Kyoto, Japan Today saw Japanese fans turn their attention away from the usual boxing hotspots of Tokyo and Osaka and instead focus on Kyoto which hosted a couple of Japanese title fights which saw the fighters not only trading blows for the title but also for regional bragging rights. The main event of the show was the second of the shows title bouts and saw the world ranked Shohei Omori (15-0, 10) successfully defend his Bantamweight title for the first time with a dominant 6th round TKO win against former 2-time world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai (11-4-2, 1). From the opening bell it seemed that Omori was too big and too strong for his challenger, who never seemed to be able to feel at ease. Omroi's domination was made more evident in round 3, when he dropped Mukai for the first time. Mukai was again down the following round as Omori landed a devastating body shot, tough his sloppy assault allowed Mukai to see out the round, and mount something of a comeback in round 5. Despite Mukai stemming the tide slightly he was unable to survive the 6th round when the referee was forced to save him. Although the performance was sloppy from Omori the youngster seemed to accept that the fight was a learning experience and that he would look to defend his title again before chasing a world title fight. Incidentally Mukai had previously taken Super Flyweight destroyer Srisaket Sor Rungvisai 9 rounds so in comparison this is an incredible result for Omori. In the other title fight Japanese Lightweight champion Kota Tokunaga (15-2, 11) stopped his good friend Yuhei Suzuki (16-5, 12) in the 10th round to keep a grasp on title and pull out a truly fantastic come-from-behind win. Through the first half of the fight it was Suzuki in charge, with two judges having it 50-46 after 5 rounds. From then on however Tokunaga moved up a gear and the final 3 rounds were a fantastic charge from the champion who eventually saw off Suzuki with just 70 seconds left. Despite the win, which secured his first defense of the title, Tokunaga has perhaps given away his gameplan for the future with this bout seeing him start slowly, as he did last time out, and maybe future opponents will see that in future bouts. Whilst the champion is clearly a long way from a world title fight he will develop a a great fan base with performances like this. Not only did both champions record their first defenses but they are both stablemates at Woz boxing, a gym that really appears to have had a defining year in 2015 and will be hoping to see their success continue into 2016. As well as the two title bouts the card featured a trio of under-card bouts. One of those was a female bout which saw Tamao Ozawa (9-2, 2) score a decision win over Filipino visitor Carleans Rivas (4-3-3). This was Ozawa's 3rd successive win since she was stopped by Kai Johnson in March 2014. Another of the under-card bouts saw light punching 20 year old Shun Kosaka (10-2, 1) score his first stoppage win as he took care of Thailand's Petchmai Sor Praithong (0-5) in the 5th of 8 scheduled rounds. The remaining bout was a 4 rounder which saw the debuting Ryotaro Motohashi (1-0, 1) defeat Ryuichiro Okada (0-2) with a majority decision. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
0 Comments
Bangkok, Thailand
This past Tuesday saw Thailand hosting a small show televised on channel 11. The card wasn't a huge one but did feature a 2-weight world champion has continued his pursuit of a third divisional world title. That former world champion was Sirimongkol Singwancha (86-2, 55) who scored a 3rd round KO against Tanzania's Saidi Mundi (12-2-1, 5), who fought under his middle name of Abdulrahmani. The visitor was dropped in the opening round, from a shot to the head, dropped again in round 2 from a shot to the back of the head and then finished with a borderline body shot in round 3, by which point he had seemingly already quit. With this win Sirimongkol recorded the second defense of the WBO Asia Pacific Super Welterweight title. Emerging title hopeful Chalermpol Singwancha (15-0, 11) continued his winning streak with a decision win over a taller but Unknown opponent. Despite the win Chalermpol continued to leave us with the feeling that he's just a very 1-paced fighter who hasn't really been able to improve on the skills he had when he turned to the pro boxing ranks. He does have heavy hands and a nice array of shots but does seem like he's unlikely to go too far given his inability to find an extra gear. Although we weren't impressed with Charlermpol we must confessed that our heads were turned when we saw teenager Campee Singwangcha (5-0, 5), who scored a brilliant 1-punch KO of an unknown opponent in the second round. The promising teenager, who showed more than enough to get excited about, looks like he has the potential to be a very good contender if matched well. The finish showed that he has genuine power, he had also shown brilliant handspeed and a lot of raw talent. It may be a bit too early to proclaim him as one of the best prospects in Thailand but he really did shine here and looks to know how to do more than just come forward. We have been informed there was a 4th televised bout but at the time of writing we're unsure on either of the fighters were. Taconing retains OPBF title in thriller, Magramo continues unbeaten run, Elorde Bros. get stoppages9/13/2015 This past Saturday wasn't the busiest day in Asian boxing, but there was still plenty of action.
Metro Manila, Philippines The biggest show in Asia came from Metro Manila where fans had the chance to see several prospects as well as a world class fighter defending a regional title. The main event saw that world class fighter, namely Jonathan Taconing (22-2-1, 18) make his first defense of the OPBF Light Flyweight title as he out slugged Jomar Fajardo (14-9-2, 7) to claim a 10th round technical decision. The fight, an all out war, saw both men suffer cuts from head clashes which eventually caused the end of the bout, but had been a thriller until then. Fajardo, who made his name last year with a draw against Francisco Rodriguez Jr, was dropped in round 4 though showed real guts to continue fighting off Taconing. We're now hoping that Taconing ditches the OPBF belt and chases a world title fight, though the cuts he suffered here may keep him out of the ring for a while. Whilst the main event was a brilliant match up the same couldn't be said of much of the card which generally featured some dire mismatches. One of those saw Juan Miguel Elorde (19-1, 10) blow away Arnold Mau (2-6, 3) inside a round. Another mismatch saw Elorde's older brother Juan Martin Elorde (18-1-1, 8) defeat Yakobus Heluka (8-13, 1) in 6 rounds. It wasn't just the Elorde brothers picking up stoppage wins as the very promising Giemel Magramo (14-0, 11) did the same, stopping Roilo Golez (15-15-1, 6) in the third round. Golez was once a contender but a 3-9-1 record in his last 13 bouts says it all and he's now little more than a domestic level journeyman. Another unbeaten fighter to pick up a win was 21 year old Jay Loto (10-0-1) who out-pointed Ryan Bajala (4-4-1, 2) over 8 rounds. Another 8 rounder saw Jeffrey Francisco (12-1-1, 1) take a decision over Jeson Berwela (4-20, 2). In a 6 rounder Daffy Dempo (3-4, 2) scored a minor upset win over Kenta Ide (2-2-1, 1). One other result from this card that we have was a a win for Robin Dingcong (1-3-1, 1) who scored his first win with a 3rd round KO against the debuting Jaime Escanaries (0-1) Cebu, Philippines Sadly we don't currently have the results from a show in Cebu. Las Vegas, USA On the biggest of the weekend fans of Asian did have something's to make a note of. In an all-Asian bout Sanjarbek Rakhmanov (2-0, 1), from Uzbekistan, out pointed Farkhad Sharipov (4-5, 1), from Kyrgyzstan. This 6 rounder was a good test on paper for Rakhmanov but it was white was with all 3 judges scoring it 60-53 to the unbeaten 26 year old. Another Asian on this card was Filipino youngster Recky Dulay (8-2, 5) who was taken out in 94 seconds by the talented and heavy handed Gervonta Davis (12-0, 11). Although the loss was a bad one for an Asian fighter we were genuinely impressed by Davis who looks like he has the tools to face much stiffer competition. This past Friday saw two Asian shows.
Hangzhou, China The most notable of the two Asian shows came from Thailand. In the main event Chinese fans saw local star Qiu Xiao Jun (18-2, 8) retain his WBC “Silver” Super Bantamweight title with a 6th round KO win against Filipino Diarh Gabutan (19-5-3, 10). At times Jun was made to look very silly by the movement of Gabutan however a left hook in round 6 dropped the Filipino for the count. Ranked #1 by the WBC Jun should be in line for a world title shot but this performance showed that there was still a lot of improvements that the 25 year old will want to make before testing himself against the best in the world. In the chief support bout Thailand's unbeaten Kaewfah Tor Buamas (20-0, 13) maintained his unbeaten record, and claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Lightweight title, with a decision win against Andrew Wallace (10-6-1, 6). On paper this was a mismatch but Wallace really pushed Kaewfah all the way in a very competitive fight. A more competitive bout, at least on the cards, saw Herman Ene Purcell (6-4, 4) claim a majority decision over Isaraphap Sor Varunee (3-3. 2). This 6 round bout had 3 very close cards but Purcell did deserve the win. Another 6 rounder saw Japan's Hurricane Futa (19-5-1, 10) take a 5th round technical decision over Hero Tito (10-8-1, 3). The bout ended with Futa suffering a cut over this right eye from a head-clash and the fighters needed to go to the cards early on with Futa taking a split technical decision. Another contest saw Venezuelan novice Omrri Bolivar (2-0, 1) take a 5 round unanimous decision win over Thailand's Khunkiri Wor Wisaruth (21-13-1, 14). The bout, originally scheduled for 6 rounds, was re-scheduled to just 5 rounds with Bolivar taking the win. In an all debutant bout Ding Ya Jie (0-0-1) fought to a 4 round draw with Dang Liang Liang (0-0-1). Thailand The other show was in Thailand. The main event on this card saw the unbeaten Thong Sithluangphophun (14-0, 9) take a 12 round decision victory against game Filipino Danilo Pena (27-22-4, 11). Thong, defending his PABA Featherweight title, was put under pressure by Pena but knew too much and deserved the win, though it was one he had to work for. Despite Pena's record he is a game competitor and he showed that here. Thong's stablemate Hanuman Sithluangporphun (11-4, 3) also managed to pick up a win as he out pointed Jack Amisa (21-37-2, 14). Although Hanuman did pick up the win we're unsure just how far he can go, for Amisa this was a 23rd loss in Thailand. In the least significant of the bouts televised from this show fans saw Yodsingdaeng Jor Chaijinda (9-1, 5) score a clear win over the game but out matched Thaminkhao Sor Tharnthip (4-16-1, 3). The once beaten Yodsingdaeng really bullied Thaminkhao, especially in round 4, as he forced the stoppage over a man who really battered in the final round. Alberta, Canada In Canada fans saw the professional debut of Filipino Heavyweight Stan Surmacz Ahumada (1-0, 1) who over-came fellow debutant Dale Swampy (0-1) in just 48 seconds There was a lot of Asian action this past Sunday, though unfortunately not all the results have been made available as of yet. Texas, USA In the US we had two notable Japanese fighters in action, though disappointingly they were both clearly beaten. The most notable of those was Tomoki Kameda (31-2, 19) who failed to avenge his first defeat and instead suffered a clear defeat at the hands of Englishman Jamie McDonnell (27-2-1, 12). Kameda did start well but was essentially bullied for most of the fight losing a clear decision and leaving his career in a really worrying position. Sadly many fans appear to have been mislead on this fight based on some terrible commentary in the US who had seemingly made this out to be a robbery but even we saw it as a clear win for McDonnell, who retained the WBA Bantamweight title with this victory. Later on the same show Tomoki's brother Daiki Kameda (29-5, 18) suffered a huge upset loss to Victor Ruiz (20-5, 14). Kameda, who was a clear favourite, started well and dropped Ruiz early on but Ruiz refused to fold and claimed an 8 round split decision over the former world champion, who was fighting for the first time in 21 months. Toyama, Japan There was only a single show in Japan though it did feature some genuinely notable fighters. In the main event former WBA interim Minimumweight champion Juan Jose Landaeta (27-8-1, 21 scored a 9th round TKO win against the world ranked Walter Tello (21-9, 8). Landaeta, who is best known for losing twice to Koki Kameda, was just far too good Tello, who looked like one of the poorest “contenders” going. It now seems that Landaeta will be targeting a world title though we're unsure which division he'll be competing in going forward. In the co-feature former female world title challenger Saemi Hanagata (10-6-2, 4) claimed a clear 6 round decision win over Aiko Yamagishi (4-2-1, 2). Hanagata, who came close to winning the IBF Light Flyweight title earlier this year, was a clear winner here and will likely be looking to get another world title fight in 2015. Another 6 rounder on this card saw Naoki Wada (10-8-2, 2) claim a decision victory over the more experienced Hidenori Tajima (14-11-1, 8). This Middleweight bout was an interesting one on paper but it's unlikely either man will really go far given their ability and age. In an all debutant bout Naoko Tanaka (1-0) claimed a majority decision over Hideaki Momonoi (0-1) whilst another all debutant bout saw Hiroto Yamabe (1-0) beat Riku Mizue (0-1). One other 4 round bout on this card saw Hikaru Yoshimura (3-1-1, 3) beat Ryo Shirakawa (5-8-2, 2). (Image courtesy of Sumio Yamada) Nakazawa defeats Kotake, Fukuhara and Iwabuchi score stoppage wins, Gemino comes up short in Mexico9/6/2015 Tokyo, Japan The main show of the day, for Asian fight fans, was in Tokyo at the Korakuen Hall. The main event of the show saw Teiken's Masanobu Nakazawa (18-1-1, 7) claim his biggest win to date as he won the Japanese interim Light Welterweight with a narrow decision win against Masayoshi Kotake (9-10-2, 5). Early on this one was really competitive with Kotake claiming a narrow lead during the first 5 rounds. Kotake's early lead was however over-come by Nakazawa who turned it on in the second half of the fight to take a close unanimous decision. It's now expected that Nakazawa will face full champion Hiroki Okada in 2016, when Okada recovers from a thumb injury. In supporting bouts we saw two former Japanese champions. One of those was former Japanese Bantamweight champion Rikiya Fukuhara (31-8-1, 23) who scored a 4th round win over Yusuke Nakagawa (8-4-1, 4). On paper this was a bout between two Japanese ranked fighters but in the ring the class and experience of Fukuhara was far too much for Nakagawa. The other former Japanese champion was former Light Welterweight kingpin Shinya Iwabuchi (26-5, 22) who stopped former OPBF champion Romeo Jakosalem (16-11-1, 8). Although Iwabuchi did take home the win here he was given a scare being dropped in the first round before forcing the referee to save Jakosalem in round 3. Another stoppage on this card saw Ryuta Otsuka (15-8-2, 5) take a 7th round TKO win against Takaaki Ishikawa (11-7, 6). Although not a puncher Otsuka made the most of the fact that Ishikawa isn't the most durable and this was the 7th time in 18 bouts that Ishikawa had been stopped. One bout that did go the scheduled distance saw Japanese domestic contender Hiroya Yamamoto (9-3, 3) take a decision victory over Takumi Suda (12-11-2, 3). With this win Yamamoto may well be pushed towards a Japanese title fight for the now vacant title. In a 6 round bout Tsuyoshi Naito (4-3-4, 2) fought to a draw with Katsunori Imai (5-6-3) Yangju, South Korea Fans in South Korea also had fistic action with a card in Yangju. In the main event Gun Woo Gang (2-0-1, 2) claimed a 6 round decision win over Dong Suk Han (1-7). The 18 year old Gang, who only debuted a few months ago, is showing signs of promise and he could well be worth keeping an eye for the long term. For Han however this was a third straight loss, and the 34 year old probably isn't going to think that today's bout was worth ending a 2 year break from the ring. In an under-card bout the previously win-less Chan Young Kim (1-0-1) claimed a 4 round decision win over Chan Won Suh (0-2-2) whilst the win-less I Hoon Jun (0-2-1) fought to a draw with Se Yul Yang (0-0-2). Distrito Federal, Mexico In Mexico fans saw Filipino hopeful Jhon Gemino (12-5-1, 5) suffer an 8th round stoppage loss to the exciting Daniel Rosas (19-2-1, 11). Rosas, a former interim title contender, was too strong for the Filipino visitor. Note-There was a second show in Japan though unfortunately the results weren't with up by the time of this (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Bangkok, Thailand
The action in Thailand continued on Friday afternoon when we had a trio of bouts in Bangkok, those bouts included a former world title challenger and promising prospect, two of which collided in a genuine barn burner. Incidentally all 3 bouts saw Thai locals taking on Indonesian visitors. The former world title challenger was former WBC Light Flyweight challenger Samartlek Kokietgym (22-5, 7) who scored a rare KO win as he stopped limited Indonesian Iwan Key (9-13-3, 1). This was Key's 7th stoppage loss and Samartlek is now 5-0 since being beaten by the sensational Naoya Inoue a year ago. One of the prospects on this card who picked up a win was Kongthara KKP (9-0, 7) who scored a 3rd round KO win against the visiting Rasmanudin (19-11-3, 3). For 2 rounds Kongthara fought in neutral gear and did very little before moving through the gears in round 3. When Kongthara upped the pace Rasmanudin had no answer and was dropped 3 times forcing the referee to stop the bout. The highlight of the card was a rematch between Indonesian teenager Iwan Zoda (7-1, 6) and the previously unbeaten Petchchohae Kokietgym (13-1, 8), in a bout for the interim WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title. Last year Petchchorhae took a decision over Zoda this time around however it was Zoda coming out on top as he battered Petchchorhae to force a 12th round stoppage. Early on it was Petchchorhae on top, but in the middle rounds Zoda came on strong before brutally beating the Thai up in rounds 11 and 12 before the eventual finish. At just 18 years old we really do think that Zoda is going to be the next star of Indonesian boxing and this performance showed just how good he really is. Tokyo, Japan In Japan fans had a very competitively matched card at the Korakuen Hall. The main event of the day was, by far, the highlight of the show and a genuine slugfest as Koichi Aso (20-6-1, 13) saw off the heavy handed Tatsuya Miyazaki (8-7-1, 8). The pace was hot from the get-go, as we typically see with Aso fights, though in the end Miyazaki began to tire before being saved by the referee in round 8. The win for Aso again puts him in the running for a title fight and we'll be honest and admit that we'd love to see Aso test his ability against someone like Hiroki Okada in the near future. In the chief support bout Hiroki Saito (7-8-1, 4) narrowly over-came Takeshi Goda (7-5-1, 2) in a very competitive 8 round split decision. The 26 year old Saito just had enough to defeat Goda and may well find himself in the domestic title mix at 140lbs, though that does say a lot about the lack of depth in the division in Japan. Amazingly the entire under-card was also incredibly competitive. The top of the under-card saw Tatsuji Kakumoto (6-6, 1) level off his record with a majority decision win against Yasuhiro Tanaka (4-3-2) in the only 6 round bout on the show. It was one of 3 majority decision with another being a majority decision win for Satoshi Hongo (3-4, 1) who over-came Hiroki Ishii (1-4-1) whilst the remainder was a majority draw between Shinya Ito (3-1-2) and the unbeaten Takeshi Kaneko (2-0-1). The Ito/Kaneko bout was one of 3 draws. Another draw saw Ikuro Sadatsune (0-0-1) fight to a split draw with Daiki Maniwa (0-0-1) in an all debutant bout whilst the other saw Seiji Yoshioka (0-0-1) fight to another split draw Yuki Nishikawa (0-1-1). Another split draw saw Kohei Ogawa (1-1) over-come Keisuke Imabuchi (0-2). The only unanimous decision on the card saw Fumio Ujihara (4-2, 3) defeat Nao Sugawara (0-2). Thailand As well as the show in Japan there was also one in Thailand with 3 low level bouts. The main event was a low level title bout that saw Morakote Patanakan Gym (12-6, 6) claim a contentious decision over Richie Behec (2-4-1, 1). The bout, for a regional title, really could have gone Behec's way with no real complaint. Another bout ended with a cracking body shot as Saengchai Sithprayoon (2-1, 2) scored a 2nd round TKO win against Pakasit Twins Gym (0-3). A third bout on this card saw Kongpichit Sithprayoon (0-3) suffer what we believe was his third loss, though we're unsure on his opponent. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Hiroshima, Japan
This final Asian show of August took place in Hiroshima this last Sunday. The card featured 8 bouts, though there was little to really get excited about. The main event of the show saw Koji Itagaki (15-9-2, 6) take an 8 round decision over limited Thai visitor Namphol Sithsaithong (9-10, 7) in a but at Light Flyweight. The 32 year old Itagaki will be hoping to get a Japanese title fight at some point though it's unlikely he'll be good enough to win a title. Another 8 rounder on this card saw Ryuji Ikeda (10-2-1, 6) blow away Teerapong Sithsaithong (0-2) inside a round on a very badly made co-feature bout. In the support bout fans saw 28 year year old Koichi Uryu (5-2-1, 3) claim a 6 round decision win over Jump Ikeo (4-2-2, 3). For Ike this was his first defeat since being stopped on his debut. Another supporting bout, also over 6 rounds, saw Kenta Yokoe (5-9-1, 1) out point Hideaki Yamaji (5-9, 2), in what was a very competitive match up on paper. The rest of the card was just 4 rounders. Two of those bouts went the distance. One of these saw Chance Mochizuki (2-0) take a unanimous decision win over Arata Matsuoka (2-3, 1) whilst the other saw Fever Maki (5-3-1, 2) take a majority win over Ryo Tatematsu (2-4, 2). Both of the remaining bouts ended in the 3rd round. One of those saw 17 year old Ryoya Ikema (5-2, 5) continue his run of destruction as he saw off Junichi Itoga (0-2) whilst the other saw Masashi Kamon (2-2, 1) defeat the debuting Masashi Obata (0-1). |
Archives
October 2015
Categories
All
|