had the potential to be a late FOTY contender. Sadly however Alvarado was forced out of the bout due to illness. It's hard to hold the illness against the fighter, but it's still a bad to see the fight being cancelled. Obviously we wish Alvarado a speedy recovery, and seeing his twin, Rene, win a world title at Super Featherweight in a big upset on Saturday was certainly a positive for the Alvarado in what has been a very mixed week for them.
 
The Ugly
1 - The poster for Dangan 231
We need to return to that damn poster for our first ugly....like seriously what was the idea behind it? It's not just bad, it's down right laughable. Honestly look at it! How can anyone take the fighters seriously with that poster being used to promote the fight...
 
2 - Matchroom's show at the weekend
We don't really want to use this weekly section to complain about one promoter or another but unfortunately for Matchroom boxing they are making it hard to not criticise them. The £24.95 price for Anthony Joshua is bad, but this past weekend's show was just baffling from start to end. They had the best fight of the show on Facebook, for a few thousand viewers, on a geo-locked feed. They had Anthony Fowler fight someone who made for an awful stylistic match up, in a really, really ugly fight that did neither guy any favours. They then had a main event marred by some of the worst scorecards of 2019. If Matchroom were hoping to sell their product ahead of their up coming PPV this did the opposite. It made it seem like they had no idea about bout placement on a card, it looked like their match makers struggle to make Fowler look good, honestly have him in with a fellow come forward fighter not a mover! And it looked like the judges were certainly told to lean one way in their scoring of the bout. Overall a terrible advert for what Matchroom should have seen as a big chance to sell themselves.
 
3 - Luis Nery
The drug taking, weight cheating son of a gun struck again! And this team people had had enough. Nery once again missed weight, forcing the cancellation of a world title eliminator against Emmanuel Rodriguez. Unlike in the past, where fighters, promoters and world title bodies have all accepted Nery's unprofessional Rodriguez said no. Rodriguez didn't sell out for a bump in his pay packet, he didn't bend over to Nery and his team and essentially told Nery to fuck himself. Somethings others should have said earlier. If this was a one off then fair enough but unprofessional behaviour is coming a constant with Nery who should be given an actual punishment after this mishap on the scales.Well done to Emmanuel Rodriguez for standing his ground, and hopefully he'll be rewarded with a WBC title fight, as it wasn't him the forced the eliminator to be cancelled.

(Photo by Tom Hogan/Hogan Photos/GoldenBoy Promotions)

Fans who followed the Japanese boxing scene in the 00's may be able to recall Yoshimitsu Yashiro. The Teiken promoted Super Featherweight fought as a professional from 2001 to 2009 and ran up a solid 21-1-2 (12) record, whilst winning the Japanese Super Featherweight title in 2008 and making 2 defenses, before losing to Takashi Miura in 2009, then retiring. Whilst not a huge name he certainly played his part in the sport on the domestic scene.
 
Now there is another member of the Yashiro family set to make their name in the sport, Yoshimitsu's cousin Hiroto Yashiro (1-0, 1), who has also signed up with the Teiken Gym and is expected to have a very, very fruitful career.
 
The 22 year old Yashiro, who celebrates his 23rd birthday in December, went an 75-19 in the unpaid ranks. Whilst he failed to really take home the big tournament wins he was a key figure in the teams for both his High School and University, and had began boxing way back in elementary school. 
 
Unlike many amateurs in Japan Yashiro's style was a more technical one, something that likely that comes from being a big Guillermo Rigondeaux fan, and his patience likely cost him bouts over the short amateur format, where every round is important. Despite not having a style suited to success in the amateurs he still managed to notch up his impressive record and develop some excellent skills, including a sharp jab, a solid right hook and a stinging straight left hand.
 
Back in September Yashiro made his professional debut at Korakuen Hall and looked fantastic as he dismantled Thai foe Adundet Khonwong in 2 rounds. From the opening bell he looked sharp, relaxed and comfortable, like a man who knew his amateur background would give him the foundation to shine. And shine he did! He dropped Adunet twice to force the referee to stop the bout, giving Yashiro a stoppage win on debut. Whilst not a massive win on paper this was still a victory against the #7 ranked Thai and a man who had lasted into round 3 with Shingo Wake less than 2 years ago, and nearly survived 3 rounds with Yuta Uetani, in early 2017. It was impressive without being big for Yashiro, and was certainly something should have raised a few eye brows given his name and amateur pedigree.
 
At the moment Yashiro's second bout isn't yet confirmed, though we suspect that the plan is for him to be very busy in 2020 with reports from Japan suggesting that he is wanting to win a Japanese Youth title as soon as he can. He obviously has eyes on more established titles but did seem to suggest that the Youth title was going to be his first focus.
 
With talent, patience, skill and a strong team behind him Yashiro has the ability to go a very long way. The key is really his desire and his ability to take a shot. If he's tough enough then the future is very, very bright for Yashiro.

Maybe it's just me but it's beginning to feel rather chilly, and the weeks are starting to become more and more packed with fights! It must mean we're heading towards December, when this are really set to go a little bit crazy! This past week has been a stellar week for action, and although we've not had any massive names fighting we have seen several great fights, amazing rounds a big upset and a world champion retaining his belt. Sure this past week hasn't been the best, but it's been very, very solid.

Fighter of the Week
Can Xu (18-2, 3)
The fighter of the week was an easy one this week with China's Can Xu showing us what a fighter does. The light punching WBA Featherweight champion controlled the previously unbeaten Manny Robles III with output, and although Xu couldn't get the stoppage he hurt Robles a number of times late in the bout. Xu might not be the most amazing fighter in the sport but in 2019 he has quickly become one of the most must watch fighters on the planet, and he showed his all action style against Robles. Whether boxing on the front foot or the back foot Xu unloads so much leather that it's hard to take your eyes off him, and the way he challenged Josh Warrington straight after his win shows his desire to become the best in the division. A fantastic performance by one of Asian boxing's true gems.
 
Performance of the Week
Shingo Kusano (12-8-1, 5)
Being dropped twice in the opening round of a 6 round fight would mark the end for most, but for Shingo Kusano it seemed to do the opposite. Instead of wilting following a 10-7 round Kusano steadied himself, dug deep and went on to break down Qiang Ma in a thrilling bout at Korakuen Hall. Kusano isn't a world beater, in fact we suspect he loses next time our when he competes in a tournament semi-final bout, but that really doesn't change the fact that his performance this week was excellent and he really did deserve his victory after such a horror start.
 
Fight
Jae Woo Lee vs Tsuyoshi Tameda
Whilst the Kusano Vs Ma bout was a brave fight back through adversity from Kusano it wasn't even the best bout on the show. That honour fell to the intense and incredible war between Korean fighter Jae Woo Lee and Japanese slugger Tsuyoshi Tameda. Any other month of the year this would likely be nailed on for fight of the month honours. It was two guys who both came with the same gameplan, and that gameplan was to throw bombs on the inside, to fight with fire, and to try and break down the other man. This ended up having styles that gelled instantly and from the opening bell to the eventual ending this was a fire fight. If you like inside wars this is really a must watch fight, and saw hooks and uppercuts being thrown shot after shot, with little use, from either man, for a jab. Exceptional, yet short, war!
 
Round
Jae Woo Lee vs Tsuyoshi Tameda (2)
Given the way the Lee Vs Tameda fight was fought either of the first 2 rounds could have been the round of the week, with both rounds being nothing short of breath taking, none stop action. This is what we watch boxing for! We favoured the second, over the first, as it seemed both ended the round having been damaged at some point. Lee had been rocked early in the round and Tameda ended the round bloodied. But both rounds should be considered among the very finest rounds of action we've had in 2019.
 
KO
Jhon Gemino KO5 Arnold Alejandro
We didn't have a lot of clan KO's this week, despite how much action we had, but there was one or two, with one really standing out. That standout was Filipino fighter Jhon Gemino taking out the previously unbeaten Arnold Alejandro in the US in spectacular fashion. A huge right hand from Gemino landed as flush as could be on Alejandro, breaking his nose and cleaning his clock. This was a thunder bolt of a right hand. Whilst the result was an upset we can't say it was a huge shock as Gemino is building himself a reputation as a fighter who regularly scores upsets, and this was his third big away from home in less than 12 months! Still in terms of the wonder of the KO it will go down as one of his best.

Prospect 
Ryusei Kawaura (7-0, 4)
Despite there being a lot of action this past week there really wasn't a lot of fighters we'd describe as being prospects. The one man who did fulfil the description of a prospect was Ryusei Kawaura, who continued his careful be intelligent climb up the rankings as he over-came Joy Joy Formentera of the Philippines. This bout was a great test for the unbeaten Japanese fighter and he had to be on point through out an excellent 8 round chess match. He's not a well known prospect, in the grand scheme of things, but Kawaura is certainly one to keep an eye on in 2020.
 
Upcoming fight 
Zolani Tete (28-3, 21) Vs John Riel Casimero (28-4, 19)
Next week is another without a massive name in Asian boxing in action, but it is a week that has a massive fight, as South African Zolani Tete takes on Filipino John Riel Casimero in a mouth watering WBO Bantamweight title clash. This is a huge fight and the winner instantly finds themselves in the Inoue sweepstakes. Tete hasn't looked great in recent bouts, and is coming back from an injury, and Casimero does blow hot and cold but we still expect this to be a very exciting and entertaining bout over in sunny England!

Prediction number 3 - A dome fight in Japan
At one point in 2019 it seemed like we were going to see the WBSS Bantamweight final between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire take place at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. 

The rumours all lead that way before the Saitama Super Arena was select to host the contest, but it put the idea in motion for boxing to return to one of the Japanese domes, most notably either the "Big Egg" in Tokyo or the smaller Kyocera Dome, aka the Osaka Dome. Neither of which have hosted boxing in years, with Osaka Dome last hosting a fight in 1999 and the Tokyo Dome not being used since 1990.

Whilst it's been a long, long time since either dome was used Japanese fighters are now getting enough to attention for at least 2 of them to draw a sizeable audience to one of the two domes. Both Inoue and Ryota Murata, with the right opponent, could make it worth whilst and it certainly seems like there is desire to return to a dome for a big show.

Whilst there are other domes, the Fukuoka Dome, the Sapporo Dome and the Nagoya Dome, it would appear much more difficult to draw a big enough audience to any of those to make it worth while, but the Osaka and Tokyo venues are certainly viable for the right fights.

We predict that by the end of 2020 we will see a Dome fight, potentially the much talked about showdown between Ryota Murata and Gennady Golovkin. If that Middleweight clash doesn't land in Japan it may take a Monster showdown with Inoue and another global name to fill up a Dome, or...

...a third potential way to sell out a dome would be for Bob Arum, who actually promoters both Inoue and Murata, to double deck the show and put both of the stars on the same card, for a bumper show in Japan. It would allow him to spend less on the opponents for the two men and could well be sold as the biggest Japanese boxing event of the 21st century. Of course scheduling issues in regards to time may cause issues with this possibility, but we see the demand for a Dome fight being enough for Arum to potentially put on an historic show in either of the aforementioned domes.

Recently Sky Sports in the UK announced the price of their PPV for the upcoming rematch between Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua, with the higher than typical price tag of £24.95. Whilst it appears to be a clear money grab by Sky Sports and promoter Eddie Hearn it did make us think about value in boxing, and how, by shopping around, you can get real value to follow the sport.
 
We have been long term users of iSakura, a service that provides Japanese TV streaming to a wider audience. Not only does the service offer live streaming but also allows a 14 day catch up window, making it a great service to use to watch things you might have missed due to typical every day life events, for example your job.
 
When we saw the price of the Joshua Vs Ruiz fight we went to have a look to see what Japanese service it was on, whether it was DAZN in Japan or WOWOW, and whether or not it was live. As it turned out it was being shown live on WOWOW, which is available through Isakura pro.
 
For just over £24, at the current conversion of £ to $, you can get 1 month of isakura TV pro. As long as the £ to $ exchange rate doesn't change too much come December 1st it's a no brainer as to where to put your money. Rather than giving it to the greedy, self serving people at Sky you can give it to the wonderful people at isakura and get a lot, lot more than just the 1 off Ruiz Vs Joshua bout.
 
If you ordered 1 month of isakura TV pro on December 1st you'd get get access to live coverage of:
December 7th show from Korakuen Hall (Noynay Vs Ogawa, Sueyoshi vs Saka)
December 8th show from Saudi Arabia (Ruiz Vs Joshua II)
December 15th show from New York (Crawford Vs Kavaliauskas)
December 22nd show from Korakuen Hall (All Japan Rookie of the Year)
December 23rd show (Murata Vs Butler, Yaegashi Vs Mthalane)
December 31st show (Ioka Vs Cintron, Tanaka VsTuolehazi)
 
As well as tape delay coverage of:
West Japan Rookie of the Year Final bouts (you'd have to use the catch up service and go to November 26th for this)
December 12th Diamond Glove 
 
Whilst the international shows will only feature the main events, for many that is all they are interested in, and although the commentary is in Japanese for most of us boxing commentary is terrible, so not understanding it doesn't take anything away from the experience. Also as many know Japanese commentary is wonderful excitable, and can add to quality of a fight.
 
If you are a fight fan this December treat yourself, give iSakura a shot with the 96 channel version here http://www.isakuraiptv.com/recharge and make it clear the greedy men behind the over priced PPV that you are sick of what they are doing. You sick of them over charging and under-delivering and want to watch more of the sport. With some much content coming from Japan through iSakura in December this is worth considering even if you do plan paying for Sky Box Office, and really quality streams of Japanese channels are hard to come by, especially for G+ who will have the Rookie of the Year.

The service is available for android, windows, ios and can be put on to certain TV sticks, including an Amazon fire, allowing you to watch on TV, phone or computer, making it a very versatile service for fans at home or on the go. 

(Please note - Asianboxing.info is not affiliated with isakura, the link is not an affiliate link and we receive no financial incentive, this is purely to try and help fans realise what they can get for the price of the Box Office PPV through the isakura service)