Higa stops Kongfah, Petch continues unbeaten run, Tepparith claims WBA regional title and more!7/25/2015 This past Friday wasn't an incredibly day but was a day with some notable fighters and some very young talent.
Bangkok, Thailand The most notable action of the day came from Thailand where there was a number of contests, including, for us, the bout of the day. That stand out bout was a WBC Youth Flyweight title contest that saw Daigo Higa (7-0, 7) score a sensational 7th round KO against the previously unbeaten Kongfah CP Freshmart (14-1, 8). The aggressive Japanese visitor set an hellacious pace from the opening round and although Kongfah showed his resiliency and toughness he was eventually ground down by Higa, who looks like a star in the making. Another bout on this card saw world ranked Bantamweight contender Petch Sor Chitpattana (32-0, 21) score a stoppage in 4 rounds over a very poor opponent. The unbeaten hopeful never broke sweat en route to his victory. Thailand On a second Thai show, at a much lower level, fans saw a couple of noteworthy bouts. The main event saw former WBA Super Flyweight champion Tepparith Kokietgym (30-3, 19) make very light work of Indonesian veteran Ricky Manufoe (23-23-2, 10), in what a really pointless rematch for the two men. Tepparith, who stopped Manufoe in 2 rounds in 2013, scarcely broke sweat as he took out the Indonesian in 2 to claim the WBA Asia Bantamweight crown. Manufoe went down from a left to the body and although the shot didn't look too nasty it left him in agony for the count. The other bout saw the unbeaten Petchchorhae Kokietgym (13-0, 8) continue his unbeaten start as he over-came limited Indonesian fighter Madit Sada (9-22-1, 3) in what was the second meeting between the two men. The two fought in May last year with Petchorhae taking 4 rounds to stop Sada, this time around he needed just 3 rounds to see off Sada, who was unable to keep the Thai away. The finish was an eye catching one but one that looked very much like Sada was happy to see the end of the bout. London, UK In the UK we unfortunately saw Filipino Dennis Tubieron (19-5-2, 8) suffering an opening round stoppage defeat to Super Featherweight prospect Mitchell Smith (13-0, 7), who seemed to break Tubieron in half with just a single right hand to the body.
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Tokyo, Japan The only Asian show this past Monday came from the Korakuen Hall where reason put on the latest in the “Dangan” series of shows. On paper the card was one of the most mouth watering so far and it had everything, prospects, veterans and fighters tipped to go a long way. It also had action and shocks. The show opened with a 4 round bout that saw Masaharu Kaito (2-0) take a narrow decision against the previously unbeaten Ryota Toyoshima (2-1-1, 2). The bout was a close and very competitive bout which acted as the perfect opening for the fans who got to the venue early. Those same fans also got a treat in the second bout as the much touted Daigo Higa (6-0, 6) continued his perfect run. Higa took on his stiffest test to date in the form of Filipino Cris Alfante (11-5, 4), who was stopped in the 4th round of the scheduled 6 rounder. For Higa this was his longest bout to date and it seems very clear that he has the power, style and ability to go to title level in the coming years. Another man who will be looking to compete in title bouts in the coming years is Yusaku Kuga (11-1-1, 6) who recorded a 2nd round TKO against Kojiro Takada (13-9-3, 9). For Kuga this bout may serve as his final bout before a potential fight for the Japanese Super Bantamweight title and although it was a mismatch on paper it was good to see Kuga getting back in the ring after having been out of action since November. The big shock on the card was a wide loss for the touted Koki Koshikawa (4-1, 2) who was effectively shut out by veteran Koshinmaru Saito (21-7-1, 11). This was supposed to be Koshikawa's coming out party and a bout that saw im claiming a Japanese ranking but instead the previously unbeaten man struggled to ever get in to the bout. For Saito his movement was key but Koshikawa was very disappointing. At the top of the show was a co-main event. The first of those main bouts saw OPBF Flyweight champion Koki Eto (17-3-1, 13) record the second defense of his title as he took an 8th round TKO against Yuki Fukumoto (17-10, 5). Eto did struggle early in the bout, losing 2 of the first 4 rounds, but found his rhythm in the middle portion of the fight before stopping Fukumoto. After the bout the champion hinted strongly at dropping the title to fight for a world title, and from what we understand his likely route is going t be the IBF title. The other main event saw Japanese Super Featherweight champion Rikki Naito (13-0, 5) take a hard fought win over former world ranked fighter Nihito Arakawa (25-6-1, 16). The bout saw Naito need to battle hard after a poor start though ended up becoming a really excellent bout between two very good fighters. For Naito this win will likely help move him towards a world title fight, though we're now unsure if his future lies at Super Featherweight or at Lightweight. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Sunday was a hectic day in Asia with 3 notable shows in Japan as well as a small Filipino card. Tokyo, Japan The best of the 3 Japanese shows came from Tokyo where reason, along with Shirai-Gushiken-Sports, put on a very good looking “Dangan” card. The card, in total, had 9 bouts with 4 of them being genuinely notable. The main event saw former Japanese Super Featherweight title challenger Shingo Eto (16-3-1, 9) take a close and competitive decision victory over Tomoya Yamada (12-6, 3). This, on paper, was supposed to be an easy win for Eto but he was pushed all the way in a bout that would have been great to keep Eto on his toes and help prepare him for another, eventual, title shot. In the co-feature we saw Filipino warrior Ardin Diale (28-9-3, 14) take a split decision win against Yuta Matsuo (7-2-1, 4) in a fantastic bout that showed Diale at his best. The Filipino was fighting in Japan for the first time since his dramatic 8th round TKO loss to Koki Eto last year and seemed to quickly shake off any issues he had with that loss as he notched his 5th straight win. For Matsuo this loss sees him dropping to 2-2-1 in his last 5. A third 8 round bout saw Spice Matsushita (14-8, 2) take a competitive decision victory over the hard hitting Takumi Koyama (9-4-1, 7) in a slight upset win. In a 6 rounder we saw the destructive Daigo Higa (5-0, 5) quickly take care of Filipino visitor Virden Rivera (8-2-1, 2). Rivera, who's only previous loss was a 7th round defeat to Rex Wao, was unable to cope with Higa who was aggressive from the opening and finally saw off Rivera in the 2nd round. On the under-card were 5 bouts, two of which ended early. The quicker of those ended in the 2nd round as Taisei Hayashi (1-1, 1) defeated Toshihiko Saito (0-2), the other saw Sho Nagata (4-1, 2) upset Hokuto Kawana (4-1, 3) with a 4th round KO. In a more competitive under-card action Hideaki Onuki (2-0) claimed a majority decision over the win-less Koji Fujimoto (0-2) whilst Taiga Higashi (2-1, 1) took home a split decision victory as he over-came Yusuke Moriya (1-2). The only clear decision on the under-card saw Yoshimitsu Kimura (1-0) take a victory over Yuki Nishikawa (0-1) in an all-debutant affair. Wakayama, Japan In Wakayama fans has an interesting show with 3 notable bouts as well as a relatively forgettable under-card. The main event saw former OPBF Super Bantamweight title challenger Eita Kikuchi (17-4-4, 7) take a decision win against Keita Ito (8-20-2, 4). For Kikuchi this was a third successive win after back-to-back stoppage losses in 2013, including a loss to Shingo Wake. Interestingly Ito managed to surpass expectations and gave one of his best performances in recent years, unfortunately however it was his 8th straight loss. The unbeaten Shohei Kawashima (10-0-2, 2) continued his unbeaten run with a clear decision victory against Yuta Sasaki (6-7, 1). This was Kawashima's first 8 round bout and the 23 year old will have learned so much from the experience, even if Sasaki wasn't a top tier opponent. The third main bout saw Kazuki Hashimoto (11-4, 7) take a very quick victory over Chikashi Hayashizaki (6-5-1, 2). Hashimoto saw off his foe after just 97 seconds. The under-card, surprisingly, all went the distance with all 5 bouts completing their schedules. The most competitive of those saw Yosuke Shimagawa (5-5-1, 2) take a very narrow split decision victory over the win-less Koichi Sumiya (0-2-1), who proved to be better than his record suggested. Another very competitive bout saw the debuting Shintaro Ukezono (1-0) take a majority decision over Shinen Nakayasu (0-3). Even the “non-close” decisions were close. These saw Ryo Sumiya (2-1-1) take a thin unanimous win over Kazuaki Okada (3-4) and Koichi Wakita (2-1) take an even slimmer win over Kazuki Koyanagi (3-9). The only clear decision from the under-card saw Katsushito Kudo (2-2, 1) over-come Teruyuki Nogami (0-2) Hiroshima, Japan In Hiroshima there was a 10 bout card which featured 2 main bouts alongside 8 under-card bouts, each of which was scheduled for 4 rounds. The main bout saw Koji Itagaki (14-9-2, 6) take a wide decision against Filipino visitor Benezer Alolod (16-7-5, 5). This was Itagaki's second win following an horrific 0-4-1 run whilst Alolod has now lost back-to-back fights after having a good string of results in 2014 The other main event saw Ryuji Ikeda (9-2-1, 5) blow away journeyman Kosuke Iwashita (14-18-2, 8) in just 160 seconds. We didn't expect this one to be so one-sided and it perhaps spells the end of Iwashita who is now 1-8 in his last 9 bouts The under-card featured a bit of everything, with a number of competitive bouts as well as a number of stoppages. One of those stoppages came in an all debutant bout as Katsushi Shiga (1-0, 1) scored a 4th round TKO against Hiroyuki Tsujimura (0-1). Another 4th round TKO came at Lightweight as Satoshi Yamamichi (4-3, 4) took out Takahiro Maeda (1-2, 1). A third 4th round finish saw the unbeaten Kazuya Okubo (3-0, 1) extend his perfect record with a victory against Kota Hama (2-1, 1), who lost his unbeaten record. One other stoppage on this card saw Ryoya Ikema (4-1, 4) stop the win-less Hayata Komen (0-2) in the 3rd round. In more competitive action J Soul Maeda (3-2-2, 1) took a split decision over the previously unbeaten Riku Inokuchi (1-1), another split decision saw Takahiro Morisaki (3-1, 1) defeat Takumi Konod (1-1-1, 1), who also lost his perfect record. Another close bout saw Hiromichi Kurokawa (4-2-1, 1) take a majority decision over Masashi Kamon (1-2). The only clear under-card bout saw Hironori Miyake (4-3, 1) take a wide decision over Masafumi Suda (1-2, 1) Siquijor, Philippines In the Philippines there was a small card with no major bouts on it though the main event did feature an unbeaten prospect taking a step up in class. That aforementioned main event saw Jayr Raquinel (5-0, 3) take a 3rd round DQ win against Jimboy Haya (7-2-1, 4), who was unable to keep his shots above the belt against the unbeaten man. The 18 year old Raquinel may be worth making a note of, though unfortunately this bout failed to really tell us how good he is. In both the under-card bouts fans saw early blow outs. One of those saw Marjun Pantilgan (5-2, 4) blast away with Rajah Jetro Tulod (0-1) inside a round whilst the other saw Filjun Taneo (3-1, 1) defeat Salvador Crispin (0-1), also inside a round. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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