Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans had a Dangan show that featured a number of tournament bouts with prospects and novices involved.

The main event of the show saw the touted Light Middleweight Kazuto Takesako (2-0, 2) defeat Elfelos Vega (5-2, 3) in just 92 seconds to make a genuine statement and claim the MVP of the B class tournament. The unbeaten 24 year old is being regarded as a fighter who could be fast tracked and a result like this seems to suggest that he really could be in good bouts before the end of 2016.

Another of the B class bouts saw the unbeaten Daishi Nagata (4-0-1, 2) out point Minoru Iizuka (5-4, 3) in a bout at Light Welterweight. Incidentally this was the first time that Iizuka had seen the final bell have either been stopped or scoring a stoppage in his previous 8 bouts.

At Super Bantamweight we had a blow out as Naoki Kumagai (7-2, 4) took out Heisuke Ono 96-3, 5) in just 167 seconds to claim the B class title at 122lbs. At 118lbs it was the turn of Sonin Nihei (7-1-2, 1) who claimed a decision win over Masayasu Nakamura (5-2-1, 5) in a very close and competitive bout.

The lowest weight involved in the B class tournament was Flyweight where Yuji Okinori (7-2-1, 1) took a decision over Shoji Ebisawa (6-2-1, 1) in a hotly contested bout.

As well as the B class tournament bouts there was also a couple of C class tournament finals. These saw Shintaro Hirohama (4-3-1, 3) claim a 3rd round TKO win in a Super Featherweight bout against Masahiko Ashiya (2-2-2, 1) and Naoto Mizutani (3-0, 1) score a 2nd round KO win against Shogo Isaka (0-2), in a bout at Bantamweight.

In non-tournament bouts Shota Watanabe (1-0, 1) made light work of fellow debutant Ryohei Shishido (0-1) with a 3rd round TKO win, Junki Kobayashi (3-1, 3) blew away Satoshi Tanaka (0-1) in 41 seconds and Erika Hanawa (2-0) recorded a narrow decision win over Mikio Muto (2-3).

Gwangyang, South Korea
On paper the most significant show was in South Korea of all places as fight fans had a female world title bout and a domestic title bout.

That world title bout saw unbeaten South Korean Eun Hye Lee (8-0, 3) take a 3rd round TKO win against Ploynapa Sakrungrueng (12-6-1, 1). The win for Lee saw her claim the WBO female Light Flyweight title though it's fair to say that she'll be expected to face a real challenge before many will recognise her as a proper world champion.

The Korean title, or the KBC version at least, bout saw Joon Yong Lee (5-3-3, 3) score a 2nd round TKO win against Boo-Hyun Baek (3-5, 1). Baek was dropped twice in round 2 forcing the referee to stop the action.

Amazingly this card ended up with 4 of it's 6 bouts ending in draws. The most notable of those Jae Ho Kim (6-1-1, 2) take a lucky technical draw with Rey Laspinas (20-11-6, 12), with Kim having being dropped in round 2 before the doctors stopped the bout in round 3. A very lucky escape for the Korean. Another draw saw Ji Sun Yoon (0-0-1) score a draw with Yoo Ri Kim (0-0-1) in an all debutant bout. Another draw saw Chae Yong Lee (1-1-1, 1) fight to a draw with Jin Jun (1-1-1, 1) whilst Jung Yul Lee (0-2-1) got a draw with Sang Ho Kim (2-0-1, 1).

Metro Manila, Philippines
The least significant of three Asian shows came from the Philippines where fans got a number of domestic level fights.

The main bout of the card saw Warren Mambuanag (8-5-2, 3) take a 10 round decision over Gabriel Royo (10-13-2, 8). Mambuang was dropped in round 6 though recovered well to take a very clear decision over the heavier handed, but more limited, Royo.

Another bout that went the distance saw Philip Luis Cuerdo (8-2-1, 4) take an 8 round decision win over Jeven Villacite (3-4-4, 1). The "better than his records suggests" Villacite was dropped in round 7 by Cuerdo who may well be one to keep an eye on in the future.

Another 8 rounder saw JayAr Diama (6-5-5, 3) blow away Ricky Oyan (4-26-2, 2) in the 3rd round of their bout.

Another blow out saw Jimmy Borbon (3-1-1, 2) claim an opening round TKO against Jerwin Mejes (2-2-1, 2) inside a round, in a bout scheduled to go 6. Another blow out saw the unbeaten Richard Morales (2-0, 2) wipe out Kenneth Perez (0-1).

Morales wasn't the only man keeping his unbeaten run alive. Another was Michael Mendoza (2-0), who beat Jun Imao (0-4) with a wide decision, whilst Jerry Mae Villagracia (2-0, 1) took a split decision win over Manny Mamacquiao (0-7-1). In a close bout Diego Gabayeron (0-1-1) fought to a draw with the debuting Kenter Pagunsan (0-0-1). A man who got off to a positive start was Marvin Lulu (1-0) who claimed a technical decision win over Jiro Saonoy (1-6).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
On Tuesday fans in Tokyo had the chance to catch the last Asian card of June courtesy of reason who put on the latest “Dangan” card.

The show began with an easy win for Masaya Kohama (5-2-1, 3) who made light-work of win-less Thai visitor Nichao Chaiyonggym (0-4), who was stopped in the second round of their bout. Another early stoppage on the bottom part of this card saw Isoe Ishii (2-0, 1) score her first stoppage win as she took out Chiaki Takagi (0-2), who suffered her second stoppage loss.

The first bout that went the distance saw novice Kentaro Omori (2-0, 1) take a clear decision win over Takuya Kurata (1-3, 1), in what was a very easy to score bout for Omori. Another bout that went the distance on the lower end of this card ended with with an upset as Shin Tomitaka (3-1-1, 1) managed to out point the previously unbeaten Ryusei Yaba (4-1-1, 3) in a Rookie of the Year qualifying bout. Another Rookie of the Year qualifying bout ended in a draw as Riku Nagahama (0-0-1) fought to a split draw with Kazutomo Oma (2-0-2, 2).

In a 5 round bout fans saw novice fighter Takaaki Kamikawa (1-1) score his first win as he over-came Filipino veteran Dondon Sultan (18-23-3, 3) with a wide decision over 5 rounds. Despite Kamikawa's loss on debut, last year to Shoma Fukumoto, there is still some expectation surrounding his shoulders and this win will have helped him rebuild some of his confidence. Another 5 bout with an international feel saw Takuya Uehara (6-0, 3) extend his perfect record, as he stopped Vachara Soonkilabangmod (0-2) in the 2nd round of their bout. A third 5 round bout saw Isao Aoyama (6-3-1, 1) take a clear decision win over Takahiro Kinoshita (5-5-2, 2) in a bout that we pegged as being a very competitive one on paper.

The top of this card was a trio of B class tournament bouts. The first of those saw Shoji Ebisawa (6-1-1, 1) score his first stoppage as he blew away Hidetoshi Ueki (4-10-2) in just 96 seconds! Of all the bouts on this card we had this one pegged as being a distance fight, making the result very shocking. The second of the B class tournament bouts saw Elfos Vega (5-1, 3) take a split decision win over Tomoki Narumi (1-1, 1). On paper the loss is a set back for Narumi though we'd not be surprised by him putting the loss behind him and rebuilding.

The main event of the card, and the final of the B class tournament bouts saw the touted Daishi Nagata (3-0-1, 2) scoring a very impressive blow out win against Takuya Matsusaka (5-4, 5) in just 105 seconds. The unbeaten Nagata is tipped by some to be a real threat on the domestic title scene and on this performance it's clear to see why.

Pennsylvania, USA
Sadly in the US fans saw Korean fighter Gang Yong Kim (4-2) who was out pointed by Tyrone Luckey (6-4-2, 5). This loss for Kim was his first in more than 8 years, though he had only fought 4 times in between those losses.

Tokyo, Japan
We've not seen much action in Japan this year but things are starting to get going and today we had the first taste of domestic title action as the Champion Carnival kicked off, we also had a world fighter in action and several promising fighters all looking to make a name for themselves.

The show began with a 4 rounder which saw the debuting Kentaro Omori (1-0, 1) introduce himself to the professional boxing world with a 70 second stoppage win against the win-less Hirako Saito (0-2). This was one of a number of lower tier bouts which also included another opening round blow out as Yutaka Ekawa (6-3-1, 3) unexpectedly blasted out Ryosuke Suzuki (4-3) in an impressive 23 seconds in a bout scheduled for 5 rounds. Ekawa's win came in one of 2 bouts set for 5 with the other resulting in a disappointing technical draw between Hidetoshi Ueki (4-9-2) and Tomoyuki Kaneko (7-4-1, 4) after a headclash in the second round forced this bout to be abandoned.

In a 6 round bout we saw the talented, and unbeaten, Daishi Nagata (2-0-1, 1) score his first stoppage win as he took out the more experienced Ryoji Miyagi (7-6-1, 4) in the 3rd round. Although Nagata does have a “mark” on his record he is incredibly talented and we'd tip him to go far on the domestic scene, just like Takeshi Inoue who gave him that mark on debut.

The chief support bouts both looked interesting on paper. One of those saw world ranked Super Flyweight Go Onaga (23-2-2, 16) take a clear decision over former “world” title challenger Breilor Teran (13-11-1, 6) in what amounted to a show case of sorts for Onaga, a member of the Ohashi stable. The other saw the heavy handed Yusuke Suzuki (6-1, 4) enhance his fast growing reputation as he blasted away Akinori Hoshino (11-9-1, 8) in the 6th round of their scheduled 8. The ending here saw Hoshino crashing to the canvas an unable to beat the 10 count, though Suzuki was given a good test before the finish.

The headline bout, and one of the first really notable bouts this year in Japan, saw Rikki Naito (12-0, 5) successfully retain his Japanese Super Featherweight title as he narrowly over-came Masayuki Ito (16-1-1, 7) in a highly competitive bout that ended with Naito taking a narrow majority decision. The bout really was one of those where no one felt they lost and whilst Ito may have a “1” on his record he'll still feel unbeaten. Naito, a very talented fighter managed to record the third defence of his title though he'll likely not rush up to fighting at the world level considering how hard he was pushed here. We really hope we'll see a rematch of this one somewhere down the line and with both men being really young it's pretty likely that we will see them crossing paths again, one day.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Tuesday was a busy day in Asian boxing with several interesting fighters in action through out Asia.

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans had the chance to see the latest in the Dangan series of shows and, on paper, this was a great card with several very promising young fighters in action in what were really interesting tests.

The most notable of the youngsters who we thought was being tested was Masayuki Ito (16-0-1, 7) who took on Filipino foe Ryan Sermona (16-7, 9) in what looked like an interesting bout. Ito, who beat Masao Nakamura last time out, was expected to to do what he usually does and box and move though began the bout by holding his ground and landing some very clean and damaging shots. Those managed to quickly cut Sermona and inside a round the referee was forced to stop the bout due to the cut. This was the quickest of Sermona's stoppage defeats and notably Ito's 4th stoppage win in 5 fights suggesting he is growing in belief of his own stopping power even if he didn't stand and trade with Nakamura.

Another very interesting bout at the top of this card saw Ryoichi Tamura (3-1-1, 1) score an 8th round TKO over Kenji Kubo (5-3-1, 2) in a bout that was everything a boxing fan could hope to see. Both men gave their all before a tired looking Kubo was dropped late in the bout. It was one of the bouts that again suggested we down-rate fighters for their records and Tamura showed the ability to go a long way, don't be fooled by his record.

A third man who we were excited to see in action was Yusaku Kuga (10-1-1, 6) who struggled to a technical decision win over tough southpaw Kenta Takahashi (10-9-3, 3). The bout was stopped in the 5th round with Kuga taking the unanimous technical decision though it does appear that he will need a few more bouts before moving to title level.

A fourth 8 rounder on this card saw former OPBF title challenger Valentine Hosokawa (18-4-3, 9) scored a 5th round TKO against the light hitting and relatively soft Takeshi Goda (7-3-1, 2) who suffered his third stoppage loss. This was Hosokawa's second win following his loss to Min Wook Kim in an OPBF title fight in  South Korea last year.

Further down the card fans saw the talented Daishi Nagata (1-0-1) score his first career win as he took a 6 round split decision over the more experienced Jeffrey Arienza (12-3-1, 7). Although Nagata went into this bout having only drawn on his debut he was matched hard and it seems clear that he's not going to be given many easy bouts in his career. Another 6 rounder saw Kyosuke Sawada (2-2, 1) take a clear decision over Yamato Nakagawa (4-5, 2).

At the start of this card fans saw Ryo Ueda (3-0, 2) take a clear decision over Regent Kusumoto (2-1) whilst the debuting Toru Wakamatsu (1-0, 1) managed to defeat Yutaka Kato (0-1) with a 4th round stoppage in an all debutant affair.

Dumaguete City Hall Quadrangle , Dumaguete City, Philippines
As well as the show in Japan we also had a card in the Philippines headlined by the unbeaten Mark Bernaldez (15-0, 10). We'll admit we are high on Bernaldez but he was less than impressive here as he struggled to a majority decision win over Cristian Abila (12-15-3, 4)

Another unbeaten fighter at the top of the card was Brian Lobetania (9-0-3, 7) who managed to live up to expectations as he stopped Renante Suacasa (6-13, 1) in the fourth round to extend his winning run. On paper the win was expected by Lobetania though no one would have expected him to stop Suacasa who had been just once in his 8 bouts.

In the sole 8 rounder Jonas Sultan (6-2, 4) scored a 7th round stoppage against Andrew Palas (3-3, 1) in the 7th round of the bout.

Another stoppage win came for Crispin Parba (8-7, 5) who took out the very experienced Elmer Colve (6-31-3, 2) in the fourth round of a 6 round whilst it took Jess Rhey Waminal (5-0, 3) a round less to stop Alvin Sibugan (1-2-1). The only 6 rounder that actually went the distance was that of the debuting Jesson Horteza (1-0) who out pointed James Paul Talaman (2-1, 1).

In 4 rounders fans saw Michael Estrella (1-0) out point Noel Rosa (0-4) and Junder Gregorio (1-0) defeat Jamjam Ungon (1-7) in two wins for debutants.

Thailand
Unfortunately we've not got all the Thai results yet though the one we do have is that of PABA Welterweight champion Teerachai Kratingdaenggym (28-0, 22) who stopped Abraham Peralta (14-3, 12) in the 8th round of their bout. Teerachai has continued to show improvements though we are worried that he'll never become the fighter that his team had hoped and bouts like this aren't likely to really help him develop in the way he could.

(Image, of Ito landing a clean jab on Sermona, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)