Tokyo, Japan In Japan fans had the chance to see the latest Dangan show, Dangan 136, which wasn't the best card on paper though did feature a title bout and several other contests of note. The main event was that aforementioned title bout and it saw the IBF world ranked Middleweight Akio Shibata (26-8-1, 12) successfully retain his Japanese and OPBF titles. The talented Watanbe gym fighter looked in fine form as her forced a doctor's stoppage of Yasuyuki Akiyama (10-5-1, 8), who's face was a mess when the bout was finally halted in round 8. The talented Shibata, who is best known for losing to a debuting Ryota Murata in 2013, is now on a 5 fight winning streak, with 3 successive stoppages. He'll be hoping to continue that run later this year when he should be facing Koki Tyson Maebara in the next defense of his titles. On paper the most well matched bout was a Super Featherweight contest between Tsuyoshi Tojo (12-13-5, 2) and Masaki Saito (12-10-5, 3). These two fought to a 4 round technical draw last Novemeber and today they fought to another draw with the judges scoring the bout a split draw over 8 rounds. Maybe it's just us, but how about a trilogy ins search of a winner next time out guys? Another 8 rounder on this card saw former Japanese champion Masaaki Serie (26-8, 10) score a very one-sided decision win over Filipino visitor Roman Canto (10-7-2, 5). Serie had lost his last 2, and 3 of his last 4, but looked sharp against Canto, who is now 0-3 in Japan. This card featured a trio of 6 rounders. One of those ended in a minor upset as Reiya Abe (9-2, 4) out pointed the previously unbeaten Ryo Hino (5-1-1, 2). The scored for this one were all in favour of Abe but were all over the place with one judge having it 58-57 whilst another had it 60-55. Thankfully all the judges got the right winner even if the cards didn't really match up with each other. Another of the 6 rounders saw Takahiro Araki (7-4, 3) take a technical decision over Ryosuke Suzuki (4-4) whilst the other saw Yutaka Motoyoshi (5-8, 4) take his first decision win in a very one sided victory against Hitoshi Ando (4-10-1, 3). In 4 rounders fans saw the unbeaten Jin Miura (5-0, 1) extend his run with a decision over Shun Wakabayashi (4-2, 1) whilst the debuting Yuni Takada (1-0) out pointed Kohei Oshima (0-1) in an all debutant contest. Ifugao, Philippines Sadly we don't have all the results from a small Filipino show in Ifugao, though we do know that 19 year debutant Robles Gamboc (1-0, 1) blew away the win-less Maurito Placios Jr (0-5) inside a round. Queensland, Australia There was also two bout of note in Australia as two Aussie based Thai's were in action. One of the bouts ended in a shock with Paitoon Jaikom (5-15, 2) claiming a surprise decision win over Cyrus Peri (4-2-1, 2). This was Jaikom's 4th win in 6 bouts following a 1-12 start to his professional career, and amazingly comes just a week after he beat debutant Jakob Daureen. A significantly less surprising result was the loss for Arnon Yucareon (0-11-1), who was out pointed by Matt Burgoyne (3-0, 2). Although Arnon lost he will have earned some credit for being the first man to go the distance with Burgoyne, who had won his first 2 bouts with opening round KO's (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Tokyo, Japan Today's only action came from the Korakuen Hall on a show that promised a lot and delivered plenty. The only really insignificant bout was the show's first contest which saw Jun Nahara (1-1, 1) score his first professional win as he blew away Shuhei Hamano (0-3) in just 143 seconds. It was a scheduled 4 rounder between novices who are unlikely to really go anywhere but it worked as a quick warm up before we moved on to more interesting bouts. The second bout on the card was contest between two Japanese ranked fighters. The bout saw Keita Nakano (13-9-3, 4), the #9 ranked Bantamweight, score a 4th round TKO against Kenta Toi (4-5, 1), who entered as the #7 ranked Super Bantamweight. Toi was rattled on round 3 and never seemed to really recover before being stopped very early in round 4. The third bout, and on paper the first stand out bout, saw the much touted Ken Shiro (3-0, 2) take a 7th round TKO victory over a bloodied and cut Katsunori Nagamine (11-1, 6) in an unbeaten showdown. Nagamine, the 2012 All Japan Rookie of the Year champion at Flyweight, seemed to be out boxed, out sped and out muscled by Shiro who made a monster statement with this win and has effectively announced himself as a very special fighter. Don't be surprised to see Shiro battling for titles very soon. A second bout between Japanese ranked fighters came in the show's 4th bout where Ryuichi Funai (23-6, 16), the #4 ranked Super Flyweight, blew away Ryuta Otsuka (14-8-2, 4), the #8 ranked Japanese contender, in the 3rd round. Otsuka did have some early success but a right hand counter dropped Otsuka hard and he failed to beat the 10 count. The most significant bout was the show's 5th contest which saw Japanese Minimumweight champion Go Odaira (12-4-3, 1) retain his title with a unanimous decision victory over mandatory challenger Yutaka Sowano (9-6-1, 6). The bout was poor and never really came alive with Sowano looking gun shy early on before finally realising Odaira was there to be beaten. By the time Sowano decided to let his hands go he was already beaten. In the final bout of the show fans saw OPBF and Japanese Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (25-8-1, 11) score a 4th round TKO victory over Indonesian visitor Michael Speed Sigarlaki (15-14-2, 13). The Indonesian, a late replacement for Yasuyuki Akiyama, came out swinging but it didn't take too long for Shibata to find his range and take control of the bout with his superior ability. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Boy, did we ever have a busy Saturday with fights taking part all over the globe. Some were thrilling, some were close, some were one sided, some ended in upsets and some were controversial but man did we ever have a lot of action! Tokyo, Japan The first card of real significance for the month came from the Korakuen Hall where Nakaya put on a brilliant show with a trio of main event level fights. The card began with the 4 rounders that typically make up and under-card. These 4 rounders saw Sho Nagata (2-1, 1) score his first decision win as he over-came the limited Ryo Sugimoto (1-7-1) with a clear decision and Takahiro Yoneshige (2-1, 1) also claimed his first decision win as he defeated the win-less Kazuya Nomura (0-3-1). The only stoppage in the 4 rounders was scored by the debuting Shuji Kato (1-0, 1) who began his career with an opening round win over Masayuki Kondo (1-2, 1). The show's only real upset came in it's only 6 round bout as the limited Quaye Peter (6-5-2, 3) easily out pointed Japanese ranked Lightweight Kazuya Maruki (17-3, 11). This loss for Maruki ends a 6 fight winning streak whilst Peter scores his first win in in over 2 years and ends a run of 5 fights without a victory, including a loss to a then debuting Koki Koshikawa. The first of the main bouts was a truly compelling Japanese Super Bantamweight title bout between Yukinori Oguni (14-1, 4), the former OPBF champion, and Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-8, 7). The bout was close through out with neither man managing to take control of the contest. Although neither man came close to stopping the other it was highly competitive and the sort of even match up we love even if the action isn't explosive. For Oguni this sees him winning his second professional title and it appears he has eyes on a world title fight next year though in all honesty he's unlikely to beat any of the division's top fighters. In the second of the 3 big fights fans saw unified Japanese and OPBF Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (24-8-1, 10) scoring a rare stoppage as he retained his titles and forced the referee to save former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-10, 12). Fuchigami was down early in the bout and never seemed capable of really testing the champion who has now won 3 straight since being stopped a then debuting Ryota Murata back in August 2013. For Fuchigami this really could be the end and he's now 3 of his last 4, and 4 of his last 6. The highlight bout of the show wasn't a title bout but was a rubber match between current Japanese Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (29-5-1, 9) and former champion Nihito Arakawa (25-5-1, 16). The bout, fought in great spirits, saw Kato having too much for the tough Arakawa who was competitive but never seemed to be quite able to get into any sort of a groove. It's a shame that Arakawa has now lost 3 of his last 4 though we wouldn't be shocked to see him back in the ring next year against a possibly lower level opponent. For Kato this bout is a perfect ending to the year, a year that began with him losing the OPBF Lightweight title to Masayoshi Nakatani, and it could be that 2015 will see him kick on with things and possibly even work towards a world title fight. Pathum Thani, Thailand In Thailand we had two bouts, one of which was interesting and one of which wasn't interesting, at all. The less bout saw the world ranked Norasing Kokietgym (13-0, 10) make very light work of Indonesian visitor Jack Madison (2-4) in a bout that really wasn't worth making. Madison genuinely looked like someone who didn't want to be there and Norasing looked like he was embarassed by how poor his opponent was. Without trying to sound too rude we never want to see Madison fight again. The more interesting contest saw the very promising Kongthara KKP (6-0, 5) go the 12 round distance as he defended the WBA Asian Boxing Council silver Super Bantamweight title against former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane (27-16-1, 17). Manakane came in to the bout to win though was clearly beaten despite putting up a solid effort. Despite his record Manakane is a solid fighter for a prospect like Kongthara and this bout will certainly not have done Kongthara's any harm despite the fact his stoppage run has come to an end. Cotabato (del Norte), Philippines In the Philippines there was an interesting but low profile show courtesy of Sonshine Sports Management. The headline bout here saw Rolando Magbanua (25-2, 17) make light work of the over-matched JP Macaumpuis (9-5-1, 3), who has now been stopped 5 times in 15 bouts. A more interesting bout was the co-feature which saw the heavy handed Lorenzo Villanueva (27-1-0-1, 14) go the 8 round distance with the incredibly tough Jamie Barcelona (38-57-1, 10). Villanueva may have had the clear edge in power but was fortunate to come out on top here with a majority decision over the experienced Barcelona. Another majority decision went the way of Jaime Quitoriano (2-3, 1) who narrowly beat Vergel Deguma (2-2). The rest of the card was thrills and spills as prospects scored blow out after blow out on local journeymen. The most notable of those prospects was youngster Jade Bornea (2-0, 2) who dispatched Armando Yee (2-6-3, 1) in the 2nd round. Jade's brother Jake Bornea (8-1, 4) also took a win in the 2nd as he stopped Rowel Garcia (6-16-3, 1). Others to score stoppages were Roskie Cristobal (10-0, 8), who stopped Rey dela Cruz (2-8, 2) inside a round, Jelbirt Gomera (8-0, 4), who beat Dingdong Quinones (4-12-1, 2) and Michael Bravo (7-1, 2) who beat Jessie Suacasa (3-4, 2) Sonora, Mexico Possibly the most surprising performance of the day came from unheralded Filipino Joebert Alvarez (14-1-1, 6). Alvarez was, and still is, an unknown in the eyes of many but he genuinely gave a really tough test to unified Flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (31-2, 22) in a bout much, much more competitive than the score cards suggest. The bout, scored 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92 to Estrada make the bout look like an easy win for the Mexican but it was anything but easy for “Gallo”. Hopefully we see Alvarez back in the ring soon and hopefully in the mix for an OPBF title as he has the ability to go a long way though seems to lack the experience at the moment. Nuevo León, Mexico Sadly it wasn't just in Sonora where the judges failed to show their impartiality and in Nuevo León fans saw Shindo Go (14-3, 9) lose the WBC female Flyweight title to Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) with a split decision defeat. The bout, a very competitive one, was marred by the regular “WTF” card which read 99-91 in favour of the home time town fighter. The other card in favour of Mucino had the contest 96-94 whilst one judge had the contest 96-93 in favour of Go who unfortunately loses for the second time on the road. We suspect that Go's team will begin to think twice before allowing the fighter to compete outside of Japan as both of her losses on the road were controversial to say the least. California, USA In the US the ever popular Brian Viloria (35-4-0-2, 21) made light work of Armando Vazquez (21-12, 4) as he attempts to rebuild towards another world title fight. This really wasn't much of a work out for Viloria who stopped his foe in the 4th round of their contest with a left to the body. Incidentally there is now talk about Viloria getting a rematch with Estrada. On tonight's performances Viloria actually has a chance against the man that almost stopped him last year. New South Wales, Australia In Australia there was a pair of Indonesians who were both embarrassed by unbeaten Australian's. One of those was Gun Tinular (11-19-1, 6), who was announced as “Gumilar”. Tunilar was stopped inside a round by Tony Bates (10-0-1, 8), who previous to this bout had stopped a trio of Thais. The other was Elly Pangaribuan (3-5, 1) who was stopped in the second round by Ahmed Dib (15-0, 9). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Shibata retains unified crown, Taguchi dropped but wins, Taconing on form and Rufino bounces back7/6/2014 This past Saturday wasn't a major one for Asian boxing fans but there was still a host of action, much of which was involved fighters at or around the OPBF title level. Tokyo, Japan The most notable of all the matches involving an Asian fighter took place at the Korakuen Hall as the unified Japanese OPBF Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (23-8-1, 9) retained his unified crown for the first time. Shibata was always expected to over come his opponent, Hikaru Nishida (10-7-1, 3), but was forced to use all hsi experience to over-come a fighter that we believe will come again in the future. Nishida, although not a world class fighter, is a man who will give everyone at this level a hard bout and we doubt Shibata will be in a rush for a rematch. Whilst Shibata is a unified OPBF/Japanese champion we did see a former world champion on the undercard in the form of former IBF Minimumweight champion Florante Condes (27-9-1, 23). Condes, travelling to Japan, took on former Japanese Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (20-2-1, 8), seemed on the verge of scoring a shock stoppage over the gutsy Japanese fighter but Taguchi showed all his heart to recover from a very hard knockdown in the second round. Taguchi's heart saw him recovering over the following round to take a very hard fought decision but neither man came out of this bout with any shame and we're going to look forward to seeing both in action again. One man who did manage to see off his hurt opponent was Hayato Hokazono (18-4-1, 11) who took out Osamu Hashimoto (9-7, 1) in the 6th of a scheduled 8 rounder. Likewise Yuji Wauke (18-4-1, 9) managed to take out his opponent, Jonel Gadapan (8-7-1, 4), needing just 5 of the 8 scheduled rounds to close the show. The quickest of the contests saw the monstrously hard hitting Yuichi Yokoyama (14-2, 13) take out Tatsuya Yanagi (10-2, 4) in just 169 seconds as the power of Yokoyama was felt in a big way. Yanagi managed to recover his feet but he was counted out doing so following a huge straight right of Yokoyama's. In a 5 round bout Yoshihisa Yokota (6-10-1, 2) took a decision over Yamato Nakagawa (4-4, 2) whilst in the opening bout Shinya Ito (2-01) took a 4 round decision over Shinnosuke Yoshimori (1-2, 1) in what was the show's opening bout. Metro Manila, Philippines In the Philippines fans had the chance to catch a 7 fight show in Metro Manila. The main event on this show saw recent OPBF Featherweight title challenger Vinvin Rufino (35-16-3, 16) retain his GAB Featherweight title but trade knockdowns in a very competitive bout with Cristian Abila (11-13-3, 3). Rufino was dropped in the 11th round but managed to even it out by scoring a knockdown of his own in the following round to give us a bout what was more competitive than the records of the fighters would have suggested going into the contest. Whilst Rufino had failed in his OPBF title challenge earlier this year the co-feature had a man who had taken his chance with both hands and claimed the Light Flyweight title with a stunning victory over Virgilio Silvano back in March. That was the hard hitting Jonathan Taconing (19-2-1, 16) who stopped the previously unbeaten Jaipetch Chaiyonggym (3-1, 2) with a devastating body shot in the 3rd round. Another man who scored a body shot KO was the unbeaten Randy Braga (13-0-1, 3) who stopped the very poor Dexter Mendoza (11-14-2, 3) in just 47 seconds! Some of the bouts, other than the main event, on this show did go the distance, including the sole 6 round bout which saw Glenn Suminguit (13-2, 7) take a very wide decision over Jomar Borbon (4-18-2, 2), a very narrow 4 round majority decision for the unbeaten Roderick Flores (3-0-1, 1) over the debuting Jayson Dogelio (0-1) and a debut victory for Marlon Paniamogan (1-0) who took a shut out over Jaymark Borbon (0-1). The only other 4 round bout on this card saw Raymond Yanong (2-1, 2) defeating Christian Rayta (0-2), who retired at the end of the second round. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Boxing through February was a bit disappointing if we're all being honest with ourselves. Thankfully it seems like March is going to be exactly the opposite and it kicked off in style this past Saturday with major cards held in both Japan and the Philippines. Metro Manila, Philippines The bigger of the two major Asian cards of the day was "Pinoy Pride XXIV" and took place in the Philippines. On paper it looked like their was a few good bouts on it though the surprise bout of the day was one of the contests that looked like a mismatch proved to be the fight of the day. The main event on the show saw the unbeaten Genesis Servania (24-0, 10) continuing to impress as he stopped former 2-time WBA Super Flyweight champion Alexander Munoz (36-6, 28). Servania dropped Munoz several times and although he was cut himself he was dominant, sharp and showed off all the traits that have Filipino fans so excited about him. Although Munoz showed off his toughness he was stopped in round 12 with the referee deciding enough was enough and giving the young Servania his 4th stoppage victory in 5 bouts. Servania's impressive performance in the main event came fellow prospect "Prince" Albert Pagara (19-0, 13) put on scintillating performance to stop Indonesia's Isack Junior (22-5-2, 8) inside a round. The fight, which ended with a devastating body shot, hardly saw Junior throw a punch before crumpling to the canvas in absolute agony. It was little surprise that Junior stayed down for the full 10 count and he'd have been happy for the referee to count to 100 and remained on the canvas. The one fight that was supposed to be a mismatch turned out to be anything but as "King" Arthur Villanueva (25-0, 14) was dragged in to an all out war with late replacement Fernando Aguilar (9-7, 1). Aguilar, a late replacement for the injured Juan Hernandez, forced the action through out and although he was bloodied he refused to ever believe he was beaten in a bout that can only be described as a war. Unfortunately for Aguilar fighting away from his native Mexico likely cost him a draw in a bout that should serve as a real wake up call for Villanueva whose world rankings didn't reflect the skill he displayed here. On the undercard the very promising and highly touted Mark Magsayo (5-0, 4) recorded a 6th round knock out over Roy-Roy Sumugat (9-10-1, 3) to continue his impressive winning streak. Going in to this bout Magsayo had never been beyond 4 rounds so will have been very pleased to have gotten a few rounds under his belt. The unbeaten fighters really were on a role through the under card with Melvin Gumban (16-0, 8 KOs) stopping the limited Dino Lelis (10-12-2, 5) in round 5 and Cuba's Reymi Castellano Aleye (4-0, 1) easily out pointed Diover Mangaya-ay (1-4) in what proved to be a mismatch. Amazingly only a single fighter with a loss actually managed to score a victory as the much touted Vic Saludar (3-1, 3) over-came the previously unbeaten Philip Luis Cuerdo (3-1, 1), who in turn was the only unbeaten fighter to suffer a loss on the card. Tokyo, Japan As well as the show in the Philippines there was also a big show in Tokyo. This card was headlined by the much anticipated rematch between Akio Shibata (22-8-1, 9) and Daisuke Nakagawa (22-4-2, 17). The bout, which pitted the OPBF Middleweight champion against the Japanese Middleweight champion saw Shibata recording his second decision victory over Nakagawa who was just a bit too slow for the accurate and light hitting Shibata. With the victory Shibata unifies both the Japanese and OPBF Middleweight titles and bounces back well following his loss last year to the then debuting Ryota Murata. The Shibata/Nakagawa bout wasn't the only Japanese Middleweight bout on the card. Another, on the undercard, saw Hikaru Nishida (10-6-1, 3) upset former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (20-9, 11). Nishida, who was just 6-6-1 (1) a year ago has really turned his career around in very impressive fashion with not just this victory but also one over Kazuhiko Hidaka and probably deserves a fight with Shibata, even though he would clearly be the under-dog. As for Fuchigami he's fallen a long way from fighting Gennady Golovkin less than 2 years ago. A third notable bout on this show saw the world ranked Shin Ono (17-5-2, 2) taking a 5th round technical decision over the massively over-matched Takumi Suda (10-10-2, 2). This was Ono's second bout since suffering a major tendon injury and whilst he clearly won this fight we are curious as to whether or not he's confident in himself to take on a more competitive opponent. In one more notable match up the hard hitting Kenichi Ogawa (11-1, 9) stopped Indonesian Yon Armed (11-5-1, 6) in just 2 rounds. The bout was a mismatch with the power puncher simply having far to much for the visitor. On the undercard Hisashi Owada (5-8) narrowly over-came Kenichi Ohara (4-8) in an excellent 6 round match up that was about as even as they come. It may have been a "throw away" match for many though this sort of competitive match making is what makes Japanese boxing so good. The show also saw Shinya Ito (1-1) defeat Takumu Kawano (0-2) via decision and Kensuke Sasaki (1-1) stopping Thai visitor Yodradab Jor Perm Thongmak (0-2) in 3 rounds. Victoria, Australia "Down under" we saw Ibrahim Balla (4-0, 3) score his third successive victory over a Thai opponent as he took out Thongtaeng Muangsima (5-4) in just 2 rounds. Whilst this was Balla's third victory against a Thai it was his fourth straight against a fighter from Asia. (Picture of Shibata landing a punch on Nakagawa is courtesy of http://boxingnews.jp) |
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