To end the month of April boxing fans all turned their attention to Japan for a show dubbed "Kamikaze 3", a show that seemed to have all the hardcore fans really interest. We'll admit it's odd for fans around the globe to even know about a Japanese domestic card but this one was different.

Tokyo, Japan
When a fighter scores a big win on US TV fans tend to note, fans seem to suddenly care and become interested in a fighter. This was the case when Japanese fighter Nobuhiro Ishida (25-10-2, 10) stopped the previously unbeaten James Kirkland on HBO. Kirkland was hyped a destroyer of men, a Light Middleweight who ruined anything he touched. Ishida made his name stateside by stopping Kirkland inside a round in one of the most shocking results of the last decade.

The fame Ishida had from that result saw him getting big fights with Paul Williams, Dmitry Pirog and Gennady Golovkin. Although he lost all 3 of those bouts American and European fans still had an interest in him and when it was announced he'd be fighting at Heavyweight that interest grew and grew.

Unfortunately for Ishida the interest from around the world didn't help him with the judges and after a very, very good performance he was narrowly outpointed by Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (9-1, 5), over 8 rounds, in a decision many have suggested was swayed by Fujimoto having a higher domestic profile. Although Ishida lost there have been calls from fans and the media to have a rematch, this time over 10 rounds and with the Heavyweight title at stake, though we have heard that Fujimoto has no interest in that and would rather fight international opponents. We're hoping that, no matter what happens, Ishida gets a chance to fight for the Japanese Heavyweight title. Whether that would be a rematch with Fujimoto or a fight for the vacant title is up for debate but we'd be happy to see either.

Although the Heavyweight bout wasn't a title bout, Fujimoto would have lost the title had he been defeated. There are some suggesting that his title was "protected" so that Japan would have a Heavyweight champion though on this showing the champion really may not be worth having.

Fujimoto wasn't the only reigning champion on the show and another was Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (27-5-1, 7) who also retained his title as he stopped challenger Yuhei Suzuki (14-4, 11). The two men had fought last year to a close decision, this time around however Kato started fast and managed to stoop Suzuki in round 7 as he recorded the 6th defence of his belt.

As well as the two champions the card featured a further 3 bouts.

One of those three contests saw the once hotly tipped Kenji Kubo (4-2-1, 2) in action. Kubo, who beat former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane on debut, has been struggling in recent fights though showed a great attitude to stop Atsushi Hosogai (6-8) in the 7th of a scheduled 8 round bout. 

Both of the others went the distance. The closest saw Yusuke Sakashita (12-4-2, 7) taking a razor thin majority decision over Hideyuki Watanabe (7-6-2, 5) in a fight that could, and perhaps should, have been awarded as a draw. The other saw a genuine upset as journeyman Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-16) managed to out point Seiji Watanabe (5-4-1, 2) over 6 rounds to claim his first win over 4 years.

(Image thanks to boxingnews.jp)

Last week was brilliant for boxing. Fans in Japan got the chance to see Shinsuke Yamanaka shine against Stephane Jamoye, Russian fans got to see the emergence of Arif Magomedov, British fans got to see the fun to watch Lucas Browne, German fans got to to enjoy Wladimir Klitschko and everyone was treat to the fantastic Lucas Matthysse/John Molina bout in the US.

Unfortunately the week ended on a relative forgettable note on Sunday with very little to really report on, despite their being 2 Asian cards.

Metro Manila, Philippines
Arguably the more disappointing of the two cards held in the Philippines as Elorde Int'l Productions put on a 6 fight domestic show with little real name value.

The main event here saw the tough Vergel Nebran (12-7-1, 8) stop the infamous Menard Zaragosa (6-17-1, 4) and end a 3 fight losing streak in the process. Zaragosa, best known for needing the toilet mid-fight against John Mark Apolinario was stopped at the end of round 3.

In the chief support bouts fans got the chance to see the unbeaten Rolly Sumalpong (4-0, 1) extend his winning run with a victory over fellow novice Jestoni Racoma (2-2-1). Racoma was dropped in round 1 though managed to do enough in the other 5 rounds to give the impression of a competitive contest. The only other 6 round on this show saw Jun Blazo (1-1, 1) suffer the first defeat of his career as he was stopped by Roy Lagrada (2-7-1, 2).

In the 4 round bouts fans got to see the unbeaten Mark Paloso (2-0, 1) climb off the canvas to take a decision over Alberto Pente-Costes (0-1), likewise Cris Ganoza (2-0) had to climb off the canvas to keep his unbeaten record with a split decision over Aprilito Agcopra (0-4-1).

The only other bout on the card saw the previously win-less Rommel Berwela (1-2) getting off the mark with a decison over BJ Sampiton (0-1). Sampiton was dropped twice en route to this loss.

Yamaguchi, Japan
Whilst the Filipino show wasn't great we can't really pretend the Japanese one was any better. 

This show saw a couple of 8 round bouts. One of those saw Kota Tokunaga (12-2, 8) over-coming Accel Sumiyoshi (4-3-1, 1) in a split decision. With cards ranging from 79-74 to Tokunaga to 76-78 Sumiyoshi it seems like the right guy won whilst one judge may have just had an off bout.

In the other 8 rounder we saw a small shock as Filipino visitor Leonardo Doronio (13-9-2, 8) stopped Japan's very own Burning Ishii (4-2-1, 1) in 4 rounds. We describe this as a small shock though in all honesty Doronio has a very misleading record due to the fact he blows hot and cold and has also had weight issues. In recent bouts however he is 3-1 with wins over Jeffrey Arienza and Jose Ocampo.

As well as the 8 rounders we also had a foursome of 4 rounders. These included a close decision win for Fine Arai (2-0) who over-came Mitsuyoshi Fujita (2-2) in a very competitive match up. Arai was joined in winning a decision by debutant Change Hamashima (1-0) who over-came fellow newbie Nobuyuki Natsuhara (0-1).

The other 4 rounders both finished early. One of these saw Naoya Haruguchi (4-4, 2) wiping out Yuta Motoyama (1-2) in just 168 seconds. The other early finish saw Jump Ikeo (2-1-1, 1) defeat the previously unbeaten Daichi Ono (2-1, 1).

(Image courtesy of http://mojifitness-in-shimonoseki.com/)

Some days we don't have any Asian action "at home" but still we can have very interesting days away from home and this past Saturday was one such day

Sonora, Mexico
In Puerto Penasco fans got to see two thrilling fights involving Filipino's unfortunately though both were defeated by world class Mexican fighters.

The first of the Filipino's in action was former world title challenger John Mark Apolinario (17-4-3, 4) who was fighting for the first time since his failed WBA Bantamweight title fight last year. Apolinario was taking on the always fun to watch Hernan "Tyson" Marquez (37-4, 26) and the bout, like most of Marquez's, was thrilling with action from both men in a very enjoyable encounter. Marquez was rightfully the winner on the cards but it was competitive through out with the Filipino showing impressive defensive skills, a smart jab and real heart to fight back. As for Marquez this was a perfect fight for him to shake the cobwebs following his loss last year to Giovani Segura.

The second Filipino on the show was Richie Mepranum (27-4-1, 6) who was fighting for the 4th time in Mexico. Mepranum was fighting in his second world title fight and easily the biggest bout of his career as he took on the exceptional Juan Francisco Estrada (26-2, 19) who retained his WBA "super" and WBO Flyweight titles. Mepranum tried to fight back against the more skilled, stronger and over-all much better Estrada but was out gunned and out skilled through out before retiring in his corner after round 9. Up to that bout it had been a gradual beating by Estrada who was simply too good.

Having already mentioned Giovani Segura it's worth noting that we now believe Segura will be fighting Estrada next. Hopefully the winner of that bout will be facing the winner of Akira Yaegashi's bout with Roman Gonzalez in a bout to find out who really is the best Flyweight on the planet.

Yorkshire, England
Whilst Mepranum came up short in his title effort we did see a new Asian fighter crowned as a champion, though a rather odd one. What we saw was Zhanat Zhakiyanov (22-2, 14) claiming the European Bantamweight title, despite being from Kazakhstan. Zhakiyanov claimed the title in eye catching fashion with a 1-punch KO over Frenchman Karim Guerfi (20-3, 5). Guerfi came into this fight as the defending champion, having beaten Stephane Jamoye for the title. With Jamoye having had a recent world title fight, being soundly beaten by Shinsuke Yamanaka, it may well make sense that Zhakiyanov deserves one.

This was the 18th straight victory for Zhakiyanov and his 9th straight stoppage.

Distrito Federal, Mexico
A second Mexican show was held in Mexico City where we again had two Asian's in action.

The first here was female fighter Tenkai Tsunami (20-10, 9) who looked to try and avenge her 2013 loss to the very talented Jessica "Kika" Chavez (20-3-3, 4). Unfortunately for Tsunami, who put up a really great effort, she was unable to do enough to take home victory. The two women put on an absolute barn burner and both gave it their all but at the end of the day the judges all felt Chavez was the winner with scores of 97-95,97-93,97-94.

Unfortunately for Tsunami this was her 6th loss in Mexico and although she's very talented her record no longer shows it. We're hoping that these losses won't hinder her in the future though we know that she may become part of the "Who needs her club?"

On the same show the huge punching Julio Ceja (27-1, 25) recorded a 10th round stoppage as he defended his WBC silver Bantamweight title. Ceja was fighting against the brave but out-gunned Ranel Suco (15-8-2, 6) of the Philippines. Suco was dropped twice though his heart kept him in the bout until he ended up on the ropes taking a flurry of big shots from the Mexican and the referee was forced to call a halt to the fight.

Ceja seems to have his eyes firmly trained on WBC champion Shinsuke Yamanaka and in all honesty that would be a great fight. In fact Ceja against Zhakiyanov to decide on a future Yamanaka's challenger would fantastic.

(Image courtesy of Pepe Rodriguez)

Yesterday was an interesting day for boxing though the most interesting story of the day was less about a fight that happened but rather one that didn't. This left a shadow over the sport for us, and for many others, though there was plenty of genuinely good action that shouldn't be forgotten for the single act of stupidity by one particular fighter.

Phitsanulok, Thailand
The earliest action of the day was in Thailand as Channel 7 televised an interesting show. Much of the action was Muay Thai though we did have a couple of boxing contests on it both of which had genuine significance in the sport.

The biggest name in action on this Thai show was WBC #1 ranked Minimumweight Wanheng Menayothin (34-0, 11) who made light work of Indonesian journeyman Domi Nenokeba (11-17-1, 7). Nenokeba appears to have established his place in boxing with 17 successive losses include 2 to Wanheng who really must be wondering if the WBC will ever give him a title show after being the #1 contender for a considerable length of time now.

The other boxing bout on this card saw Muay Thai fighter-turn-boxer Palangpol CP Freshmart (3-0, 3) rack up his second good stoppage win in as many months. Palangpol put on an aggressive display as he stopped the usually durable Indonesian Heri Amol (34-17-4, 14), who famously dropped Kazuto Ioka. Palangpol apparently claimed the WBA Asian Flyweight title with this victory and should move into the PABA rankings as a result.

Moscow, Russia
Whilst the Thai card was the first of the day we were all more excited about the action from Moscow which had the potential be something a little bit special. We had been anticipating the rematch between WBA Cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (25-2, 19) and Guillermo Jones (39-3-2, 31) though that was unfortunately scrapped at the final hour after Jones was forced off the card after a positive drugs test.

Although the main event was cancelled the show still went ahead with the other 6 bouts from the card.

Of the bouts that did happen the best, on paper, looked like the battle of unbeaten Middleweights as the big punching Arif Magomedov (11-0, 8) took on Colombia's highly touted Alex Theran (16-1, 9). We had expected this to be an excellent match up but the big punching Russian just decimated Theran who was dropped, battered, cut and beaten. Although reports in Spanish language sources suggest Theran was cut by a headclash it seems that the Colombian was on to a hiding to nothing and realised it as he quit in his corner after 3 rounds. This victory grants Magomedov the WBA Fedelatin Middleweight title and a probably WBA world ranking.

Another unbeaten fighter on this card was Umar Salamov (10-0, 9) who stopped the brave but out-matched Gasan Gasanov (7-3-1, 5). Gasanov pushed the action early on but was dropped twice in round 4 before being stopped by the big punching Salamov. Stood at 6'3" and aged just 19 Salamov looks like yet another Russian to keep an eye on at 175lbs though will likely fill into an excellent Cruiserweight. At the moment the unbeaten man holds the WBO and IBO Youth titles and is already getting his links to the major organising bodies.

In another title fight Andrey Knyazev (10-1, 5) successfully defended his Russian Cruiserweight title stopping the game Ruslan Semenov (5-27-1, 3) in 4 rounds. We've been lead to believe that this was a very harsh stoppage in a fight that was being fought on a very even keel.

The lower part of the card saw Ilya Rolgeyzer (3-0) defeat Roman Mirzoev (2-9, 1) in a relative dull bout whilst the debuting Sergey Lipinets (1-0) thoroughly dominated Franklin Varela (21-15, 10) who did very well to survive the course.

With the main event being cancelled the biggest bout on the show was a contest between well regarded Lightweight pair Andrey Klimov (17-1, 8) and Francisco Contreras (22-5, 17). Although the bout looked good on paper it turned out to be a shocking contest full of fouls, hugging, holding and very little clean action. Whilst Boxnation didn't show this contest we can't help but feel relieved. 

Podolsk, Russia
On a second Russian card there were several smaller bouts. One of those saw Maxim Maslov (14-1-1, 8) taking a decision over the tough but limited Arturs Kulikauskis (13-19-3, 6) whilst the unbeaten Igor Ivanov 98-0-1, 2) was unexpectedly held to a draw by Ukrainian Oleg Korobko (4-1-2, 1) who is odd 2-0-1 in Russia.

Yucatán, Mexico
Another Russian fighter who was in action was the unbeaten Andrey Meryasev (16-0, 11) who scored the biggest win of his career by defeating Argentina's Carlos Manuel Baldomir (49-16-6, 15) in a neutral venue of Mexico. Baldomir, best known for his shock upset over Zab Judah is no longer the fighter he once was and at close to 43 years old it's no surprise he was beaten by the younger fresher man.

(Picture, of Wanheng, courtesy of boxrec.com)

Just a day after the world title double header in Osaka the Asian boxing world fell back to normality with a small domestic show at the Korakuen Hall. 

Tokyo, Japan
The show was a 7 fight card with little of real name value though plenty of interesting action and bouts with some form of significance.

The main event of the show saw the OPBF and Japanese ranked ranked Tetsuma Hayashi (24-2-1, 8) scoring a 4th round TKO over Thai veteran Samransak Singmanasak (35-23-1, 27), who has now been stopped 17 times in his 59 fight career. From what we under-stand the Thai showed genuine guts but was thoroughly out gunned and out classed.

In a slight upset Ken Achiwa (9-11-2, 3) scored a TKO over Ganbare Shota (10-5-1, 2) who suffered some notable cuts around his left eye which eventually forced an early conclusion to the bout in round 6. 

We saw another slight upset as Ribo Takahata (10-4-1, 2) took an 8th round technical decision over the Japanese ranked Keiichi Izumi (13-7, 4) who entered the bout the #6 Super Featherweight in Japan.

The remaining 8 round bout was the most disappointing as an accidental injury saw Ryota Itoyama (10-5-1, 5) score a 3rd round technical draw with Norimitsu Ebine (9-7-2, 6). The bout was the disappointment of the show and was followed by Ebine announcing his retirement in the ring. The 37 year apologised that for the bout being disappointing and retires just a month before his 37th birthday.

The only bout on the entire show that complete all the scheduled rounds saw Toru Kudo (4-2-2, 1) take a 6 round decision over Tatsuya Hayashi (4-5, 1). This was one of a trio of 6 rounders on the card and was the only one which actually went the distance.

In another of the 6 rounders Takehiro Shinohara (5-4-2, 5) made his power felt as he stopped Mitsuhisa Hayashi(4-5, 3) in the second round whilst it took 3 rounds for Shogo Sumitomo (5-6, 4) to defeat Masashi Odaira (4-4-2, 2)

(Picture, of Hayashi landing a right hand on Samransak, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Pennsylvania, USA
Whilst reality resumed to Japanese boxing there was a major shock in the US as Timur Shailezov (17-7-1, 4) of Kyrgyzstan scored a shock upset over Miguel Cartagena (12-1, 5). Going in to this bout Shailezov had lost his last 5 bouts, including a retirement loss to Rex Tso and a TKO loss to Zhanat Zhakiyanov so this win really does give his career a bit of life after looking all but over.

Osaka, Japan
Not many days this year were as highly anticipated as Wednesday 23rd April and the world title double header at the Castle Hall in Osaka. The show was one that seemed to have boxing fans around the world excited and whether you were American, British, Belgian, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Japanese or Thai you almost certainly had some interest in what happened.

What ended up happening split emotion like very, very few shows ever will. We had pure sadness felt by everyone in the arena and we had the joy of one of Japanese boxing's current elite fighters.

The sadness was that felt for former WBC Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa (33-5, 15) who was stopped in his attempt to become a 3-weight world champion. Hasegawa, fighting against Spain's IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23), looked only like a shadow of the man who had once dominated the Bantamweight division.

Although as game and as fast as ever Hasegawa simply didn't have the legs or energy to hold off the marauding Spaniard who scored a knockdown in round 2 that seemed to worry the fans. Less than 30 minutes later the crowd were shocked in to a silence that said it all, as Hasegawa was stopped in the 7th round. For those who had seen the recent WWE Wrestlemania the crowd had that same shocked silence and tearful look as they had had when Brock Lesnar had beaten The Undertaker. Just like the WWE show this seemed to be the end of an era, the end of a man's career and the end of a fan favourite.

Whilst Hasegawa hasn't actually announced his retirement the fight and the crowd said it all. Hasegawa isn't the fighter he once was and the crowd really want this to be it for him. We hope he takes a night or two to think about his future then decides it's best to retire with his health. His legacy is already secure and he will go down as one of Japan's most popular fighters in history.

Thankfully for all those in attendance the sadness turned into happiness and after giving Hasegawa a standing ovation they got to see the immensely skilled Shinsuke Yamanaka (21-0-2, 16) successfully defend his WBC Bantamweight title with a 9th round KO against Stephane Jamoye (25-5, 15).

Yamanaka, who was defending a title held not only by Hasegawa but also by his idol Joichiro Tatsuyoshi who is in he picture, managed to cheer the crowd up with a one sided and relatively pain free beat down of Jamoye who was dropped 4 times before the referee waved the contest off.

Whilst Yamanaka is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter currently plying his trade in Asia it was actually Jamoye who did much to keep this bout interesting. Sadly for the challenger it was interesting as he was being used as a willing punch bag who was being tagged with powerful straight lefts both upstairs and downstairs as Yamanaka recorded his 6th defence overall and his 5th successive by stoppage.

Amazing to think Yamanaka started his career 6-0-2 (2) and has since reeled off 15 wins with 14 by T/KO!

Talking about men who have just began their career this show also featured a selection of novices in action. The most notable of those was Sho Nakazawa (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thailand's Petchnakulua Sornattasak (0-1). Nakazawa is regarded very highly as a prospect and his 63 second victory over the Thai showed enough to be excited about him.

Although Nakazawa is a few fights in to his career the show did feature one Japanese prospect just beginning his career, Ryo Kakutani (1-0) who clearly out pointed fellow debutant Sho Hasegawa (0-1). Kakutani wasn't the only man scoring his first win as the previously win-less Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-4, 1) stopped the still win-less Kimiharu Oura (0-6) inside a round.

Although Hasegawa and Yamanaka were the main events they weren't the only world class fighters in action and fans in attendance also got the chance to see former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (26-3-1, 12) . Unfortunately Ao failed to really impress and although he over-came Mexican visitor Marco Lopez (23-4, 14) he really did little to remind fans that he is a world class fighter, in fact his struggle here represented less a "world class" talent and more a man who is already looking at the end of the line. Ao is supposedly looking for a Lightweight title though on this performance he doesn't even look like a top 15 fighter at 135lbs.

(Photos courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Monday may not have been the busiest day in boxing but it was still an interesting one courtesy of a single show which featured several promising prospects.

Tokyo, Japan
The main bout saw the highly touted Naoto Uebayashi (5-0-1, 3) stopping Indonesian visitor Anis Ceunfin (16-19-5, 6) in the 5th of a scheduled 10 rounds. Uebayashi, pictured lining up a right hand on Ceunfin, is tipped for stardom and a bout against an experience foe like Ceunfin was expected to teach him new things, instead the Japanese fighter just dominated his opponent from the off.

Uebayashi wasn't the only promising and unbeaten fighter on the show as hard hitting Lightweight Kenta Onjo (3-0, 3) managed to extend his winning run with a fantastic victory over Ryuji Ikeda (6-2-1, 2). Going in we were unsure on how good Onjo was but on the back of this we need to admit he is very promising and could go a very long way.

The two main events were pretty one sided in terms of outcomes but the two support bouts, each scheduled for 6, were both somewhat competitive. Unfortunately one of those ended early as Yuji Okinori (6-1-1, 1) was forced to have a 3 round technical draw with Yudai Arai (3-1-3, 2). The other bout saw Joe Takeshima (6-3, 1) taking a split decision over Yudai Tamagawa (5-5-1, 2).

The show opened with a trio of bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. Of those contests only a single one went the distance, this one saw the debuting Ryusei Nakajima (1-0) taking a clear debutant over Sho Yasutake (0-1). The other two bouts went a combined 4 minutes 57 seconds. The quicker of those two stoppages came after 2:12 seconds of the opening round as Masaharu Hanaka (3-0-1, 2) swiftly took out Masafumi Ando (2-4, 2), the other blow out, in an all debutant match up, saw Atsuhiko Suita (1-0, 1) wipe out Yoji Goto (0-1) at 2:45 in the opening round.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Kunming, China
It's not often that boxing has a show full of novices but's what we had in China this past Sunday with a long Zovi boxing card in Kunming, the home town of Xiong Zhao Zhong, the only ever male Chinese world champion.

In total the card had 13 bouts and amazingly all but 2 of them went the distance.

One of the bouts that didn't go the distance saw Yang Xing Xin (7-3-2, 5), the most experienced man on the show, stopping the debuting Hu En Tu (0-1). Tu was one of 23 debutants on the show and like 12 others he was beaten. The other stoppage saw Yang Zheng Guang (1-0, 1) defeat Yuan Wu Qiang (0-1).

The Guang/Qiang bout was one of 3 Featherweight bouts. The others saw Zhu Yuan Cai (1-0) out point Shen Kang (0-1) and Zhang Fang Yong (1-0) take a decision over Yang Dong (0-1).

At Super Bantamweight, the lowest weight that saw some action, fans got to see Yang Zhen Yong (1-0) out point Tao Guang Hong (0-1) whilst at Super Bantamweight Pai La Kun (1-0) defeated Dong Chuan (0-1).

In the Super Featherweight division the slightly experienced Xian Wei Qian (3-3-1) defeated Jian Hai Fei (0-1) whilst Zhang Hong Peng (1-0) over-came Guo Chao (0-1).

At Lightweight Bai A Fu (1-0) defeated Wang Li Ming (0-1) whilst Light Welterweight action saw Hu Li Fu (1-0) defeated Ma Men Guang (0-1) and Wang JV Lin (1-0) took a decision over Liu Wei (0-1). 

At Middleweight where Zhang Yong Ming (2-0) defeated Yang Hui (0-1) whilst at Super Middleweight Liang Ming Kui (1-0) decisioned Ye Guo Hao (0-1)

Shizuoka, Japan
Whilst the longest show of the day was the Chinese one there was also several cards spread across Japan. For us the stand out fight, on paper, from those shows was in Shizuoka as former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion Roli Gasca (22-4-1, 6) showed his class and thoroughly dominated the less experienced Yuta Horiike (9-2-3, 2). Gasca, who genuinely a very talented fighter, is best known to Japanese fans for his losses to Yukinori Oguni and his draw to Akifumi Shimoda though in all honesty he is fringe world class and could give a lot of very good 122lb fighters a very hard nights work.

In the chief support bouts to the Gasca/Horiike bout fans got to see the light punching Shota Suito (9-3-1, 1) take a narrow decision over Michiya Sato (10-6-4, 6) whilst the once beaten Hideo Sakamoto (14-1-2, 4) made very light work of Yuki Tsuge (12-4, 6), who was stopped in just 89 seconds.

O the undercard we had 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounders. These included 2 early finishes and 2 very competitive bouts.

The most competitive of the 4 rounders was the draw between debuting pair Tatsuharu Okura (0-0-1) and Suguru Kayashima (0-0-1) which was split 2 rounds each by 2 of the judges to give us a majority decision. The other close and thoroughly competitive contest saw Japanese based Colombian Elfelos Vega (3-1, 2) take a split decision over Yuichi Sakuta (2-2-, 1) with all 3 judges scoring the bout 38-37.

The early finishes saw the unbeaten Shogo Yamaguchi (3-0-1, 2) stopping Masayuki Hirano (2-3, 1) in the 3rd round of their fight whilst Shota Okuda (4-1, 2) stopped Tetsuya Kudo (3-2, 2) in the second round of their contest.

Osaka, Japan
Alhough the stand out bout was on the Shizuoka card the best card of the day was in Osaka where we had 3 Japanese ranked fighters in action on a long 11 fight show. 

Of the 11 bouts 8 were scheduled for 4 rounds. From those 8 bouts on the lower part of the card they were evenly split with 4 ending early and 4 going the distance.

The distance bouts saw Masayoshi Hashizume (3-0, 2) beating the previously unbeaten Ryusuke Tanaka (3-1, 1) in a clear decision, Shachihoko Dragons Keita (4-2, 1) take a very narrow victory over Daisuke Takeichi (1-2, 1) and the debuting Golgosaithon Kenji (1-0) completely dominate Sumeeman Shoki (0-4) in a bout scored 40-35 by all 3 judges. The remaining decision bout was an all debutant affair that saw Takuya Hase (0-0-1) fight to a split draw with Kenta Sakaya (0-0-1).

As for the stoppages one came in an all debutant bout as Ryusei Kitamura (1-0, 1) stopped Tenmei Aoi (0-1) in 2 rounds, like wise it only took 2 rounds for Tom Tsukamoto (5-4-1, 1) to stop the previously unbeaten Yuki Ono (2-1, 1). Both of the other stoppages in 4 rounders came in round 3 as Kohei Iwai (2-2-1, 2) stopped Ryota Shimizu (3-5, 1) and Kaminoko Okamura Kentokid (3-0-1, 2) stopped Hiroshi Takagi (2-3).

In the first of the more notable bouts the wonderfully named and excitingly hard hitting Middleweight Koki Tyson Maebara (6-1-1, 6) stopped Hiroshi Ohashi (7-8, 3) who was beaten inside the distance for the third time in his career. This stoppage came with just 65 seconds left. Maebara was one of two ranked fighters to successfully win alongside the baby faced Cyborg Nawatedani (7-2-2, 3) who defended his Super Flyweight ranking with a decision over Sho Nakazawa (17-11-2, 1).

Unfortunately for ranked fighters they didn't go 3-0 as Shohei Kanemoto (9-7-1, 3) took a very unexpected victory over the hard hitting Jumbo Oda Nobunaga Shoten Petagine (8-2, 7). This bout was one where Petagine's power didn't destroy his opponent and for the second time his lack of a plan B has cost him.

Fukuoka, Japan
In Fukuoka we got a 7 bout card headed by a bout between Tatsuya Fukuhara (12-4-4, 3) and Akiyoshi Kanazawa (11-2-4, 5) which finished in a disappointing 7th round technical draw. This was a third successive set back for Fukuhara who was also the debut opponent for Takuma Inoue back in December of last year, where he dropped a lop-sided decision to the then 17 year old.

The chief support contest here saw Yuta Sasaki (6-3, 1) out point Tadashige Nakao (6-4-2, 5) in the only bout scheduled for 6 rounds.

The remaining contests were all scheduled for 4 rounds and surprisingly all but one went the distance. 

The bout that failed to go the scheduled 4 rounds saw Shuya Murata (1-0, 1) stopping fellow debutant Hayato Nakamura (0-1) at the very start, 12 seconds, into the second round.

In the bouts that went the distance Yudai Yamakawa (2-2, 1) out pointed Junya Mishima (3-7, 3), Hideaki Yamaji (4-4, 2) over-came Yuki Shigeyoshi (1-4-2), Naoki Yamashita (1-1) took a hard fought victory over Koichiro Higashi (0-3) and Yoichi Kojima (1-1) struggled to a majority decision over the debuting Ryutaro Yamamoto (0-1).

Hyogo, Japan
The remaining show that took place in Japan over Sunday was in Hyogo. This was the lowest profile card of the day though on paper it was the most perfectly matched with no visible mismatches on the card. As it turned out there a lot of competitive action even though we did see two early finishes.

The earliest of those finishes came in just 48 seconds as the limited Takaaki Kitagawa (3-2, 2) stopped the debuting Tadao Iwaya (0-1) in a blink and you miss it fight. The only other stoppage saw Yu Yan (4-2-2, 3) take out Tsukasa Horiuchi (1-2, 1) in the third round.

Although Iwaya was stopped on his debut we did see a deuting fighter score a victory as the debuting Seigo Yuriakui (1-0) completely shut out Yuki Sueyoshi (1-0, 1). Just one other 4 rounder was one sided as Ryo Kanda (2-0, 1) took a dominant decision over Tatsuya Sato (2-2, 1) with Kanada in charge of the bout from the off.

The competitive nature was seen as Takuya Sugiyama (2-2) struggled to a majority decision over Tatsuya Terada (1-1) and Kensuke Fujita (1-0-2) fought to a draw with Toru Kageyama (3-5-1, 2).

The only 6 rounder on the card saw  Takeshi Sone (5-2-1, 1) overcome Munehito Kijima (5-5-1) via a some what clear decision before the 8 round main event saw good back and forth between Kazuya Murata (9-4, 3) and Hirokazu Okajima (8-4-2,4), with Murata taking a narrow decision.


(Poster courtesy of Zovi Boxing)

In regards to action in Asia this past Saturday was dreadful with not a single card, that we're aware of taking place at all. Thankfully though a sprinkling of Asian fighters were in action across the rest of the world with some mixed results.

Washington DC, USA
The highest profile bout of the day in regards to Asian fighters was sadly the most disappointing as Beibut Shumenov (14-2, 9) was beaten by American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2-2, 32). The fight, a Light Heavyweight unification bout, lacked real drama and Shumenov was unusually tame as he fell into Hopkins's trap of fighting a slow fight. Despite being 49 Hopkins proved once again that he is a real genius in the ring and whether you like him or not he's a sure fire first ballot Hall of Fame entrant when ever he decides to hang up his gloves.

Florida, USA
On a separate US card fans got to see the highly touted, and now world ranked, Russian Middleweight Matt Korobov (23-0, 14) score a stay busy win over the completely over-matched Emil Gonzalez (11-8-1, 8). The only thing Gonzalez had for himself going into this fight was the fact he hadn't been stopped in 19 previous contests though at the end of round 6 he was retired from the contest giving Korobov his first victory of the year.

Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
Surprisingly we had two Asian fighters in action in Tanzania. 

The more surprising of the two bout on this show saw Iranian novice Sajjad Mehrabi (1-0-2) core a very unexpected draw with Francis Cheka (30-8-2, 16). Cheka, who has been in with some genuine world class fighters, was expected to score an easy win though this draw for the 28 year old Mehrabi is certainly a great result and shows that there is perhaps some talent in Iran even if it is still an untapped country for boxing.

The other other Asian on this card was also a man willing to play spoiler. This time it was Thailand's Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (13-2, 8), a former PABA Super Bantamweight champion, who did the job as he scored an opening round TKO victory over the more experienced Francis Miyeyusho (37-11-2, 23). Miyeyusho was down twice before the referee stopped the contest and gave him his 10th stoppage loss in 50 bouts.

(Picture, of Sukkasem Kietyongyuth, courtesy of boxrec.com)

Friday was a busy day throughout the Asian boxing world with fights in Thailand, Japan and Russia. Although it was busy it did seem to lack genuine competitive bouts though plenty were at least a little bit interesting for one reason or another.

Surat Thani, Thailand
In regards to rankings the most important action was in Thailand where a world ranked fighter was in action and we got a title fight.

The main event saw IBF Asia Super Flyweight champion Rusalee Samor (23-5-2, 10) defend his title against the previously unbeaten Indonesian Espinos Sabu (11-1-1, 5) with a 12 round decision victory. For Samor, who is ranked in the top 15 by the IBF this was a hugely important victory and one that could help him climb up the rankings, towards a world title fight with the winner of the upcoming Teiru Kinoshita/Zolani Tete bout.

In other bouts on this show we saw two stoppages. One of those was Japan's Takamori Akita (9-4-1, 7) stopping Indonesia's Muhammad Imam (9-4, 3) inside a round whilst the other saw Patomsith Pathompothong (9-1, 4) stopping journeyman Rommy Wassar (8-16-7, 3) in 4 rounds.

The only other bout on the show saw Thai veteran Fahsai Sakkreerin (41-5-1, 22) take a 6 round decision over the even more experienced Rivo Rengkung (32-19-5, 12) who has now lost his last 3. For Sakkreerin, who had lost 2 of his previous 3, this was a much needed win and whilst he's unlikely to ever get another world title eliminator his career can continue with him hoping to get back in the rankings and maybe even get a voluntary title fight down the line.

Unfortunately for Indonesian fighters they went 0-4 on this show with all the losers being from Indonesia.

Osaka, Japan
In Japan we had a small, and somewhat over-looked, show at the brilliant Bodymaker Colosseum. 

The main event on this Japanese show so former world title challenger Junichi Ebisuoka (23-17-6, 10) fight to an 8 round majority draw with Tetsuya Hisada (21-8-1, 11). The draw, whilst awful for Hisada, saw Ebisuoka ending a 4 fight losing streak dating back more then 2 years. Although Hisada's record might not illustrate it these two were well matched and had previously fought in a close bout that saw Hisada taking a very narrow split decision way back in 2008. Surely this won't lead to Hisada Vs Ebisuoka III, will it?

In another 8 rounder form this card we saw a relative one sided bout as Yuki Takemoto (15-18-2, 7) used his experience to over-come Yoshihiro Kinjo (7-19-2, 2). As with Ebisuoka, Takemoto is much better than his record indicates and this was his third successive win.

As well as the pair of 8 rounders we also had a pair of 6 rounders. These included an expected result as Ryuji Kanza (7-1, 5) used his heavy hands to stop Takayuki Morimoto (5-8, 3) in 2 rounds and also saw an upset as Junya Nishikawa (7-4-2, 2) over-came Shogo Hayashi (5-2-1, 3) in a split decision.
On the lower part of the card we had a trio of 4 rounders. These saw just a single stoppage as Yudai Yamashoji (2-1, 2) stopped the debuting Ryo Nishikawa (0-1) in the third round.

Of the decisions both were very competitive. The closest saw Takahiko Nakajima (3-4-1) taking a split decision over the previously unbeaten Masatetsu Hirano (1-1, 1) whilst in the other bout Yuki Takahashi (3-0) take a very narrow, albeit unanimous, decision over Marcos Sogabe (3-9-1, 3).


Krasnodar, Russia
As well as the Indonesian show we also had some pretty interesting action from Russia. 

In the main event fans got to see the unbeaten Aik Shakhnazaryan (12-0, 5) score an impressive victory over journeyman Felix Lora (18-11-5, 9) who has one of boxing's more misleading records. Although Lora is usually a good test for a young and upcoming prospect he was easily beaten here by Shakhnazaryan who scored 2 knockdowns on route to taking a near shut out victory over 12 rounds.

Shakhnazaryan wasn't the only impressive prospect in championship length fights on the show as the once beaten David Avanesyan (17-1-1, 9) took a 12 round decision over former world title challenger Kaizer Mabuza (25-11-3, 15) of South Africa.

The only 8 rounder on the show saw the once beaten Felix Amoev (8-1, 4) take a very clear decision over the tough Volodymyr Borovskyy (21-57-2, 10) who was dropped early on but made his way to the final bell..

Cruiserweight-come-Heavyweight Ruslan Faifer (3-0, 1) also managed to extend his winning run as he over-came Ibragim Khalilov (4-2-2, 2) via a 6 round decision.

For us the most interesting bout was that of the Uzbek Uktamjon Rahmonov (3-0, 1) who scored the only stoppage on the show as he beat Gegam Mkrtchyan (2-2) via a 3rd round retirement. Rahmonov looked pretty good at the Olympics before being beaten, in the quarter finals, by the eventual gold medal winner.

Indiana, USA
Russian Heavyweight Andrey Fedosov (25-3, 20) returned after 10 months out of the ring and scored a straight forward stoppage over the limited but experienced American Maurice Harris (26-19-2, 11) who was stopped in the second round.

New York, USA
In New York fans got to see the unbeaten Simeon Hardy (12-0, 9) made light work of the Uzbek born Azerbaijani Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (9-15, 7) who has now lost his last 6 dating back over a year.


(Image courtesy of http://www.kiatkreerin.com)