This past Thursday saw no action in Asia but did see two Asian's in action on foreign soil. Unfortunately however these bouts saw the Asian fighters having mixed results.

New York, USA
Things went well for the unbeaten Dimash Niyazov (5-0-2, 4) who scored his most notable victory to date as he stopped Jonathan Cuba (7-6-1, 5). Although Niyazov had been disappointing in his previous two bouts the Kazakh put on an excellent performance that could hopefully boost his reputation as a fighter to keep an eye on. We have doubts over how far he can go but fighters who score stoppages are always going to be interesting enough to get more and more fights.

Unfortunately for Uzbek fighter Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (9-14, 7) he couldn't copy Niyazov and was instead stopped himself by the over-looked American Steve Martinez (14-1, 11). This was the 9th stoppage loss for Yusubov and unfortunately his inability to take shots has genuinely ruined his once promising career.

Unfortunately we aren't able to keep tabs on every show, even the televised on, and this Tuesday gave us one example of that as we were pre-occupied whilst Thai TV 3 had a card in Bangkok University. 

Bangkok, Thailand
The show was, thankfully, not a very big one and the main event was a mismatch as Nop Kratingdaenggym (7-0, 1) clearly out pointed the limited Daniel Ferreras (12-8-2, 4) in a defense of the PABA interim Super Bantamweight title. Nop, a promising 22 year old, may lack power though has already got back-to-back 12 rounders under his belt and will know experience at this level is invaluable.

Nop's bout was the only title bout on the show and was one of 5 bouts in total. Notably only one other contest went the distance and that one saw novice Tirachok Kiatniwat (3-0, 1) out pointing the debuting Saengmorakot Sithsonram (0-1) over the 6 round schedule.

Combined, the other fights on the card went just 9 rounds. Of those 9 rounds 4 were taken up by Taiwo Ali (14-3, 9) who stopped the debuting Metha Bangmod Sport (0-1), Amin Sor Wangmoo (5-1-1, 4) took 2 rounds to stop the debuting Faluang Sor Singyu (0-1) and the remaining 3 rounds saw Eaktawan Mor Krungthepthonburi (3-0, 2) stopping Renz Llagas (6-6-1, 4).

"Ring of Gold" may have been the highlight of the weekend but it was far from the only boxing involving Asians this weekend with two shows taking part on Sunday. One of those shows was in Japan whilst the other was in the Philippines.

Hyogo, Japan
The Japanese show featured 8 contests and began with some very low level bouts. These saw Yuma Yasuda (1-1, 1) winning via 1st round retirement against the win-less Taiki Shimakawa (0-3), Makoto Mizoshita (2-1, 1) taking a hard fought decision over fellow novice Takuya Fukuda (1-1-1), Takeru Kamikubo (1-0) winning his debut against fellow debutant Arata Matsuoka (0-1) and Ryoma Yasuda (4-0, 3) squeaking past the previously unbeaten Masato Oike (2-1-3) with a split decision.

Yasuda wasn't the only man to win a split decision with Yasuyuki Otagaki (4-1-2) pushed close in his 6 round victory over Tatsuma Hirayama (5-3, 1).

Otgaki, although a split decision winner, was a clearer winner on the score cards than Takahito Osaka (5-0-2, 4) who took a very slim majority decision over Yuta Oshiro (5-2, 3). Osaka won by just a single point on two of the three scorecards.

The remaining 6 rounder saw Chikashi Hayashizaki (5-4-1, 1) score a shock decision over Daiya Shimazu (5-1, 4). On paper this was a major upset, in reality however it showed just how inflated Shimazu's record was. Prior to this fight Shimazu's previous 5 opponents had a combined record of 3-2.

In the main event of this show Shinichiro Morikawa (15-4-1, 10) managed to stop the light hitting Kosuke Isono (6-2-1, 1) in 5 rounds. This was the 4th straight win for Morikawa though we'd suggest that, at best, he's merely a domestic level fighter.

Benguet, Philippines
As well as the show in Japan we had a further 6 fights in the Philippines at the Justice George Malcolm Square. The main event of which saw Cristian Abila (11-12-3, 3) unexpectedly stopping Randy Megrino (14-17-2, 8). Abila dropped Megrino twice in round 5 before forcing a stoppage very early in round 6. Whilst not super talented Abila is a significantly better fighter than his record indicates.

Whilst Abila was technically the main event the man we were most interested in was the very promising Rex Wao (8-0, 7) who showed off his skills and power with a fight ending body shot against Gerry Pateno (4-6-2, 2) in the sixth round of a scheduled 8. Wao is a very, very promising you Filipino and one we'd advise all fans keep a close eye on.

Wao wasn't the only man to extend his unbeaten run as Stephen Gelawa (6-0-1, 4) forced the retirement of Dennis Padua (9-9-2, 4) and Junar Adante (3-0-1, 2) took out Jonel Borbon (1-12-1, 1) inside a round with a body shot.

The other two bouts on the show were both at a very low level. These saw Jhon Jhon Faminiano (1-10-3) fighting to a majority draw with Jeven Villacite (2-2-3) and Wilbert Madriaga (1-0) take a narrow victory on debut against Ernie Mino Jr (1-2), dropping Mino in the process.

The biggest boxing news on Saturday was all about "Ring of Gold", the latest in Bob Arum's Macau shows. The shows, which may split opinion between fans have been fantastic for exposing some Asian talent to a new audience and we've got to admit that we're huge fans of them, obviously. Though we under-stand that many fans may not like the idea of headlining shows with certain fighters or having shows on at unusual times of the day for the typical US audience.

Thankfully as fans of the shows we'll say that the latest was one of the most interesting and one of the shows that has really revealed just what you can do when you combine good amateurs with elite training.

Macau, China
The card kicked off with Filipino Jerwin Ancajas (19-1-1, 11) looking very impressive. Ancajas looked sharp, fast and skilled as he took apart the over-matched Inthanon Sithchamuang (20-7, 11). On this performance we're looking forward to seeing more of Ancajas and hopefully he will be on another of the Macau cards later this year. Although "pretty boy" Ancajas isn't ready for a world title fight, and won't be for quite some time, he does have all the traits of a man who could well move in to the mix at world level in a year or two. Saying that however the Filipino is the WBA #14 at Bantamweight.

Following Ancajas's win we saw another clear mismatch as Ancajas's countryman Harmonito Dela Torre (12-0, 7) easily stopped Indonesia's Yakobus Heluka (7-6). Heluka came out swinging though was left out lying flat on the canvas before the first round was over and it seems likely that Heluka was still feeling the ill effects of being stopped just a few weeks back.

The show's third contest saw Macau's own boxing prospect Kuok Kun Ng (3-0, 1) score his first stoppage as he defeated Indonesian Rocky Alap Alap (5-11) in 3 rounds. Kuok, known as "The Macau Kid" appears to be a very interesting prospect and although he's short for a Light Middleweight he does seem to be skilled and improving quickly making him a fighter that we have to keep an eye on, especially if he continues to improve. 

In the show's fourth contest, the first to feature an Olympic gold medal winner, fans got to see an improved Ryota Murata (3-0, 3) in action. Murata, a Japanese boxing icon, stepped up a level to fight Brazilian Carlos Nascimento (29-4, 23) though appeared to be well in his comfort zone as he let Nascimento hit him on the arms before firing back with heavier shots of his own. Those heavy shots broke down the Brazilian who was stopped on the ropes whilst taking an unanswered series of punches.

Murata's contest was followed by the first title fight which saw Hong Kong's Rex Tso (12-0, 8) battling Japan's Mako Matsuyama (7-8-1, 3) in the stand out fight of the show. The two men willingly traded through out the contest though Matsuyama was eventually broken down, as much from exhaustion as Tso's shots. The fight, the highlight fight on the card, proved to be a much better match up than the records of the fighters indicated though perhaps suggests that Tso isn't as good as hyped. He is however very fun to watch and the type of fighter who we can't help but want to see in action again.

The best fight on the card was followed by a KO of the year contender courtesy of a thunderbolt landed by former WBO Super Flyweight champion Marvin Sonsona (18-1-1, 15). Sonsona, a slight betting under-dog, left former WBA Super Bantamweight champion Akifumi Shimoda (28-4-2, 12) lying unconscious following one of the best uppercuts we're likely to see this year. This victory will likely see Sonsona given world rankings at Featherweight, where he is now the WBO International champion, and if given time there is no doubt that Sonsona can become a world champion for the second time.

The second Olympic champion to fight on the show was Russian Egor Mekhontsev (2-0, 2) who stopped the previously unbeaten Thai Atthaporn Jaritram (4-1, 1) in a very 1 sided contest. Atthaporn was too small and slow for the very gifted Mekhontsev who clearly has the talent to be moved quickly in a relative weak division. Although Light Heavyweight does have some great champions it is weak below those champions and there is no reason Mekhontsev can't be threatening the top 10 by the end of the year.

Unfortunately after an excellent card the life was sucked out of the venue in the only world title fight on the show. The bout in question was an IBF Lightweight title fight between the talented, yet thoroughly frustrating, Miguel Vazquez (34-3, 13) and Denis Shafikov (33-1-1, 18). Vazquez started well though as soon as he realised Shafikov could get close to him the fight became less about boxing and more about holding, clinching, hugging, spoiling and generally preventing the bout from having any semblance of a boxing contest. Vazquez, who retained his title, certainly won't be welcome to Macau again and Ernie Sharif, the referee of the bout, may well come in for a lot of questioning over the next few days.

Thankfully the crowd came back alive for the show's main event which saw China's very own Zou Shiming (4-0, 1) put in a very impressive performance. Shiming, the reason for these Macau shows, may get a lot of hate internationally though appears to be a fighter making huge improvements between fights. That improvement was fully on show as he scored his first stoppage by wearing down and beating up Yokthong Kokietgym (15-4, 11). Yokthong, who had been stopped quickly by Ryuji Hara a few years ago, came to fight but was unable to cope with the ability of Shiming who appears to have really grasped the core concepts of professional boxing after looking very poor in some of his earlier bouts.

With both Shiming and Murata showing real signs of improvement it's not a wonder both are having their names linked to world title fights already. The rumour seems to be that Shiming could be fighting Amnat Ruenroeng later this year whilst Murata will be hoping to claim a world title next year.

Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
Outside of Ring of Gold there were other contests involving Asian's. These included several bouts in the Philippines.

One of the Filipino bouts saw former world title challenger Richie Mepranum (27-3-1, 6) putting in a very dominant display over Thailand's limited Phupha Por Nobnom (10-9-1, 9) who was dropped a staggering 6 times before retiring between rounds 4 and 5. Phupha was dropped in every round of the bout and showed that he really didn't belong in the ring with Mepranum.

The only other bout we have the result for from this card saw Jetly Purisima (18-13-4, 5) out pointing Jerson Luzarito (8-4-3, 3) over the 10 round distance.

Pennsylvania, USA
In the US things were disappointing for Azerbaijan's Farid Aghayev (1-0-1, 1) who was held to a majority draw by Lanny Dardar (1-0-1, 1) over 4 rounds.

(Picture courtesy of Toprank)

Unfortunately when boxing is spread about we can struggle to keep up to date with the results. One of those sorts of days was today when there were fights in Japan, Laos and Indonesia, all of differing significance.

At the time of posting we're still yet to get all the results from the various Asian cards. Thnakfully however we have received a number of them and feel that, with the day coming to a close, we should share them.

Jayapura, Indonesia
The most notable result, at least for us, was in Jayapura as Muhammad Rachman (65-11-5, 35), a 2-time world champion, scored his 65th career victory and claimed another title to add to his impressive collection. 

Rachman, aged 42, was 16 years older than Thailand's Thongthailek Sor Tanapinyo (18-16, 7) though that didn't prevent the veteran from scoring a final round stoppage over the much younger man.

It seems unlikely that Rachman will ever reclaim a world title though he will have to be pleased with the IBO International belt whoch he claimed courtesy of this victory.

At the moment of writing we are still awaiting the other results from this card.

Suwannakhet, Laos
In Laos, near to Thailand, we saw another world champion in action with former Super Flyweight title holder Tepparith Kokietgym (26-3, 16), pictured, forcing a stoppage of Filipino Alvin Bais (13-4, 3). Bais, challenging for Tepparith's WBC Asia Council Continental Bantamweight title, suffered his 4th straight loss and loss in 4 fights as Tepparith repeated the act of compatriots Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Tiger Tor Buamas.

On the same card in Laos we did actually have a very competitive contest with Saenmuangloei Kokietgym (19-5-3, 3) narrowly overcoming Michael Landero (16-11-4, 5). This bout was much better than the Tepparith one and saw plenty of back-and-forth action with neither man really having the power to take the other out. For Saenmuangloei this was his 3rd straight victory following a stoppage loss last year to Akira Yaegashi.

The only other result on this show saw Petchchorhae Kokietgym (1-0, 1) take a victory over fellow debutant Nattapol Wor Por Srisaket (0-1) who was stopped in the 4th round.
Tokyo, Japan
From the Japanese card held at the Korakuen Hall we've heard that Toyoto Shiraishi (24-8-1, 11) managed to take a clear, but very hard fought, decision over Yuki Fukumoto (15-9, 5) in the headline fight. The cards all had Shirishi winning but none of them had him as a clear winner in a bout that can only be described as close.

The only other early result from this card that we had saw Shusaku Fujinaka (10-3-2, 6) taking a much expected victory over the very limited Kota Oguchi (8-13, 1). Although this looked like a mismatch before the opening bell it turned out to be very competitive and Fujinaka will know that he had to dig deep for the victory.

Since the early results we have managed to get all the result from the card. These included a razor thin decision for Seiya Fujikita (6-1, 1) over Ryuji Hirano (6-3-1, 1) over 6 rounds. 

The only bout to see a stoppage saw Takahiro Fujii (6-2-1, 2) unexpectedly finishing off the wonderfully named Dragon Jun (5-11, 3) in the final of a 6 round bout. Whilst this was Dragon's 6th stoppage loss it was still a shock to see Fujii stopping an opponent, 

Although Fuji was the only man to score a stoppage his bout wasn't the only one with an early conclusion. This was because Kenta Yamada (6-3) took a technical decision over Tsuyoshi Nishimura (4-6-1, 1) after 3 and a bit completed rounds of a scheduled 6 rounder.

In both of the 4 rounders on the opening of the card we heard the final bell. These bouts saw Takaki Sakurai (5-4-1, 1) narrowly out pointing Nobuya Kasai (3-5-1, 2) and Daiki Yoshimatsu (3-2, 1) taking a close decision over the debuting Yasutaka Maeda (0-1).


Nevada, USA
In the US we saw the start of the wonderfully exciting "Boxcino" tournament. The tournament, which will be aired on ESPN in the UK, featured an all Russian bout that got us relatively excited. This bout, which featured an unbeaten prospect and a former world title challenger, saw an unexpected result with the previously perfect Fedor Papazov (14-1, 9) being completely out boxed by compatriot Petr Petrov (33-4-2, 15) who recorded his first victory since November 2012 as a result.

Delaware, USA
Papazov wasn't the only Russian losing his unbeaten record in the US as Ray Robinson (17-2, 7) took the 0 of Aslanbek Kozaev (25-1-1, 7). This bout, in Delaware, was Kozaev's 4th in the US but he was completely out pointed by the talented Robinson who has often been over-looked by fans and media alike. A loss to Robinson might look bad for Kozaev but it really isn't a bad one at all, even if it did see him losing his unbeaten record.


(Picture courtesy of boxrec.com)

With only 1 Asian in action on Wednesday there was really only one man to focus on, unfortunately however he was in a bit of a mismatch and it proved to be as one sided as one would have expected.

New South Wales, Australia
The man in question was debuting Thai Apirak Sitmonchai (0-1) who went to Australia and was stopped in 3 rounds by the promising Kye MacKenzie (7-0, 5). MacKenzie, now on a 3 fight (T)KO streak does genuinely have a lot going for him and was always going to have too much for the debuting Thai in this bout.

Boxing on Tuesday's always seems a bit weird, especially when it's first thing in the morning, but that's what we had this week courtesy of Thai Channel 7 and Nakornloung Boxing Promotion who put on a show of of their top talent. Unfortunately the top talent on show was matched somewhat safely with none of the Nakornloung stars really given much of a test.

Bangkok, Thailand
We believe the card took place at the NCO Club though from watching the action on television it was certainly more "mismatch City" than anything else.

The show began with former world champion Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (33-5-1, 14) taking on the debuting Serichai Nonpitgym (0-1). The mismatch was clear from the off and thankfully Suriyan didn't waste anyone's time stopping his stay busy opponent with a devastating body shot inside a round. It was clear he had no intention of messing about and made sure that his foe knew it as left to the liver did the job. 

Following Suriyan's victory there was another early blow out in a contest that lasted less than 2 rounds. This bout, it turns out, was between Yodchanchai Nakornloung Promotion (25-4, 20) and the debuting Charoenrung Sakpornchai (0-1) and had a fantastic finish with Yodnanchai landing and eye catching uppercut that lead to a delayed reaction. As with the shows opener this was a mismatch.

Arguably the biggest mismatch came in the shows main event. This contest saw Nawaphon Por Chokchai (20-0, 14), defending his WBC Asian Boxing Council Flyweight title for the 7th time, just beat up Shusong Zhuang (0-3) who was nothing other than brave. The fight probably could have been stopped in round 2 as Nawaphon began to beat up his challenger but the referee let the one-way traffic continue to round 4. Amazingly despite being beaten up the challenger made a genuine protest to continue on. If he had we can only image that he would have ended up seriously hurt as Nawaphon, was really going to town on him. 

The shows fourth contest featured current WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (25-3-1, 23), pictured, in action. Srisaket, fighting a clear "stay busy" contest, before his world title fight in May against Carlos Cuadras, took things slowly to begin with though moved in to second gear in the second round. Even fighting in second gear Srisaket had too much for Alexis Barateau (0-2) who was stopped from a monster uppercut from the world champion.

With all the quick victories on the card the television cameras kept rolling and we continued to get fights. These included 2 more contests.

One of those additional contests saw a second round KO from a body shot. Oddly the first round of that bout saw the eventual loser doing one of the most amazing "chicken dances" in boxing history and it's a genuine mystery as to how he managed to say on his feet. We think this bout was between Kongfah Nakornluang (10-0, 5) and Petch-ek Sithsaithong (0-1). The second of those contests, and the 6th in total, saw a vicious right hand behind the ear see off the over-matched opponent to give us a 6 successive stoppage on the card, we believe this was a bout between Kajornsak Sithsaithong (4-1, 4) and Suriyalek Lor Lalita (0-1).

We know that injuries and accidental fouls can happen in boxing but we don't tend to see many of them. This past Monday however saw two on the same card in Philippines with one of the main contests unfortunately called after just 2 rounds, a disappointment for all concerned.

Laguna, Philippines
The show in question took place at the Balibago Sports Complex and featured, in total, 6 bouts. That means that a third of all the contests on the card were ended prematurely by head clashes.

The most disappointing of the head clash contests saw Benezer Alolod (13-5-5, 3) fighting to a second round technical draw with journeyman Rodel Tejares (20-28-6, 5). Amazingly this was the 4th technical decision in Alolod's career, which actually includes a technical victory over Rey Loreto, unfortunately with him being a southpaw we understand the head clashes but that is an alarmingly high number considering he has only fought in 22 contests. For Tejares, himself a technical expert, this was his 6th technical decision and his 3rd technical draw. Genuinely bizarre stats.

The other technical decision on the card came in the 7th round of the bout between Raymond Sermona (16-4-5, 8) and Desson Cag-ong (14-10, 8). This bout looked much more even on paper than the other bout and saw Sermona coming out on top when the contest was called to a halt. Unlike the other fight neither of these two men have a history of technical decisions, with it being the first for both men.

Thankfully not all the bigger bouts ended prematurely and we did see a good 10 round decision victory for the unbeaten Ernesto Saulong (14-0-1, 5) who over-came the experienced Mike Espanosa (12-7-1, 7) in the only one of the 3 bouts scheduled for 10, which actually went the distance.

Saulong might have been the only man to take a 10 round victory but he wasn't the only distance victor on the card with with the big punching Al Rivera (9-1, 7) being unexpectedly taken the distance by Ronald Postrano (7-19-2, 3). This was the first time Rivera had heard the final bell since June 2006 and the bout saw an end to a 5 bout stoppage streak from Rivera.

Surprisingly the two lesser bouts on the card both saw stoppages. These included a 2nd round TKO for Juanito Hundante (2-2, 1), who stopped the win-less Manuel Mamacquiao (0-3), and an opening round victory for Robin Dingcong (1-1-1, 1), who saw off the debuting Crisanto Contemprato (0-1) to score his first professional victory.

After a busy Saturday in world boxing there was apparently just a single contest involving any Asian fights on Sunday. This bout, in Thailand also appears to have been the only bout on the entire show.

Pathum Thani, Thailand
The one bout we have was apparently an all debutant contest at the Pruksa 2 Village in Pathum Thani with the fans in attendance getting to see Singnoi Singmanasak (1-0) score a debut victory over Naruenart Jittigym (0-1). The bout, which went the scheduled 4 rounds, has very few other details available unfortunately so we can't tell you much more about it than we already have.

This past Saturday may not have featured a single world title fight it but it was still a highly entertaining day of boxing with fights spread across the world. Those fights included a number of contests involving unbeaten Russian with all of them continuing their streak with victories.

Ekaterinburg, Russia
The most notable result involving a Russian saw the unbeaten Dmitry Mikhaylenko (16-0, 6) defeating Karen Avetisyan (8-7-1, 4) via a 10 round decision. Whilst this was one of the biggest wins in the career of Mikhaylenko we do have worries about his power, or rather lack of, and think that this could be a limiting factor in just how far he can go in the sport. 

Mikhaylenko's victory was joined by a 6 round decision for another unbeaten fighter in the form of Evgeny Chuprakov (8-0, 3) who managed to over-come the previously perfect Ilyos Qayumov (2-0, 1) from Tajikistan.

The only other results from this show that we have are that Belarus's Andrei Isaeu (28-4, 7) defeated the win-less Fazliddin Ismonov (0-2) and Sergey Yurovskikh (7-10-2, 1) beat the debuting Oleg Slynko (0-2).

California, USA
It wasn't just in Russia that Russian's were fighting but also in the US where the undefeated Sukhrab Shidaev (8-0, 6) maintained his winning run. Shidaev, fighting in the US for the 7th time clearly out pointed Yosmani Abreu (4-8-2) over 6 rounds in what was a good work out for the man originally from Grozny.