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.

This past Saturday was a hectic day in boxing with fights all over the place.

Osaka, Japan
On paper the most notable show came from Japan where fans had the chance to catch a couple of world title bouts and another bout featuring a 2-weight world champion. The show wasn't big or attention grabbing but for fans of female boxing it was a notable card.

In one of the title fights everyone was left disappointed as a headclash brought a very early ending to the contest. This was a bout for the WBO Female Minimumweight title, with defending champion Kumiko Seeser Ikehara (6-1-2, 3) recording her first defense courtesy of a technical draw against Filipino challenger Jessebelle Pagaduan (7-1-1, 4). The headclash happened in the opening round and later required 10 stitches for Ikehara who as, clearly, disappointed about how she recorded the first defense of her title.

The other title fight saw WBO Atomweight champion Nao Ikeyama (16-3-1, 4) successfully defending her velt for the second time. The 45 year old Ikeyama looked like she had the energy of a teenager as she thoroughly out worked, out fought and swarmed Filipino challenger Norj Guro (7-4-1, 4). Guro, more than 20 years Ikeyama's junior, was never in the fight after round 3 and was often forced to survive the assaults of the champion rather than really fight back.

In the chief support bout fans saw former 2-weight world champion Mari Ando (12-7, 5) score a hard fought 6 round decision win over Jujeath Nagaowa (12-14-1, 8). This was Ando's first bout since she lost the WBC female Minimumweight title to Yuko Kuroki last year and it seems likely Ando will chase another title bout. Sadly for Nagaowa this was her 3rd straight loss and she is now 1-3 since losing to Momo Koseki back in June 2012.

The under-card here featured 3 bouts each of which were 4 rounders. One of those was another female bout as the unbeaten Yu Shoji (1-0-1, 1) fought to a 4 round split decision draw with Wakako Fujiwara (0-1-1). Another of the bouts saw Daiki Miyayama (4-2-1, 2) defeat the debuting Yuta Teruya (0-1) whilst Hiroshi Takagi (3-4) defeated Naoki Okamura (1-2) in a close decision.

Metro Manila, Philippines
In the Philippines fans had an interesting show that featured a world ranked fighter and several others looking to prove themselves as “men to watch”.

The world ranked fighter was the promising Rene Patilano (13-1-2, 7) who made extremely light work of domestic journeyman Aroel Romasasa (11-9, 5). Romasasa, who had entered the bout with 8 straight losses and that form showed as he was blown away in just 140 seconds. Sadly for Romasasa it now seems clear he needs to think about a new career.

The Patilano/Romasasa was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 10 rounds and the others both went the distance. One of those saw the talented Randy Braga (15-0-1, 3) take a very clear decision win over Cristian Abila (24-16-3, 4) who struggled to win a round. Braga, who does seem to be better than many domestic Filipino's, now looks ready for a real step up. Sadly things weren't so successful for Jay Loto (9-0-1) who was held to a majority draw by JC Francisco (6-9-4, 2) in a genuine shock. For Francisco this was a great result considering he had lost 3 of his previous 4, for Loto however this is a big hit to his career.

Lower down the card the light hitting Jeffrey Francisco (11-1-1, 1) scored his first stoppage as he forced Arjet Caballes (6-33-5, 3) to retire from their scheduled 8 round bout.

In a 6 rounder the unbeaten Wilbert Berondo (6-0, 3) stopped the over-matched Ryan Medez (1-4-2) with less than a minute of their bout left whilst another 6 rounder saw Vergel Nebran (13-8-1, 8) out pointed Prell Tupaz (8-27-4, 1). A more competitive 6 rounder saw Roderick Flores (6-0-1, 2) narrowly out point Junjie Lauza (4-14-1, 1) in a surprisingly competitive contest.

The begin the card there were 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. One of those saw the unbeaten Abraham Bullagay (2-0-1, 2) score a 3rd round stoppage over the win-less Oscar Lim (0-3), who has now been stopped in all 3 bouts. Another contest that failed to go the distance saw Robin Langres (4-0, 1) take a 3rd round technical decision over the win-less Manny Mamamcquiao (0-5-1). Langres's win as one of two technical decisions on this part of the card as Bryan Ascano (3-0, 1) also went to the judges early in his win over Jerwin Dela Rosa (1-5). The only 4 round to reach the scheduled final bell saw Arvin Yurong (2-0, 1) take a wide decision over the debuting Raymond Dela Cruz (0-1).

Pattaya, Thailand
In one of two Thai shows fans saw a former world title challenger and an unbeaten prospect.

The former title challenger was Samartlek Kokietgym (19-5, 5) who famously challenged Naoya Inoue last year. Samartlek scored his second win since that Inoue bout as he over-came Indonesian visitor Ichal Tobida (11-15, 8) in a 6 round bout. Of course it wasn't just Samartlek who had a high profile bout in Japan last year with Tobida being knocked out by former world champion Ryo Miyazaki last September. Sadly for Tobida he is now 0-4 in the last 12 months, though he did manage to see out the scheduled this time following successive stoppage losses.

The unbeaten prospect on this card was Payu Sor Kulawong (3-0) who scored his third straight win as he over-came the win-less Somchay Sithhongkam (0-2), from nearby Laos. This was a rematch of a bout fought in January that saw both men making their debut against each other.

Samut Songkhram, Thailand
In a second Thai show fans saw the unbeaten and heavy handed Chalermpol Singwancha (12-0, 10) take out Indonesia's Wellem Reyk (17-12-3, 5) in the opening stages of round 5. This was Chalermpol's 4th straight KO though they have come against limited foes, such as Reyk here who has now lost 5 in a row with 3 stoppages in that run.

Baja California, Mexico
In Mexico we saw a disappointing defeat for Filipino fighter Jether Oliva (22-3-2, 10) who was stopped by unbeaten Mexican Luis Nery (16-0, 11). Oliva was returning to Mexico for the first time since his loss in an IBF Light Flyweight world title bout against Ulises Solis and it seems clear he was simply too small for the Mexican. Oliva was game early on but remained on his stool at the start of round 5 having taken enough from the promising Nery.

Hamburg, Germany
In a Cruiserweight bout fans saw the unbeaten Isa Akberbayev (15-0-0-1, 11) score an impressively quick victory over 40 year old Argentinian puncher Ruben Angel Mino (25-2, 25), who lasted less than a round. Mino's impressive record belies his inability to really fight and he has now been stopped in both of his step up bouts. As for the unbeaten Kazakh this is his best win on paper and is his 4th successive stoppage win.

Managua, Nicaragua
Teiken promoted Nicaraguan fighter Roman Gonzalez (42-0, 36) continued his long unbeaten run as he made light work of Valentin Leon (38-29-3, 21) in what was essentially a stay busy fight for the talented “Chocolatito”, who is now expected to make a mandatory defense of his WBC Flyweight title.


(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Today was an interesting day in Asian boxing with two cards that were notable for very different reasons. In Japan we had a very interesting card with a number of solid match ups whilst in Thailand we had a few bouts of interest.

Tokyo, Japan
The big show of the day came from Tokyo where Kyoei put on an excellent show that really should have applied to every type of boxing fan out there, of course barring those that ionly care about the big PPV stars.

The show began with a 4 rounder as Kohei Hasegawa (1-1, 1) scored a 3rd round TKO over the debuting Junpei Hakota (0-1). This was the only 4 rounder on the show and was one of 5 stoppages from the show.

A second stoppage occurred in the second bout of the show as female model-come-boxer Tomomi Takano (6-1, 5) stopped hapless Thai Dokmaipha Kiatpompetch (0-5) in the 4th round of a scheduled 6 rounder. This was Takano's first bout since being stopped by Kai Johnson and although this was a win it was hard to really tell how much the queen of weigh-ins had actually improved given that Dokmaipha and Johnson are from very, very different levels.

The only bout that actually went the distance saw Ryo Narizuka (7-4) take an incredibly close decision over Kazuaki Moriya (11-6, 1) in an incredibly competitive 8 rounder. Although the Narizuka/Moriya was the only one to go the distance it wasn't the only bout that that didn't end in a stoppage as fans saw Toyoto Shiraishi (24-8-2, 11) fight to a second round technical draw with Mako Matsuyama (7-8-2, 3), a real disappointment for Shiraishi who will still be eyeing another title fight in the next year or two.

In a major upset fans saw Kenta Toi (4-4, 1) score a shocking stoppage over Mikihito Seto (34-12-3, 18) in the second round. The 34 year old Seto hasn't been in great form recently but had challenger for a Japanese title less than 2 years ago, giving Hidenori Otake a very tough bout. For Toi this is a a career changing win, it may not net him a title fight but it's still huge and will almost certainly put him in the Japanese rankings.

On paper the best bout was a Super Featherweight bout between unbeaten men. That turned out however to be a short bout as Japanese based Filipino Johnreil Maligro (12-0, 9) quickly wiped out the touted Kazuma Sanpei (11-1, 4). This was an amazing bout on paper but Maligro's power was the difference and Sanpei was unable to take it for long, a real shame in some ways, but something that could boost Mailigro towards a Japanese title shot. 

The main event here saw OPBF Featherweight champion Hisashi Amagasa (28-4-2, 19) retain his title for the 3rd time, but only just, as he over-came a very spirited challenge from the under-rated Ryo Takenaka (11-3-1, 6). Takenaka gave Amagasa absolute hell, and was in the lead going into the final rounds. Sadly for the challenger however he was unable to stay the course and was stopped in the final round of a real tear up. Real credit needs to go to Takenaka for putting up a great effort whilst Amagasa dug hard and deep for this win. It was every boxing fans could possible wish for.

Bangkok, Thailand
In Thailand fans got a small cards but one with some title implications.

The main event of the card saw veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (81-2, 52) take a 12 round decision to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Light Middleweight title. Sirimongkol, fighting against Filipino Dan Nazareno Jr (20-12, 16), took his time and fought very patiently to take a clear win though it did appear like he was deliberately fighting for 12 rounds rather than upping the pace.

Another televised bout from this card saw the heavy handed but very limited Chalermpol Singwancha (11-0, 9) take a 4th round win over a fighter we've been told was Kevin Solimani (0-1) in what was described as a massive mismatch.

A third bout from this card saw Kalae McShane (1-0, 1) score a 1-round blow out over Petch Twins Gym (1-5) with Petch being dropped 3 times in just 114 seconds. 

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Phayao, Thailand
Earlier today saw several fights in Thailand courtesy of a televised show on Channel 11.

The headline bout saw the heavy handed but ultimately limited Chalermpol Singwancha (10-0, 8) successfully retain his Asian Boxing Federation Welterweight title with a nasty KO against Indonesia's win-less Didi Panzer (0-6). The bout, a gross mismatch from when it was signed, made Chalermpol look half decent though the bout was such a horrible mismatch that nobody really looked good and the referee should hang his head in shame for his performance which allowed Panzer to take several unnecessary shots when it was clear the bout should have been stopped.

Another bout on the card that saw an eye opening KO was the contest between Petchsuriya Singwancha (12-8, 6) and Kongsuk Patanakan Gym (3-4-1, 1). The men, meeting for the second time, looked in a totally different class to each other and it showed in round 3 as Petchsuriya scored two huge knockdowns with the referee stopping it after the second. The men had met last just over a year ago and in that bout Petchsuriya had also scored a 3rd round KO. From what we under-stand Petchsuriya will be returning to the ring in November to battle against Koki Tyson Maebara in a WBC Youth world title fight in Japan.

A third bout on this show saw Pankorn Mor Poowana (3-1-1, 3) fighting to a technical draw with Jen Yu Jia (1-8-2). This was the second meeting between the two men, who first met in December 2013, and from the they each suffered after a monster clash of heads it's going to be a shock to see either in the ring again this year. The bout wasn't as bloody as Jaesung Lee's win over Takuya Watanabe from earlier this year, but had it not been stopped it would have left the Lee/Watanabe blood bath seem like a minor spillage of claret. This was genuinely horrendous considering how badly cut both men were.

Texas, USA
In the US we saw the short debut of Radmir Akhmediyev (1-0, 1) who made extremely light work of the win-less Chris Doyle (0-2) with an opening round KO. Akhmediyev is apparently a Cruiserweight from Kazakhstan and could be one of the handful of emerging fighters from the country worth keeping an eye on, though time will tell.

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).

Although Tuesday's aren't typically big boxing days this Tuesday was an exciting day with fights in both Japan and Thailand with some big names, big action and promising youngsters all coming together to give us a day to remember in the boxing world.

Tokyo, Japan
For us the most notable of the two shows was in Japan as the Korakuen Hall played host to "Dangan 104" a show that was co-promoted with Shirai Gushiken Sports Gym.

The card began, like most cards, with a low level bout between novices. This saw the 21 year old Minimumweight prospect Naoki Morooka (2-0, 2) scoring his second successive stoppage as he took out the win-less Naoki Yoshimura (0-1-1) in the second round. This was followed by another low level undercard bout as the debuting Kiyoshi Utsumi (1-0) over-came Oshima Keigo (0-5). Keigo came close to securing a draw but couldn't quite to enough losing 38-37 on all 3 cards. Utsumi wasn't the only successful debutant on this card and the much touted Higa Daigo (1-0, 1) made an almost instant impact on the sport as he stopped his Thai opponent, who we believe was Saengkeng Saknarong (0-1) inside a round. Daigo was a stand out amateur and from what we've been told there is a lot of expectation on this youngster who could be one of the hottest teens in Japanese boxing. The expectation seemed to take over Daigo a little bit as he looked nervous but he ended the bout with a crushing body combination KO. For those wanting to see this fight, in full, it's featured on our new video section.

The 4th bout from this show saw Fujikita Seiya (7-1, 1) out point Koya Sato (7-2-1, 1) in a narrow contest that was decided by just a point on all 3 cards. It was a highly competitive contest between two men who both came to win and we'd certainly not complain about a rematch being made later this year. Although the Seiya/Sato bout was competitive another of the mid card bouts really wasn't as Tatsuro Kawabata (6-5, 2) dominated Hideo Mikan (6-7-1, 2) over 6 pretty 1-sided rounds.

The first ranked fighter in action was Valentine Hosokawa (17-4-3, 8) who helped his chances of getting another title fight as he over-came Toshihiko Adachi (13-8, 6) in an 8 round contest. Hosokawa had lost back to back titles fights prior to this contest, coming up short in a Japanese title fight to Shinya Iwabuchi and an OPBF title fight with Min Wook Kim, despite those losses he did look like a fighter who is hungry for a third title fight. The second ranked fighter in action was Yasuhiro Okawa (12-11-3, 3) who continued his hunt for an unlikely title bout as he over-came Takuya Fujii (6-5, 2). Although Okawa doesn't have a pretty record he is a capable fighter, as seen in his victory over Hidekazu Matsunobu, just sadly he's had inconsistent results which have lead to his relatively poor record.

The main event of this card was an OPBF fight that may well be included in the end of year conversation for FOTY. The bout, for the OPBF Flyweight title, saw Koki Eto (15-3-1, 11) and Ardin Diale (23-9-3, 10) put defence to the back of their mind as they proceeded to beat 6 shades out of each other in a bout that really showed how fun boxing can be when you have two equally limited and equally braves fighters in there together. Eto, a former WBA interim world champion, was dropped twice before mounting a major comeback in round 8 and eventually stopping an exhausted Diale to complete a real really major turn around and once again prove what a warrior he is. Unfortunately the repeated wars that Eto has been in will take it's toll on him sooner rather than later and he may never be the same fighter after this one, likewise Diale probably won't be the same either. As with Daigo Higa's debut we've managed include this bout in our video section with the video ready to be watched here.

Samut Sakhon, Thailand
As well as the show in Japan we also saw action in Thailand as Naris Boxing Promotion put on a show. 

Like the Japanese card this show was also headlined by a title bout as the unbeaten Chalermpol Singwancha (8-0, 6) retained his ABF Welterweight title with a surprisingly competitive victory over Filipino journeyman Amor Tino (14-17-4, 4). Although Chalermpol retained his title many fans were less than impressed with him and the score cards, which were 116-112, 118-110, 118-110 were said to have been very generous. Chalermpol started like a house on fire but slowed drastically and whilst the fight was close in the end we're suspecting that it'll serve as a great lesson to the Thai prospect who will build from the experience.

Chalermpol had two stable mates on the same show who were also successful. These included veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (79-2, 51) who saw off the debuting Victor Nunez (0-1) in the 4th round. The other Singwancha fighter was Petchsuriya Singwancha (10-8, 5) who took a 6 round decision over the debuting Petchpalangchai Sor Saksriprai (0-1). For Petchsuriya this was little more than a warm up before his arranged fight, in Japan, with Ryosuke Maruki on July 20th.

The only other bout on this card saw Mohamadreza Hamze (4-5-1, 1) stopping Kongsuk Patanakan Gym (3-2-1, 1) in the third round of a scheduled 6.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.com)