Tokyo, Japan
The only card of note this Wednesday was Dangan 108, a showed dubbed "The Battle".

The shows name came from the incredibly intriguing main event between the very heavy handed Masao Nakamura (18-2, 18) and the light hitting but very impressive skills Masayuki Ito (15-0-1, 6), the bout dubbed "The battle". Sadly the bout turned out to be less of a "battle" and more of an interesting but controlled bout with Ito's jab being the key punch in the contest. Nakamura managed to shine in some rounds but few would have seriously believed he had done enough to win with Ito taking a close but well deserved victory. If you're wanting to see the video of this fight, we have it here.

Nakamura, a former OPBF Super Featherweight title holder, was one of two former champions on the show with the other being former 5-weight Japanese national champion Tadashi Yuba (46-9-2, 33). Unlike Nakamura we didn't see any struggles from Yuba who took care of Filipino foe Dondon Lapuz (19-46-7, 7) inside a round. Yuba finished the bout with a pair of solid body shots which folded Lapuz up and kept him down for the count. Again we've managed to get the video of the fight here.

The third bout from the top of the show saw once beaten Filipino Michael Dasmarinas (17-1, 10) defeat the more experienced Hayato Kimura (21-7, 15) with an 8 round unanimous decision. For Kimura, who has also been known as "Big Yoo" and Joon-In Yoo, this is a major set back and one that looks even worse considering just how 1-sided the bout was. For Dasmarinas this is a win that should help push him towards an OPBF title bout even if he's not quite yet ready to face the likes of Ryosuke Iwasa. On the performance he gave however it's fair to say that Dasmarinas has a lot of potential and hopefully someone will nature it. Again, for those wanting to watch the fight, we did manage to get the video of the bout which can be seen here.

Whilst the main event didn't live up to expectation it wasn't the only domestic bout of interest and another was the Super Bantamweight bout between Yusaku Kuga (9-1-1,6) and Koji Aoki (16-8-2, 6). The men both entered the bout ranked in the top 15 domestically though Kuga was far superior to his Aoki who looked out of his depth from early on and stopped Aoki in round 6. This is the third win for Kuga since his draw with the hotly tipped Naoto Uebayashi and we'd really be shocked if the 23 year old Kuga doesn't go a long way before his career is over. This is yet another bout we've managed to track down in terms of video footage, which can be viewed here.

Prior to the 4 bouts mentioned above there were 4 undercard bouts. These began with a disappointing technical draw between Kazuya Nomura (0-2-1) and the debuting Koji Tomaru (0-0-1). The bout wasn't just disappointing in terms of result but in terms of actual fight as well with the ending coming after just 27 seconds! In a Featherweight bout fought early on the show fans had the chance to see Kei Iwahara (3-1, 2) stop the debuting Tsuyoshi Nakajima (0-1) in the 4th round of their bout. In another under-card bout we saw another early finish as the unbeaten Ryu Ueda (2-0, 2) took out fellow novice Masayuki Kondo (1-1, 1) in just 42 seconds! Amazingly we've also managed to track down the video of this quick blow out win for Ueda.

The sole 6 rounder on the show, also one of the under-card bouts, saw Japanese-Brazilian Cristiano Aoqui (8-3-2, 4) take a clear decision over Quaye Peter (5-5-2, 3). Peter, originally from Ghana, is now 0-4-1 in his last 5 bouts suggesting that his career really looks like it's hit a brick wall after starting 5-1-1.

(Image, of Kuga and Aoki, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Pathum Thani, Thailand
There wasn't a lot of action earlier today but there was some pretty interesting action in Thailand as former 2-weight world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (80-2, 52) continues one of the most remarkable winning runs in boxing. Sirimongkol scored his 37th successive win by stopping Tanzania's Omari Ramadan (11-7-1, 7) in 3 rounds to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight title. The win isn't one of the most impressive of Sirimongkol's long career but's it's his 8th win in less than 12 months, an amazing level of activity even at this very low level.

Whilst Sirimongkol is the "past" in many ways there was "the future" on the same show as the talented and promising Chalermpol Singwancha (9-0, 7) continued his fine run. The 25 year old Chalermpol made light work of the debuting Valentine Tino (0-1) with a 3rd round stoppage and scored his 8th win in 12 calendar months! Like Singwancha this level of activity is great and it would be nice to see more fighters coping with a fight every 6 weeks or so.

The show didn't go all as expected and in a notable shock Manopnoi Singmanasak (12-19, 8) stopped the previously unbeaten Pankorn Mor Poowana (3-1, 3) in the second round. 

On the same we also saw Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth (15-8-1, 10) take out the debuting Petchmorakot Sor Visetkit (0-1) in 2 rounds and in an all debutant contest Fapetch Manopchaigym (1-0) took a 6 round decision over fellow Yodkwan Bangmod Sport (0-1).

A champion really should defend their belts as often as they can. What is the point in being viewed as the best in your particular area or field if you don't prove it, right? Well this past Monday saw 4 champions all defending their belts in successful fashion on a relatively busy start to the week.

Tokyo, Japan
Of the 4 titles up for grabs 2 of them were fought for in Japan and although both were national titles they were probably the most significant, and competitive, bouts of the day.

The first of the title fights saw the unbeaten power-puncher Hiroki Okada (9-0, 7) successfully defending his Japanese Light Welterweight title for he first time with a very hard fought decision victory over Shamgar Koichi (18-6-1, 11). Koichi, challenging for a belt for the first time in his career, brought the pressure and Okada was forced to answer back in what was a genuinely enthralling contest between two well matched fighters in terms of both skills and styles. For Okada, who was cut late, this was his toughest bout and his best win though for Koichi it was another set back following previous losses to the likes of Shinya Iwabuchi.

Following the Light Welterweight clash we then moved up for a Japanese Welterweight clash between reigning champion Suyon Takayama (21-1, 7) and Koshinmaru Saito (20-6-1, 11). The two men were meeting for the second time and many may be calling for an immediate rematch given how competitive this was. Takayama had, in the first meeting, claimed the vacant Japanese title in a competitive but comfortable win but this time around things were anything but comfortable for Takayama who narrowly kept his title with a majority decision. Sadly Takayama's struggles to retain his belt here like take any lustre off a meeting between him and Yoshihiro Kamegai in what actually looked a tasty bout going in to this contest.

As well as the title bouts Japanese fans also got treat to 5 under-card bouts, two of which featured recognisable names. One of those "names" was the heavy handed and very fun to watch Shuhei Tsuchiya (16-3, 14) who made light work of Thai visitor Fonluang Sor Singyu (6-5, 4). Tsuchiya, fighting for the first time since his entertaining loss to Leonardo Zappavigna in Australia, needed just 103 seconds to get rid of Fonluang. The other was former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion Yukinori Oguni (13-1, 4) who scored his second successive stoppage as he over-came Thai debutant Ryan Sor Tanacho (0-1) in 4 rounds.

In more competitive action Keita Nakano (11-9-3, 2) scored an 8 round split decision over Masahito Igawa (12-8-1, 4) and Tonko Nakagawa (12-6-1, 4) took a 6 round majority decision over the more experienced Junnosuke Nagayasu (12-11-1, 3).

The one remaining bout on this card saw Junki Kobayashi (1-0, 1) claiming a 3rd round TKO victory over Eiji Miyamoto (0-1) in an all debutant contest.

Bangkok, Thailand
In Thailand it was the PABA interim Super Flyweight title that was being fought for. The belt, just like the Japanese titles, stayed where it was at the start of the day as Nop Kratingdaenggym (9-0, 1) retained with a 6th round technical decision against the highly experienced Hendrik Barongsay (26-18-3, 15). Nop looked sharp from the off before a headclash caused a sadly early ending to the bout.

Laguna, Philippines
In the Philippines fans got the chance to see a Filipino national title being fought for as Benezer Alolod (15-5-5, 5) retained his GAB Light Flyweight with a 5th round stoppage over Jomar Fajardo (14-5-1, 7). Alolod is now 3-0-1 (3) following his stoppage loss to Nkosinathi Joyi and has now lost just once in his last 16 bouts, a great run for a man who started his career with 3 losses in his first 5 bouts.

We only saw 2 other early finishes on this card. One of those was an opening round blow out for Jonel Alibio (17-18-5, 9) who swiftly took card of the usually tough Desson Cag-ong (14-15, 8). The loss for Cag-ong was his quickest in 29 fights and saw him suffer his first stoppage loss to a fellow Filipino having previous been stopped by a trio of Japanese fighters including Takashi Miura. The other stoppage on this show saw Lester Abutan (6-2-2, 3) defeating Dexter Dimaculangan (3-5-5, 1) in the 4th round of their scheduled 8 rounder.

One of the best wins on the card was for the unbeaten Justo Bornilla (5-0-2) who over-came the experienced Ronald Postrano (7-20-2, 3) in a very 1-sided bout. Postrano was down in round 3 and later suffered a cut from a clash of heads leaving him bloody and beaten. Aged 18 we'd suggest keeping an eye on the young Bornilla even if he does seem to lack power so far in his career. 

In the only uncompetitive 6 rounder Jesame Dela Cerna (5-2-3, 1) took a clear win over Jay-Ar Diama (1-4-4). Thankfully the other two 6 rounders were much more competitive and saw Menard Abila (5-1-4, 1) taking a split decision over Fidel Cuyno (2-4-2) and Marlon Arcilla (5-2, 1) taking a majority decision over the previously unbeaten Crisanto Contemprato (2-1-1, 1).

The only 4 rounder on the show saw the debuting Benjie Baron (1-0) get off to the perfect start with a win over Alberto Pentecostes (0-3). The win, by decision, saw Baron dropping Pentecostes early before effectively shutting down the win-less fighter.


(Image courtesy of Boxingnews.jp)

Camiguin, Philippines
The action on Sunday was limited but from what we under-stand there were two bouts in the Philippines, albeit at the low level.

Of the two bouts one ended in a genuine shock as the limited Bonnie Makiling (5-6, 4) stopped the heavy handed Rege Pahayag (7-2, 6) in round 3. This was Pahayag second loss in 3 fights and it now appears that his dreams of going places are in tatters.

In the other bout the hard hitting Jeson Umbal (7-1, 6) took his first decision victory as he over-came the very experienced Jon Rae Verano (20-17-2, 11). It was a solid 8 rounder for Umbal but he looks like he will struggle to go far if his power can't carry up through the levels.

This past Saturday was one of the busiest and longest days of the boxing year so far with fights taking place across the globe, from Australia to New York.

New York, USA
The biggest fight of the night came in New York where popular Kazakh puncher Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27) successfully retained his WBA Middleweight super title and advanced his KO% to a simply insane 90%. Golovkin was supposedly facing his toughest test so far as he battled former unified Middleweight champion Daniel Geale (30-3, 16) though he made it look like a cake walk.

The opening round was a seeing out round for Golovkin who did little until an assault late on stole him the round. The second round saw him warming up and dropping Geale whilst the third round saw him stopping Geale who was dropped for a second time before telling the referee he wasn't okay to continue. This was supposed to be a tough fight but the champion really made it all look way too easy.

Metro Manila, Philippines
The most interesting of three Filipino shows took place in the Mandaluyong Gym in Metro Manila courtesy of former fighter-turned-promoter Gerry Penalosa who had two of his nephews on the show.

Both of the promoters nephew's managed to take home wins though things were a little bit hairy for Dave Penalosa (9-0, 6) who was dropped hard by Danilo Gabisay (5-3, 3) in the third round of their fight. Penalosa, who was dropped for the first time in his career, seemed to take the knockdown personally and dropped Gabisay twice in the following round before finishing him off in the following round.

For Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr (13-0, 12) things were much easier as he saw off the very limited Dicky Amtiran (3-9) in round 3 courtesy of a solid body shot. Amitran had been down in the opening round and looked completely out of his depth from the opening bell.

Sadly the show's most interesting bout on paper ending in the most disappointing fashion as Bernabe Concepcion (32-6-2, 18) suffered an accidental cut and was forced to accept a 3rd round technical draw with Eden Sonsona (32-6-2, 10). The hope was that the winner would go on to fight in a solid international bout but with this sort of ending it seems that a rematch makes more sense than anything else for either man.

A fourth bout of note on this show saw former OPBF Bantamweight title challenger Richard Pumicpic (15-6-2, 4) clearly defeating domestic journeyman Rex Olisa (10-25-1, 8) in an 8 rounder decision. Pumicpic, one of the more under-rated Filipinos, came in to this bout following a majority decision loss to Ryosuke Iwasa and seems likely to get another title fight in the next year or two. A real danger man Pumicpic is a fighter than people will likely avoid due to the "high risk-low reward" factor that he brings to the ring, though we'll admit we're impressed when fighters do beat him.

We hope to get the remaining results from this show soon.

Metro Manila, Philippines
A second show in Metro Manila took place at The Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Complex and featured 8 bouts in total.

This show saw 7 bouts going the distance including the shows opening bout between BJ Sampiton (1-1) and Rolando Prima Jr. (0-2). Sampiton was dropped in the opening round of the 4 round contest but managed to recover well to win the remaining 3 rounds and take home the decision with scores of 38-37 across the board.

As well as the opening bout going the distance so to did the 6 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds, these include some very competitive bouts. The most even of the contests was a was a split decision draw between Jun Blazo (1-1-1, 1) and Ryan Medez (1-2-2) with the judges really struggling to split the men over the 6 rounds. Another close bout saw Jonathan Ligas (8-5-1, 1) taking a majority decision over Roy Lagrada (3-7-1, 3). A third close bout was probably the most shocking result on the card as the young Warlight Dapidran (3-1, 2) saw his unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of Gilbert Donasales (5-7-1, 3) courtesy of a split decision loss. Strangely the judge who gave the bout to Dapidran had it a near shut out, 59-55, in his favour suggesting he was watching a very different fight to the other judges who both gave Dapidran just 2 of the 6 rounds.

One of the most one sided of the decision bouts was the win for the unbeaten Joe Noynay (5-0) who dropped Mark Postrano (2-3, 1) in the opening round before taking a clear decision. Another clear decision was won by the experienced Lionel Mark Duran (13-10-2, 5) who out pointed Ruben Traza (4-7-3, 1). The remaining 6 round was a near shut out in favour of the world ranked Lionel Legada (12-6-1, 5) who over-came the over-matched Ricky Oyan (4-21-2, 2).

The only bout to see a stoppage was the main event which saw Bebong Manalo (9-2, 6) blowing away Jovill Marayan (8-18-3, 3) in just 122 seconds to score an eye catching victory.

Bohol, Philippines
At the moment we're awaiting the full set of results from a show in Bohol though we've been informed that the excellent Mark Magsayo (7-0, 5) scored a 6th round stoppage against Ernesto Tata Fontanilla (11-6-1, 5). Hopefully the rest of the results will hit us in he next few hours.

Hidalgo, Mexico
Sadly Mexico wasn't a happy location for the visiting Takahiro Shigee (11-1-1, 9) who suffered his first loss as he remained in his corner at the end of round 9. Shigee, fighting out side of Japan for the first time, was unable to cope with the pressure and experienced of the very talented Rodrigo Guerrero (21-5-1, 14) who has now scored back-to-back wins since losing to Daiki Kameda last year. With this win Guerrero also claimed the interim WBC Silver International Bantamweight title.

As with a number of other shows we are awaiting the other results from this show.

Queensland, Australia
In Australia locals fans will have been pleased to see Jason Cooper (11-3-1, 6) defeat Thai visitor Phissanuthep Chaiyonggym (4-11-1, 3) to claim the IBO Asia Pacific Super Bantamweight title. Cooper is best known to us for his loss, in China, to Qiu Xiao Jun earlier this year. Since that loss Cooper has scored a trio of victories may well turn his attention back to Jun for a rematch of what was a competitive contest.

Pennsylvania, USA
Back in the US fans had the chance to see unbeaten Uzbek Heavyweight Akhror Muralimov (16-0, 13) continue his winning run as he scored a 2nd round TKO over American who stopped Jason Bergman (23-11-2, 16) to claim the NABA USA title

(Image courtesy of Thegarden.com)

Some days are hectic and it's fair to say that this past Friday was perhaps not hectiv but it was certainly busy with title fights in 3 countries and a solid amount of action spread throughout Asia.

Changsha, China
There was a lot of action today but the best of it appeared in China as Zovi put on a fantastic card with several interesting bouts.

The best of the bouts was a contest for the WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title as China's very own Xiang Jing  (7-3-2, 1) went toe-to-toe with unbeaten Filipino Ben Mananquil (10-0-2, 2). The bout was really great and thoroughly competitive though did, sadly, result in a split decision draw leaving the title vacant and both men feeling like their efforts lacked the rewards they were due. For Mananguil this was a second successive draw in fights outside of his native Philippines following his highly controversial technical draw with Kwanpichit OnesongChaigym. Whilst we are fans of Mananguil we need to give credit to Jing who appears to be one of Chinese boxing's hidden gems.

Whilst Jing and Mananguil are the future we also saw some of the past as China's first ever world champion Xiong Zhao Zhong (24-5-1, 14) claimed a stoppage victory over Indonesia's highly experienced Jack Amisa (20-31-2, 14). Amisa retired an injury to his arm though before then he was playing up to the fans and trying to give people some fun. The real highlight however came from Zhong's celebration which included some very acrobatic moves. This was Zhong's second win following his world title loss to Oswaldo Novoa and it appears he's put that loss behind him.

An international bout on this card saw Heavyweights colliding as Romanian Razvan Cojanu (11-1, 6) claimed the WBO Asia Pacific Heavyweight title and stopped Argentina's Manuel Alberto Pucheta (37-10, 30) in 7 rounds. Pucheta was down before his corner threw in the towel signalling that they had seen enough from their man who hadn't looked good.

The Cojanu/Pucheta bout was one of two Heavyweight bouts on the card and the other saw China's very own Xia Shunkai (2-0, 2) defeat Indian debutant Harinder (0-1). Shunkai had all the advantages so it's difficult to say how good he is from this result but it's nice to see another Chinese Heavyweight, especially given the impact Taishan Dong seemed to have following his debut win over Alex Rozman.

In a Light Heavyweight bout Chinese debutant Adili Abulimiti (1-0, 1) defeated Thai based Indian Jakrit Prasong (0-1) who didn't throw a punch in anger before being stopped inside a round. 

From what we understand Tanee Piewnuan (1-0) managed to take a split decision over China's very own Dai Xianpeng (0-1) on the under-card . We are awaiting confirmation of this result though apparently the Thai really did deserve the win and out-worked Xianpeng despite the judges not recocgnising all the work of the visiting fighter.


Chonburi, Thailand
For us the more notable of two cards in Thailand saw the world ranked Knockout CP Freshmart (8-0, 4) defend his WBC Youth Minimumweight title. Knockout, the owner of the best name in boxing, saw off Filipino Cris Alfante (10-3, 3) in the 5th of a scheduled 10 rounds and appears to have taken his next step towards a world title. Ranked #6 by the WBA, Knockout is a man who will be targeting a world title fight sooner rather than later and if he keeps blowing away opponents like Alfante he's only going to speed up ascent to a title fight even if he's not yet ready for one.

On the same card there was also a win for South Korea's hard hitting Myung-goo Yuh (19-4-1, 14) who scored his 6th win in Thailand! Yuh managed to take out Thailand's very own Kaenpetch Sithmuangkan (8-4, 1) in the 4th round with a devastating left hook to the body. Yuh maybe a South Korean but he appears to have been adopted by the Thai's and it's like that the 34 year old will continue to fight there for what's left of his career, or at least much of it.

Samut Prakan, Thailand
The lesser of the two Thai cards was headlined by a WBO interim Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title fight which was by Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (17-7-1, 10) who over-came Filipino Fernando Lumacad (29-9-3, 12). Sadly for Lumacad this was his third successive loss and possibly suggests that he will now see his record become more and more scratchy if he continues. Lumacad does hold a pair of wins over Rey Megrino but those wins were more than 6 years and Lumacad really isn't a fighter looking like he can go places any more. For Petchbarngborn this was his 5th win since he was stopped by Sho Ishida in Japan and it marks a remarkable turn around for a man who, less than a year ago, had been forced to crumble to a very unheralded youngster.

Victoria, Australia
Things weren't good at all for Asian fighters in Australia as a trio of Asian's suffered losses to Australians. 

Two of those losses were suffered by Thai's with Pramool Boonpok (0-7) suffering a 6 round decision loss to the once beaten Khoder Assi (4-1, 1) whilst Boonpok's compatriot Paitoon Jaikom (1-7) went 8 rounds with the unbeaten Lewis Goodritch (4-0). Although Jaikom and Boonpok both have bad records we do think Jaikom is better than his record suggests and he's just lacking something that could help him turn things around.

In the main event Japan's Utaka Oishi (11-4, 6) was stopped by Zac Dunn (14-0, 12) who claim the WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council Super Middleweight title. This result was no shock at all, even less saw when you realise that Oishi is not a Super Middleweight and should never have been fighting as one.

(Image courtesy of Zovi Boxing)

Tokyo, Japan
On Thursday Japanese fans had the pleasure of getting another Dangan Rookie full of 4 rounders. Although the card lacked "big names" it was generally full of interesting match ups.

The show began with Toguri Kazuyoshi (2-6) losing a majority decision to Akira Morita (3-2, 1). The win, for Morita, saw him ending a 2 fight losing streak whilst Kazuyoshi has now lost 3 of his last 4.

In the second bout we saw the first of 4 C Class tournament semi-finals. This saw Wataru Takeda (2-0-1, 1) extending his unbeaten run with a majority decision over Shingo Kusanagi (1-3, 1) to move to the final of the C Class Bantamweight final. In the final we expect to see Takeda fight against Taiga Higashi (1-0, 1) who made his debut by stopping Ryo Kato (1-1) in the 4th round.

The other C Class semi finals came at Super Bantamweight. The first of these saw Ryusei Ishii (3-1, 2) stopping Miyagi Naoki (1-1, 1) inside a round whilst the second saw Yamada Kenta (3-0, 3) taking out Yudai Hata (2-3, 1) in the second round. We'll admit a bout between Ishii and Kenta could well be very exciting.

The first of 6 Rookie of the Year qualifying bouts saw the unbeaten 17 year old Kenya Yamashita (4-0, 3) scoring a last gasp KO over Katsunori Shimooki (3-5-1). The official of this bout was 3:05 of round 4! Yamashita's win was followed by a decision victory for Sonin Nihei (4-0-1, 1) who over-came the hard hitting Masayasu Nakamura (4-1, 4) in a narrow decision victory.

Another of the Rookie of the year bouts saw Ryo Hino (4-0, 1) maintain his perfect record with a very close decision over Renji Ichimura (1-1, 1) in a Bantamweight bout. Another bout at 118lbs saw Yoshifumi Tamaki (5-1, 2) returning to action after a year out of the ring and defeating Toshiki Maruyama (3-5, 2).

In the penultimate bout Abe Reiya (6-1, 2) scored a hard fought decision victory over Yuichi Katayama (3-2, 2). This saw Reiya qualifying for the next round in the Featherweight Rookie of the year. The final bout saw Takahiro Araki (5-2, 3) blowing away Kaishi Shimizu (3-2, 2) with a second of the opening round left and Araki, like Reiya, has also progressed to the next stage of the competition.

(Image courtesy of Danganboxing)

Tokyo, Japan
The major mid-week card this week took place at the Korakeun Hall this past Wednesday and it was genuinely a great domestic card with several notable fighters in action and 2 genuinely thrilling contests.

The card began with a series of blow outs. One of these was a 33 second blow out win for Masahiko Ashiya (1-0-1, 1) who took swift care of the debuting Naoki Uebayashi (0-1). Likewise it didn't too much longer for Tomoyuki Omura (8-5, 4) to see off Makoto Hiroki (4-8, 3) with Hiroki also failing to see out a round.

The first of the notable fighters in action was former Middleweight world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-9, 12) who ended a 2 fight losing streak with a 2nd round stoppage against the ill matched Jamed Jalarante (23-17-1, 11). Whilst Fuchigami is best known for his loss to Gennady Golovkin in a WBA world title fight he was, previously, an accomplished domestic and regional level fighter. Now however his career seems to be on a tightrope and a loss against Jalarante would have been the end of Fuchigami's dreams to win another title. A second round win for Fuchigami here might keep his title dreams alive though in all honesty it means little due to the poor level of ability of Jalarante.

The only other undercard bout saw Shohei Kikuzato (10-2, 5) scoring a 6th round stoppage over Taro Oikawa (3-3, 3). The fight, which was Kikuzato's first bout scheduled for 8 rounds, saw him picking up his second notable win in less than a year following his very good win over Yoichi Ide last year.

Although the show was a double header header it was one where a title fight took second billing to non-title rematch several years in the making. The title fight in question was the 7th defence of the Japanese Lightweight title by the criminally under-rated Yoshitaka Kato (28-5-1, 9) who went toe-to-toe with the heavy handed Tsukasa Saito (19-3, 14) and came out on top with an 8th round TKO over the challenger. Saito started fast and made the action very exciting before slowly being broken down by the champion with the referee making a perfectly timed stoppage.

Following the title fight we then saw Lightweights colliding against as the now world famous Nihito Arakawa (24-5-1, 16) scored a high octane and genuinely thrilling victory over Akihiro Kondo (19-4-1, 8). The bout, which saw the men fighting more than 4 years after Arakawa scored a narrow decision over Kondo, was genuinely riveting from the first round to the last with the final round being nothing short of exhilarating. Whilst it wasn't as good as Arakawa's bout with Omar Figueroa it wasn't too far behind. Rather interestingly Arakawa now seems to be in line for a fight with Kato, if the two do get it on it would be a third bout between the two and arguably the most significant with each man looking for bragging rights over the other.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Monday only featured a single show but that one show saw some really interesting action as a long weekend of boxing finally came to an end. 

Okayama, Japan
The one show that took place was in Okayama City as OPBF Super Bantamweight champion Shingo Wake (17-4-2, 10) returned to the city he was born in for his first professional bout in the city. 

Thankfully for Wake the return to Oakayama was a happy one as he stopped South Korea's Jaesung Lee (17-4-2, 9) in the 10th round after putting in an excellent performance of crisp sharp shooting to record his 4th title defence. Prior to the stoppage Lee had been knocked out of the ring and slowly broken down by a man who announced that he was wanting a world title fight next time out.

In a second title bout on this show Rene Dacquel (11-3-1, 3) fought to a 10 round draw with Ryotaro Kawabata (10-2-1, 4) in a very even and exciting bout for the WBC Youth Super Flyweight title. As a result of the draw the title remains vacant though with the action that was on show few will complain if a rematch is fought somewhere down the line.

Further down the card in an 8 rounder Kosuke Isono (7-6-1, 1) took a very close split decision over  Keigo Soma (6-10-1, 3)

The show began with a trio of 4 rounders. These saw Light Heavyweight Regent Kusumoto (2-0) taking his second win as he over-came Lamont Gilkey (0-1) in a very close decision. In an even closer bout Koichi Uryu (3-1-1, 2) fought to a split draw with the debuting Tetsu Araki (0-0-1). The other 4 rounder saw Kazuki Koyanagi (3-7) out point Yukihiro Asahara (2-4, 1).


(Picture, of Dacquel and Kawabata, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Sunday saw a host of Japanese action with various shows, lots of fights and some significant results.

Aichi, Japan
The most notable of the bouts were fought at the International Conference Centre in Nagaoya, Aichi. The show, a small card promoted by Hatanaka wasn't one with many major bouts but it was headlined by arguably the most promising prospect in world boxing, Kosei Tanaka (3-0, 1). Tanaka showed off his skills in impressive fashion by blowing away Filipino Crison Omayao (16-8-2, 4) inside a round to record his first stoppage victory. The fight was an explosive one from Tanaka who proved he had power as well as speed and skills and after the fight he announced that he wanted to target the OPBF title. 

Although some would suggest it's too soon for Tanaka to be targeting an experienced foe like Ryuji Hara we dare say that Tanaka would stop Hara on the back of what we've seen of both men. Notably Hara is world ranked by all 4 world title organsisations and a win over him would move Tanaka on to the verges of a world title fight.

The other notable result from this show was that the heavy handed Shota Hayashi (23-5-1, 15) managed to wipe out Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (8-4, 3) in 6 rounds. This was Takabayashi's firsts stoppage loss and was Hayashi 5th successive stoppage victory as he took another step towards a Japanese title fight.

Whilst the main fights ended in stoppages the shows other 4 bouts all went the distance. These 4 bouts included 2 draws with Yushi Fujita (6-5-3) fighting to a 6 round draw with Noriyoshi Taki (4-5, 1) and Yoshikazu Tanabe (0-0-2) fighting to a 4 round draw with Kabereen Yuya (0-1-1). Thankfully the other fights did end with winners and losers. One of those bouts saw Daiki Ichikawa (2-0, 1) narrowly over-coming Atsushi Takahashi (2-6, 2) whilst Kazuyuki Sato (1-3) defeated the debuting Koki Konno (0-1) via a majority decision over 4 rounds.

Aichi, Japan
A second Aichi show took place at the Aioi Hall. This show featured 8 bouts in total, including a title bout, though was over-shadowed massively by the other Aichi card.

The aforementioned title bout saw Thailand's Petchsuriya Singwancha (11-8, 5) successfully defend his WBC Youth Light Middleweight title with a very narrow majority decision victory over Ryosuke Maruki (7-3-1, 5). The bout was very competitive but the Thai did do enough to over-come the fancied Japanese fighter who has now lost back to back fights. Despite Petchsuriya having an average looking record he has won his last 6 and completely turned his record around.

Whilst the main event was a small shock there was other shocks on the card, notably in the shows 8 rounders. The biggest surprise saw Yuya Okazaki (10-7-1, 3) over-come the highly fancied Daiki Koide (21-7-2, 9). For Koide this is a stunning loss and although it was close, scored 77-76 on all 3 cards, it is a big hit towards his dreams of winning a national title. In a second of the 8 rounders Atsushi Hosogai (7-8) managed to over-come Yuta Horiike  (9-3-3, 2) who has now suffered back to back losses following a 10 round decision defeat at the hands of Roli Gasca in his previous bout.

The remaining 8 rounder saw Yuta Yasumoto (10-11-4, 7) score a 5th round TKO over Kazuki Fukakura (7-7-2, 3). Although Yasumoto isn't great he is better than his record indicates and can upset decent fighters on his day.

On the under-card there were 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds all of which went the distance. These included a majority draw between the debuting Masahiro Imada (0-0-1) and the win-less Naonori Fukaya (0-3-1) as well as The other bouts saw Ryuya Kusakabe (1-1) take a decision over Shuntaro Ouchi (1-1) with a close decision, Shin Tomita (1-0-1) also took a close decision to claim his first win as he over-came the debuting Tomohiro Shimokata (0-1). The remaining bout was also close saw Tadayuki Suwa (1-0) claiming debut victory over Hiroyuki Miyagi (0-1).

Osaka, Japan
In the Abeno Ward Centre we had two separate shows.

The first of those shows as a West Rookie of the Year show that featured 10 Rookie of the Year qualifying contests. At Light Flyweight Michitaka Muto  (3-0-1) defeated Masaki Kimura (2-1, 1) in a meeting of unbeaten fighters. Another all unbeaten clash saw Shun Kosaka (7-0) over-come novice Ryo Ishida (1-1, 1) in a Flyweight bout.

A second Flyweight bout saw Takahiko Nakajima (4-4-1) out-point Takuya Sugiyama (3-3) in a close split decision.

At Super Flyweight Masayoshi Hashizume (4-0, 2) defeated the previously unbeaten Kenji Kihisa (2-1, 1) with a clear decision. At Bantamweight however things were competitive as Takaaki Kitagawa (4-2, 2) over-came Go Mitaka (2-4-2) in a narrow contest. 

In the Super Bantamweight division we saw one of the few stoppages on the show as the hard hitting Kohei Iwai (4-2-1, 4) blasted out Takuya Yamamoto (3-3, 2) in 3 rounds. In a second Super Bantamweight bout we saw an inconclusive finish as Shohei Kawashima (6-0-2, 1) and Fumiya Imafuji (4-0-2, 1) clashed heads, resulting in a 2nd round technical decision.

The show also saw a trio of opening round blow outs. These included a 136 second victory for Toru Kageyama (5-5-1, 4) who blew out Hiroaki Iwakura (2-1, 2), a 179 second victory for the wonderfully named Chocoboy Oizumi (3-2-2, 2) who beat Shoji Fukumoto (3-5, 1) and a 127 second victory for Shota Yamamoto (4-1, 3) who wiped out Shoshui Kitajima (0-3).

The second show in the same venue was a Kazama Promotions who that featured a further 10 bouts, including 8 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. 

In the main event of the Kazama show fans saw Atsushi Aburada (9-6, 5) taking an 8 round decision over Junya Nishikawa (7-5-2, 2). In the co-feature 6 rounder Junki Oura (5-5, 1) shocked the big punching Daiya Shimazu (5-2, 4).

Of the 8 bouts over the 4 round distance 3 failed to go the distance. These included a 110 second blow out in a female bout between Terumi Nuki (4-0, 2) and Kana Fukuda (2-1). In another bout Takeru Kamikubo (4-0, 2) extended his winning run with a 2nd round blow out over Namnun Saksiri (0-1). The third stoppage saw Daiju Oeki (2-1, 2) defeating Naoki Okamura (1-1) in the 4th round.

In a Bantamweight bout Ryo Nishikawa (1-1) claimed his first win with a decision over Shinichi Yokozato (0-3), at Super Bantamweight Yu Konomura (2-2-1) defeated Shota Taguchi (0-1), at Featherweight Noriyuki Imamura (2-2) levelled off his record with a win over Ryuji Hayashi (1-3). The most impressive of the 4 rounders however was a very solid victory for Kensei Hirano (3-0, 1) who dominated Masaki Hirai (4-11-3, 2).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)