Sanaa, Yemen
There wasn't much action this past Saturday in Asia though we did see one, very notable, show in Yemen.

The least notable bout on the show saw the unbeaten Ali Mahakri (2-0) taking a 3rd round DQ win over Somalian fighter Abdu Sameer (5-3, 1). Incidentally this was the second successive DQ loss for Sameer who was DQ'd against Prince Maz a little over 2 months ago.

An interesting result from the card saw the debuting 16 year old Muhammad Harazi (1-0) take a 4 round decision over former Ali Raymi victim Ali Salem (10-2, 2). This was Salem's first bout since his loss to Raymi last November though Harazi really was the man worth talking about here winning a shut out decision.

One of 3 stoppages on this card saw Faisal Fittini (6-0, 5) extend his winning run with a 3rd round stoppage over Yaser Ali (4-2, 4). This was Ali's first stoppage loss though strangely it was his first fight in just over a year, leaving us to wonder why he was so inactive. Another stoppage from this card saw the interesting and young Hani Ansi (2-0-1, 1) take an eye catching round 1 TKO over the debuting Naser Awadh (0-1). It looked like Ansi had channelled the spirit of "Prince" Naseem Hamed in his performance in was was a genuinely memorable performance.

The headline bout of the show was a rematch between the legend of Yemeni boxing Ali Raymi (22-0, 22) and former rival Prince Maz (8-2, 6). The two men fought back in July with the end of that bout looking some what suspect with Maz being stopped with 2 seconds of the opening round left. That win saw Raymi extending his opening round stoppage run to 21 fights but saw many, including ourselves, casting aspersion on the result. A rematch however saw a conclusive result with Raymi recording a 7th round TKO over Maz. Yes, Ali Raymi, the great opening round monster, was taken beyond a round for the first time in his career.

This past Friday was a somewhat busy day though most of the more notable action came from Thailand with a number of title fights whilst in Japan we had some low level action.

Wat Tako, Thailand
In one of the Thai shows we saw two unbeaten men extending their winning records and claiming regional title belts with relatively straight forward wins, though wins which came in completely different ways.

One of those bouts saw the less than impressive Saenganan KKP (8-0, 5) claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Light Flyweight title with a 12 round decision over the limited Wilber Andogan (10-16-4, 4). Unfortunately for fans wanting to see excitement this bout would have been thoroughly under-whelming with Andogan showing little in terms of positivity whilst Saenganan left us wondering just how low his ceiling will be. To say we are less than impressed by both of these men would be stating the obvious and Saenganan has really disappointed us in successive fights now.

Whilst one Thai disappointed us the other impressed us. That was Petchchorhae Kokietgym (7-0, 5) who looked sensational in a second round blitz to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver Flyweight title. Petchorhae had won the opening the opening round and done all the feeling out he needed before rushing Roilo Golez (15-13-1, 6) in the opening seconds of round 2 to stop the Filipino in what was really a statement making win.

On the same card there was also a trio of other bouts. The most interesting of those saw the unbeaten Petchmanee Kokietgym (2-0) defeating the highly experienced Domi Nenokeba (11-21-1, 7). On paper this looks like a straight forward win however Nenokeba did drop Saenganan KKP in a recent bout and may well have done enough to have deserved the win on that occasion. The bouts both ended in second round KO's as Kongthara KKP (2-0, 2) stopped the debuting Samart Por Aripai (0-1) and Petchnamchai KKP (1-0, 1) scored a debut win over Sakadpetch Sor Kanitsorn (0-1)

Bangkok, Thailand
The second Thai card took place in Bangkok and featured a trio of notable bouts.

The main event here saw Petch Sor Chitpattana (26-0, 17) defend his WBC Youth Silver Bantamweight title with an 8th round KO against Filipino foe Jaymart Toyco (14-6, 10). Petch didn't have things all his own way though the ending was a decisive one with a fantastic 1-2 sending a defeated Toyco down. In credit to Toyco he put up a decent effort though he was fighting a better over-all fighter.

Whilst Petch and Toyco were the only title fighters on this card they weren't the only notable fighters on the card, in fact the most notable was former WBC Minimumweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai (53-1-1, 21) who, at the third time of asking, stopped Indonesian journeyman Falazona Fidal (25-41-1, 8). The ending was a controversial one with the Indonesian protesting the stoppage though he seemed to act more hurt than he was when he went down and was effectively punished for his poor acting.

A third bout on this show saw Kongfah CP Freshmart (8-0, 4) score an amazing KO over the previously unbeaten Sangthong Chor Pakdee (4-1, 4). The bout was relatively even through the first 2 round rounds with Kongfah doing enough to win them with out dominating though in round 3 Sangthong was dropped hard in a real KO of the year contender. We kid you not, this was stunning.

One fighter who didn't score a stoppage on this card was Fahpituck Por Pakdee (4-0, 3) who had to take a 6 round decision over the usually fragile Fahpikard Twins Gym (2-7).

Tokyo, Japan
As well as the action in Thailand there was also a card in Japan featuring 9 bouts, many of which were highly competitive affairs, albeit at a low level.

One of the competitive bouts saw Daisuke Sudo (2-2) claim a very narrow majority victory over the previously unbeaten Naoyuki Sakamoto (1-1, 1) likewise Fumihiro Ijima (2-2) did the same against Hiroyuki Yago (2-1) who also lost his unbeaten record. A third majority decision in the 4 rounders saw Jim Miura (2-0) narrowly keep his "0" with a win over the debuting Seiryu Toshikawa (0-1). Had any of those bouts ended up in 4 round draws no one would really have had much of a complain as they really were tight and close contests with little to seperate them. Thankfully we did have some decisive action in the 4 rounders with Mao Tameda (1-1) taking a clear decision over Ryuji Kohama (0-1) and, even more clearly, Satoshi Hongo (2-2, 1) scoring a 4th round KO against Hiroki Ishii (1-3-1).

In the sole 6 rounder Yasuhiro Tanaka (4-1-2) took a clear cut decision over Takahiro Iida (4-5-1, 2). This was Tanaka's first bout in 17 months.

The main trio of fights were all 8 rounders the most competitive of which resulted in a majority draw between Ryutaro Taira (8-4-2, 3) and Ryu Onigashima (12-6-1, 7). One of the scorecards, a 78-74 win for Onigashima, appears to be far out with the others agree to a draw with scores of 76-76 and 77-77 suggesting the bout was extremely close in their eyes. 

Another of the 8 rounders saw Kazuki Matsuyama (9-5, 5) take a 6th round TKO win over the limited but heavy handed Yudai Ueno (7-7-2, 6) whilst the final bout saw Yuki Fukumoto (16-9, 5) take an expected victory over Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-17). The Fukumoto/Sakurai bout came to an end with less than 2 minutes left due to an accidental injury with Fukumoto taking a wide technical decision win.

Western Australia, Australia
It wasn't a good day for Asian's in Australia as a trio of travellers lost.

The most notable of these was Indonesian James Mokoginta (25-14-2, 13) who lost a clear decision to Nathaniel May (7-1, 4) in a bout for the WBO Asian Pacific Youth Super Flyweight title. Although the clear loser Mogoginta likely showed up May's questionable about power, especially when one considers that that Indonesian fighter has been stopped in 8 previous fights.

Thai debutant Payayong Sueksasongkro (0-1) was a clear loser against the unbeaten Louisa Hawton (3-0, 1) though was game enough to last the distance, as was Pantiwa Laewmahosod (0-2) who took on the talented Lauryn Eagle (9-4-1, 3) in a 6 round bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp is from the Fukumoto/Sakurai bout)

Tokyo, Japan
This past Wednesday was certainly not a busy day in the boxing world but there was an 8 fight show in Tokyo.

The card was mostly 4 rounders, the first of which saw was an Atomweight fight that saw Akiko Oe (1-1, 1) take a 4th round stoppage over debutant Natsuki Tarui (0-1), this was one of 5 female bouts on the show, 4 of which were in 4 rounders.

Another of the female bouts saw the unbeaten Chie Higano (3-0) over come a 7lb weight disadvantage to defeat Yuki Kozeki (0-1) in the only one of the female bouts to go the distance. One of the other female bouts saw Yu Shoji (1-0, 1) score a 4th round TKO over Kumi Oishi (1-4, 1) whilst Yoshie Wakasa (1-0, 1) wiped out Chisa Tanaka (1-3, 1) inside a round.

The other 4 rounders on the show saw Haya Ito (2-0, 1) scoring a 44 second blow out against Yoshia Tome (0-1-1) and Akihito Mitsumura (2-1, 1) scoring a second round KO against the debuting Yusuke Tatebe (0-1).

The co-feature for the show was another female bout as former world title challenger Kayoko Ebata (8-5, 4) defeated Thailand's Petchpaya Mor Krungthepthonburi (0-2) in a 6 round decision.

In the main event fans got saw a very competitive match up between Hajime Nagai (11-6-2, 2) and Ryo Nakamura (7-4, 3). Nagai took a narrow but unanimous decision.

(Image, from the Nagai/Nakamura bout, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Tuesday may not have been a huge day in the Asian boxing world it was certainly a notable one with several interesting bouts and a very notable show.

Shanghai, China
The show of note happened in Shanghai and saw the Top Rank expansion into Asia expend as the American promoter put on their first show on the Chinese mainland and grew from merely being an outfit that has shows in Macau.

The card started with some very low level bouts that would have raised the interest of very few fans. These saw 4 bouts scheduled for the 4 round distance and featured mostly local Chinese talent.

One of those bouts saw the win-less Xu Que (0-1-1) fight to a split draw with the still unbeaten Liu Yong Cai (1-0-2, 1), it's fair to assume neither of these guys are going to be making a name for themselves in a rush. A more promising result was that of the lanky Light Heavyweight hopeful Qu Peng (6-0-1, 4) who took out former OPBF Middleweight title challenger Marlon Atla (12-5, 9) in 3 rounds. Whilst this is 3rd straight stoppage loss for Alta it was also the quickest and came 2 rounds earlier than the stoppage scored by Zac Dunn last November and 3 rounds quicker than the one scored by Makoto Fuchigami back in October 2012. We won't say Peng is a star in the making but we'd keep an eye on him.

Another man we'd keep an eye on is Halimubieke (1-0) who scored an excellent, at least on paper, debut win by over-coming Thailand's Phompetch Twins Gym (6-1, 3) and claiming a 4 round decision win. Whilst we won't make Phompetch out to be anything special it's still notable that Halimubieke beat an unbeaten man with more experience. The only other 4 rounder saw Ma Yi Ming (11-5, 7) scoring a 3rd round KO over Morakote Patanakan Gym (8-5, 4).

In the sole 6 rounder the unbeaten Zhou Yun Fei (3-0, 1) scored a 6th round TKO over Australian Marcos Amado (4-2, 2). Notably this was the first stoppage loss of Amado's career.

The first of the main bouts featured hard hitting Chinese Lightweight Ik Yang (17-0-0-1, 12) who claimed the Asia Pacific Lightweight title with an 8th round TKO win over Thailand's Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (13-3, 8). Yang, fighting for the 3rd time this year, Imposed himself from the off and dropped Sukkasem in the opening round. From then on it always looked likely that Yang was going to get the Thai out of there at some point, it was just a shock it took 8 rounds for it to happen.

Following Yang's title victory fans then got the big one as Filipino fighter Randy Petalcorin (22-1-1, 17) finally got his shot at a "world title". Petalcorin took on Panama's Walter Tello (20-8, 8) in a battle for the WBA interim Light Flyweight title and although the Filipino didn't have things all his own way he was in charge when he dropped Tello in round 7. Tello, to his credit, got up but the referee waved off the bout quickly. It wasn't the best stoppage from Raul Caiz Sr but the bout was looking like an easy win by Petalcorin who was starting to up the ante and break down Tello.

Jakarta, Indonesia
As well as the show in Shanghai there was also on in Jakarta. The headline fighter here was Defry Palulu (11-1, 10) who bounced back from his loss to AJ Banal last time out and stopped Thailand's Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth (15-9-1, 10) in 7 rounds. The talented and promising Palulu is only 23 and we'd advise keeping an eye on the youngster who looks like he could be the next star of Indonesian boxing. Although it's highly unlikely Palulu will become as big as Chris John he is certainly worth following.

Whilst Palulu is the most exciting man in Indonesian boxing right now he isn't the only "name" fighter in the country. Another "name" is that of popular journeyman Rasmanudin (18-5-3, 9) who fought to an 8 round split decision with Ruben Manakane (13-11-1, 8).

In the other bouts from this show Dicky Amtiran (4-9) took a majority decision over Benigno Nino (1-3-1) and Philipus Rangaa (8-7, 1) took a 6 round unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten John Ruba (1-1, 1).

(Image courtesy of www.the13thround.com)

We're sorry fir being a few days behind results from the weekend haven't fully reached us yet, sadly. These are however from Sunday and we'll try to get the rest of them soon.

Okinawa, Japan
The biggest fight of the day, and one of the biggest of the whole weekend, saw the return to the ring of Thailand's sensational Jomthong Chuwatana (8-0, 4). Jomthong, who had been away from boxing for well over a year, returned to defend his OPBF Super Featherweight title and over-came Japan's very own Koseki Nakama (17-5, 8) with a clear decision. From the reports we've been sent Jomthong was dropped in round 2 though won everyone of the other 11 rounds to take a clear 118-109 victory. The footage of this fight can be found here.

In the co-feature the IBF world ranked Go Onaga (22-2-2, 16) scored a 2nd round KO over limited Thai veteran Samransak Singmanasak (35-24-1, 27). This was Onaga's first bout in 10 months and it seems likely that he'll be seeking a title fight in 2015. Although the Japanese Super Flyweight title isn't an easy one to win right now we do imagine that will be Onaga's target, unless he wants to go the OPBF route.

In one of the two support bouts Masatoshi Kotani (15-2, 11) took a highly debatable split decision over Filipino Edgar Gabejan (26-30-6, 8). Many fans and media felt that Kotani was very fortunate and with Gabejan being little more than a journeyman this really was a poor performance from the Japanese fighter.

Although Gabejan was unlucky it's fair to say that the luck wasn't all against the Filipino's as Dado Cabintoy (14-4-2, 7) managed to take a tight technical majority decision over Yuta Sasaki (6-5, 1). This was Cabintoy's third straight win in Japan and strangely he is 5-0 outside of the Philippines an 9-4-2 inside the country of his birth.

In the two 6 rounders fans were treat to blow outs. One of those saw Yusuke Iju (6-4-1, 3) blow out Yoshiki Kawamura (4-6, 3) whilst the other saw Shoto Chinen (5-1-1, 4) take out Petch Sirimongkolgym (0-2) inside a minute. Whilst in the opening bout fans got the chance to see Yoshiki Uehara (1-1) take a decision over Haruma Maki (0-1).

(Image, from Onaga's victory over Singmanasak, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Although there wasn't a lot of action this past Saturday there was plenty for Filipino fans to be interested by with a full card in Davao del Sur and a Filipino fighting on the road in Mexico.

Davao del Sur, Philippines
Unfortunately on the domestic scene many of the Filipino in Davao del Sur were less than competitive, although fans did get the chance to see plenty of notable names in action they were really facing very poor foes in what were show case bouts more than really competitive contests.

One of those mismatches saw the very talented Jerwin Ancajas (21-1-1, 13) stopping Ali Rochmad (20-3, 14) inside a round. On paper this was competitive though in the ring it was a pure mismatch and there was a huge gulf in ability between the two men as Ancajas just ripped Rochmad a new one. Sadly Ancajas wasn't the only man to be fighting an over-matched foe and it took the hard hitting Aston Palicte (14-1, 12) less than a round to dispose of Frans Damur Palue (7-4-2, 3) with Palue being stopped on the 3 knockdown rule. Likewise it took Filipino Light Welterweight champion Adones Cabalquinto (17-0, 10) a round to see off Elmer Legaria (13-8, 4) in what was a completely pointless match up.

In all frankness Ancajas should be looking at world ranked foes right now, Palicte should be facing top domestic competition and Cabalquinto should be doing all he can to get himself a shot at an OPBF ranked opponent. Sadly we know the money behind these guys doesn't match their ability though there is nothing to be gained from this level of mismatches.

Sadly it didn't take the highly talented Jack Tepora (11-0, 7) much longer to defeat Michael Escobia (10-8-1, 2). We had expected Escobia to provide some resistance here but he couldn't cope with "Golden Boy" Tepora who should turn his attention to top domestic foes now.

On paper the most competitive bout was a domestic contest between Jetly Purisima (19-13-4, 5) and Jayson Rotoni (13-14-1, 7). This 8 rounder went the distance with Purisima taking home the win in a battle of "lesser fighters".

The remaining 7 fights all featured unbeaten hopefuls in action the most experienced of whom was Jelbirt Gomera (6-0, 4) who went the 8 round distance with the tough but limited Jhun Ryan Quimbo (4-5-1). The bout will have done Gomera a lot for his development considering that he had never previously gone beyond 6 rounds. Likewise we feel that Jay-ar Inson (5-0, 3) will have learned plenty in his 6 round decision victory over Avelino Ramos (3-4), though this was the second time in as many fights that Inson had gone the distance. The same could be said for Marvillo Aballe (4-0, 2) who also got taken the distance for the second time in as many fights as Michael Padayag (3-2) offered a stern test. Another fight that went 6 rounds saw Genesis Libranza (4-0, 2) take a win over Edward Joaquino (2-2), this was he first time Libranza had gone the distance since his debut.

The most notable bout was one that featured the recognisable name of "Pacquiao" as Joneil Dapidran Pacquiao (5-0, 3) stopped the usually durable Gabby Siempo (5-5-1, 1) inside a round, this was Pacquiao's third straight stoppage win suggesting he's finding his groove whilst Siempo suffered his 4th straight loss, though it was just his second stoppage loss. Another stoppage on the under-card saw Christian Araneta (5-0, 4) extend his winning run with a 3rd round stoppage over the previously unbeaten Melmark Dignos (2-1)

In a 4 rounder we saw Renemark Cuarto (2-0) take a win over the debuting Gilbert Flores (0-1).

México, Mexico
Sadly the weekend wasn't a good one for the travelling Daniel Ferreras (13-9-2, 4) who went to Mexico in pursuit of the WBC Youth Silver Super Bantamweight title and came back with just another loss as the very promising Rey Vargas (21-0, 18) took him out in the second round. Ferreras finds his name added to a growing list of Filipino victims who have been stopped by Vargas who has previously stopped the likes of Juanito Rubillar and Silvester Lopez amongst others.

(Image, of Jerwin Ancajas, courtesy of boxrec.com)

It's been a whilst since we had some fights though this past Friday was chock-a-block with fights taking place through out Asia. The day had cards in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan and gave us a share of shocks, blowouts, predictability and excitement reminding us why we all love boxing, even in it's down periods. 

Tokyo, Japan
For us the most notable of the shows was the reason promoted show at the Korakuen Hall that featured a trio of notable match ups alongside 7 lesser fights. The card wasn't an amazing one but was notable and significant on the Japanese and Asian boxing scene due to the main trio.

The first of that significant trio was Taiki Eto (13-3, 10) who bounced back from his loss last time out to Yohei Tobe and simple destroyed Brukluk Kor Narong Service (0-2) in just 2 rounds. Whilst Eto was stopped in a Japanese title fight by Tobe it's interesting to note that Brukluk's only previous fight was a loss to current Japanese champion Sho Ishida who, just like Eto, stopped the Thai in 2 rounds.

The second of the significant bouts also ended in the second round as the heavy handed former Japanese, OPBF and PABA champion Akinori Watanabe (31-4, 27) easily took out Thailand's Chatchai Sithsaithong (8-4, 6). This bout was Watanabe's return to the ring after a 9 month break though it's obvious from this performance that he still has enough to compete at title level.

In the main event Super Featherweight hopeful Shingo Eto (14-2-1, 9) made light work of Arnon Sithsaithong (0-1) who was stopped inside a round. After the fight it was announced that Eto would be fighting Japanese champion Rikki Naito in October in what looks almost certain to be a fantastic bout.

Whilst the main trio of bouts went a combined 5 rounds it's worth noting that the 7 undercard bouts also all ended early, in fact those 7 bouts went a combined 13 rounds!

The quickest of those undercard bouts saw the debuting Tsubasa Koura (1-0, 1) score a notable opening round blow victory against Naoki Morooka (2-1, 2). Aged just 19 Koura may be worth keeping an eye on desite his bout here only last 142 seconds. The only other opening round victory scored on this undercard was by Daichi Yamamoto (1-2-1, 1) who took just 25 seconds longer than Koura to score his victory. For Yamanoto he got his maiden victory with a KO over the still win-less Kazuma Fukino (0-3).

Of the 7 undercard bouts 4 went into the second round. The quickest of those 2 round bouts saw Shunsuke Mori (1-2, 1) scoring a stoppage 28 seconds into the round as he punished Takuya Sagehashi (0-1). It took Ryotaro Tokusa (1-0, 1) a further 20 seconds, 48 seconds of round 2, to take out his debut foe Hiroshi Higuchi (0-1) in an all debutant bout. Another debutant who suffered a set back was Kaiki Oshira (0-1) who was beaten by Hokuto Kawana (3-0, 2) at the 2:22 mark of round 2.

The other man who scored a second round KO was 19 year old Daigo Higa (2-0, 2) who were impressed by on his debut. Higa made light work of Thai visitor Rotthang Wor Por Srisaket (0-3) who was stopped at the 2:40 mark of the second round.

The only bout on the entire show to go beyond 2 rounds saw Kazumichi Ishizawa (3-4, 1) taking a 3rd round stoppage victory over Motonobu Suzuki (2-5). On paper this was one of, if not the, most evenly matched bout but even that didn't help it go the distance.

Hyogo, Japan
At the Kobe Central Gym there was a small but very notable show courtesy of Shinsei Gym. The card featured just 6 bouts though a number of them were fought as part of a small Japan Vs Philippines event. 

The show opened with a 4 rounder between Koichi Sumiya (0-1-1) and Yuki Arakawa (0-1-1) that ended in a split decision draw. The only other "under-card" bout saw Ryo Kosaka (8-3-1, 4) taking a second round KO over Monkey Shuhei (5-5-1, 2) in a scheduled 6 rounder.

The first of of the main bouts was a win for the Philippines as as the battle hardened and experienced Roque Lauro (11-16-4, 2) took a split decision over Japanese teenager Ryuya Yamanaka (7-2, 2). On paper this was a mismatch though delving below just the raw records suggests that Lauro is a very capable foe and has been in with a relative who's who whilst fighting well above his natural weight. With wins over Joan Imperial, Ronelle Ferreras and Myung Goo Yuh we'll suggest that Lauro is one of those potential banana skins, as Yamanaka found out here.

The second bout was another win for the Philippines as former OPBF title challenger Jhunriel Ramonal (14-7-4, 7) took a narrow split decision over Kota Fukuoka (15-5-2, 12). Ramonal had been stopped, in 3 rounds by Shingo Wake, last time he was in Japan though appears to have found that his level here with this win, a great result given that he had been stopped in his 2 previous bouts.

The Philippines made it 3-0 as the criminally under-rated Renoel Pael (14-1-1, 5) scored a dominant decision over the heavy handed Yuki Yonaha (3-2, 3). This bout wasn't even close and there was no debating the winner here as Pael put on a masterclass against a man who looked out of his depth. We'd suggest keeping an eye Pael as he appears to have plenty of skills and has no fear fighting on foreign soil, in fact his best performance came in Thailand against Noknoi Sitthiprasert just 6 months ago, the judges gave that to Noknoi though Pael really did deserve the win.

The only win for Japan came in somewhat disappointing circumstances as the the highly regarded Shun Kubo (5-0, 4) defeated Renren Pasignahin (6-4-1, 2) with a 4th round TKO. From what we understand the Filipino suffered a nasty injury that forced him to suffer his first stoppage defeat. In saying that we do suspect that Kubo would have won regardless of the injury but it is still a disappointment from the all involved. Pasignahin was robbed of his chance to compete after less than 4 rounder and Kubo was robbed of a "clean" win, a real shame.

Makati City, Philippines
As well as the action in Japan we also had two cards in the Philippines. 

At the bottom of this card was a number of novices, including the debuting Mark Angelo Plana (1-0) who successfully kicked off his professional campaign with a clear decision over fellow debutant Lordy Pateno (0-1) in a 4 round. The Plana/Pateno bout was one of two 4 rounders with the other one being won by female hopeful Naome Tacda (2-0, 2) who defeated Aisah Alico (5-4, 4) in the second round. In the sole 6 rounder Jonathan Dela Cruz (5-0, 2) recorded a second round KO against the usually durable Jomar Borbon (4-19-2, 2). 

The bulk of the show's contests were 8 rounders and these featured the show's most competitive bouts. The compeititve contests featured a surprising split draw for Ronelle Ferreras (14-7-3, 6) with JC Francisco (6-8-3, 2), a further shot to Ferreras's career which has really taken hit after hit this year, and also a split decision win for Eric Panza (6-2-1, 1) who narrowly over-came Pablito Canada (4-4-1, 1) in a very close contest.

In less competitive contests we saw a pair of stoppages for Japanese fighters. The less significant of those bouts saw Ryuta Wakamatsu (10-10, 7) stopping Aroel Romasasa (11-7, 5) in the second round in a slight upset. The other bout shocked no-one as Momoko Kanda (7-6-2, 1) stopped Nongnun Mor Krungthepthonburi (2-3) in 4 rounds and claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council female Minimumweight title. This was the second bout between Kanda and Nongnun, the first time they met Kanda took a decision over 6 rounds but this time it seems she was fighting with real confidence and forced the stoppage of her Thai opponent.

The card featured a pair of 10 rounders but neither of them was even close to being competitive. One of them saw popular world ranked power puncher Warlito Parrenas (21-6, 18) completely dismantling Richard Garcia (25-20-1, 7) in the third round. Parrenas, one of the hardest puncher in the Super Flyweight division, broke apart Garcia with body shots in the third round and left Danrex Tapdasan with no option but to stop the contest. The other 10 rounder lasted a mere 36 seconds as Rey Juntilla (18-5-3, 11) detonated a body shot on Cris Leon (7-11-4, 3) who failed to recover. 

Sadly the main event was equally as one sided with Richard Claveras (9-0-2, 9) defending his WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an opening round KO against Thailand's Sangthong Chor Pakdee (4-1, 4). We expected this to be explosive, but we didn't think it was going to be over quite so quickly.

Metro Manila, Philippines
The second Filipino show took place in Metro Manila at the The Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Complex and proved to relatively full of mismatches.

The card opened with a pair of 4 rounders, both won by men who went into the bouts as unbeaten. These saw Robin Langres (2-0, 1) take a 4th round TKO over Jonathan Pedrosa (0-6-1) and Jetlee Formentera (2-0, 1) take an opening round blow out victory against Roberto Mendano (0-2). 

Although the opening contests didn't last long the pair of 6 rounders both went the scheduled. These saw Wilbert Berondo (4-0, 2) score a near sut out over Roy Albaera (2-24-5) whilst the once beaten Diomel Diocos (4-1-2, 2) took a majority decision over Vincent Bautista (1-2-1). Strangely the Diocos/Bautista bout was scored 59-54 by two judges whilst the third had contest level at 57-57. The final "undercard" bout was the sole 8 rounder which saw Jeffrey Francisco (10-0-1) extending his unbeaten run with a clear decision over domestic journeyman Jeson Berwela (4-17, 2).

The bulk of the card was the trio of 10 rounders. The first of those saw Giemel Magramo (11-0, 8) taking and early and easy win over over the experienced but limited Jovel Romasasa (10-20, 4). Romasasa retired at the end of the 2nd round giving Magramo his 11th win though hopefully he will be matched more competitively next time out. Sadly much of the top bouts here were uncompetitive and in Featherweight action Juan Miguel Elorde (16-1, 8) took a 5th round TKO over Paulus Baransano (0-4). Juan Miguel Elorde wasn't the only member of the Elorde family to score a win as his brother, Juan Martin Elorde (16-1-1, 7), defeated Juniston Simbolon (7-12-1, 3) via a 6th round technical decision. At the end of the bout Elorde was bloody from an accidental headbutt hence going to the cards early. Both of the Elorde's were facing Indonesian foes.

The main event saw another easy win for a Filipino against an Indonesian as Dennis Laurente (48-5-5, 29) stopped the very limited Elly Pangaribuan (3-4, 1). This was Pangaribuan's second successive second round stoppage following on from his defeat to Nobuhiro Ishida just over a year ago.

Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
In Thailand we saw PABA Featherweight champion Thong Sithluangphophun (10-0, 7) defend his title with a 3rd round KO against Indonesian challenger Yakobus Heluka (7-8). For Heluka this was a 4th straight loss and it seems like he's generally just getting in the ring to lose right now, a real shame. The ended for this one was a bit on the nasty side from Thong though it does appear that Heluka decided that he didn't want to continue.

Quebec, Canada
In Canada fans got to see the heavy handed and very promising Artur Beterbiev (5-0, 5) take a very quick win over the over-matched Alvaro Enriquez (12-13-2, 4) in what was clearly a stay busy fight after spending 7 months out of the ring. We now expect to see Beterbiev facing former world champion Tavoris Cloud in September in what looks to be a genuinely fantastic bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
This past Monday we saw a new OPBF Light Middleweight champion crowned as the heavy handed and always fun to watch Koji Numata (22-7-2, 17) scored a 10th round TKO over the tough Takehiro Shimokawara (19-9-3, 6). The bout had been competitive through the first 8 rounds but Numata seemed to be breaking down Shimokawara and in round 10 a body shot finished off Shimokawara. This bout, a rematch of a draw from earlier this year, wasn't quite as good as their first bout but it did see Numata becoming a 2-time champion having previously held the Japanese Welterweight crown.

As well as the main event we had a trio of notable support contests. The quickest of those was over in just 109 seconds as Shoma Fukumoto (4-1, 4) quickly saw off Petchdum Manopchaygym (0-3) in double quick fashion. It's a shame this was a huge mismatch but it wasn't helped by the fact Petchdum had given away almost 10lbs against the very heavy handed Fukumoto.

It didn't take significantly longer for Cobra Suwa (14-11-2, 7) to see off the debuting, though horribly matched, Surin Sor Vorapin (0-1) who lasted just 208 seconds. The bout was Suwa's second win this year though he did suffer back to back losses in 2013 and needed some obvious confidence rebuilding.

The third of the key support bouts saw Yusuke Suzuki (5-1, 3) defeating experienced Filipino Monico Laurente (24-12, 5) with an 8 round decision. Suzuki has now scored a trio of successive victories following his sole loss, to the excellent Yusaku Kuga, and now looks like to be moved up the OPBF rankings. There is no rush for the 25 year old Japanese southpaw but wins like this are certainly notable. Sadly for Laurente this is his 4th loss in 5 fights and his 5th loss in 7 bouts suggesting that his career is coming to a screeching halt.

The undercard of this show featured 3 low level bouts,only 1 of which went the distance. The distance bout saw Daisuke Yamada (1-0) narrowly over-coming fellow debutant Koji Kannami (0-1) with a majority decision. For those who enjoy knockouts the rest of the under-card was more to their liking with Shogo Kitsukawa (1-0, 1) scoring a 75 second blow out of Jo Kato (0-1) in an all debutant Welterweight clash and Gen Kawasaki (2-1, 2) took 90 seconds to see off Kazunori Kakishima (2-4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

California, USA
There was little action of Asian interest this past Saturday though we did see Teiken promoted, and Japanese ranked, fighter Jorge Linares (37-3, 24) in a stay busy fight as he took on the incredibly limited Ira Terry (26-12, 16). Linares, who really was just ticking over before a potential WBC Lightweight world title fight later this year or early next year, did what he was supposed to by winning in style and scoring a KO of the year contender in the second round of the bout. The way he put Terry away was frightening though it did show the gulf in class between the two men with Terry being little more than a journeyman whilst Linares is a genuine world class talent.

This past Friday may not have had much action in Asia but it still managed to have some very interesting action.

Pathum Thani, Thailand
In a televised card from Thailand Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (52-1, 33) took a less than impressive decision over Wang Yi Ming (2-3, 2). The bout, a 6 rounder, went the way it was expected to though Chonlatarn did little to really impress and if anything he showed that he's not ready for a world title fight. It however did seem like he was going through the motions and ticking over.

Whilst Chonlatarn did as expected we did see a shock on the show as Xian Wei Qian (5-3-1) managed to take a very well earned decision over the previously unbeaten Thewa Onesongchaigym (5-1, 1). This bout, for the WBC Asian Boxing Council Featherweight title, was expected to see Thewa take his first regional title but the Thai did nothing to earn the decision which rightfully went to the deserving Chinese boxer. Credit, for once, to the Thai judges which have got an awful reputation.

As well as the two results that are from boxrec.com we have been informed of 3 other results. According to our Thai source these aren't ever expected to be listed on boxrec.com though they apparently took place off TV.

These included Saichon or Ounsuwan (0-19) suffering his 3rd straight stoppage loss as he was taken out, in 3 rounds, by Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym (28-0-2, 13), another bout also ended in 3rd round KO for Saentanong Onesongchaigym (4-0, 2) who stopped Pompetch sor Kanitsorn (unknown, suspected 0-1). From what we've been told Saentanong is viewed as a very promising prospect.

We were also informed that former female title holder Teeraporn Pannimit (18-8, 5) was upset, in a massive shock, by Petchlookso Manoprungroj (unknown, suspected 1-0). We'll admit we are shocked, massively, by this result given that Teeraporn was a former world champion though presumably Petchlookso will be managed aggressively, especially after this win. In another female bout Ploynapa Sakrugrueng (suspected 1-0) defeated Minibus Mor Ratanabandit (suspected 0-1),though neither woman is on boxrec at the time of writing.

Victoria, Australia
There were no real surprises in Australia where a pair of Thai's suffered losses. The most disappointing of those losses saw Ngaotawan Sithsaithong (10-15-1, 5) being stopped inside a round to Aussie debutant Jason Moloney (1-0, 1). The stoppage came after the Thai had been dropped 3 times in just 170 seconds.

The other bout saw Patomsith Pathompothong (9-2, 4) coming up short against the unbeaten and promising Ibrahim Balla (6-0, 4) who took a decision. The loss for Patomsith is far from a bad one with many in Australia tipping Balla to be a star of the future.

California, USA
The most notable bout of the day was in the US and televised by ESPN. The fight was an all Russian IBF Lightweight title eliminator as Denis Shafikov (34-1-1, 19) battled with Rustam Nugaev (27-7-1, 17). The bout was one of the most entertaining 1-sided contests we've seen in a while though at the end of the bout Nugaev was a mess with what appeared to be a broken cheek bone, a possible broken nose and various other facial injuries. Although it started moderately competitively Shafikov ended just battering the tough Nugaev who was mercifully saved by referee Jack Reiss in the 9th round. By the though the bout was a lost cause from Nugaev's point of view as he was eating powerful and sharp combinations from a man a clear level above himself.

The win for Shafikov earns him a rematch with Miguel Vazquez though in fairness it's unlikely the Russian will manage to avenge his sole loss, especially considering the styles of the two men.

(Image courtesy of boxrec.com)