Wow, wasn't Friday a busy day with shows in Thailand, Japan and Russia...and here we go with all the results!

Nonthaburi, Thailand
Today there was two Thai cards, one on channel 7 and one on channel 3. Of those cards it was the Channel 3 one that caught the attention with former world champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (30-4-1, 27) in action as he was defending his WBC Asia Boxing Council Super Flyweight title. Srisaket, who was listed on some sources as fighting Mateo Handig, scored his 27th stoppage as he over-came Filipino Bobby Concepcion (11-6-1, 5). The bout was straight forward enough for Srisaket who is now hoping to secure a rematch with WBC Super Flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras.

On the same card in Thailand we saw the exciting but limited Kongfah Nakornluang (17-0, 10) score a second round stoppage over Indonesian visitor, and professional loser, Safwan Lombok (1-27-1). Kongfah started the bout by boxing but in the second round went into fight mode and swiftly saw off the Indonesian fighter. Although Kongfah against us wondering just how far he will go we've got to admit we're going to love following his career and for the second time this year we were really entertaining by this young and exciting Thai warrior.

Ayutthaya, Thailand
On the channel 7 show fans saw Palangpol CP Freshmart (6-1, 4) in the main event as he defended his WBA Asia title against former foe Heri Amol (34-20-4, 14). Palangpol took a decision over the Indonesian veteran though still didn't look ready to take the next step up, we suspect that Palangpol will take a big fight next year and if he wins that he'll be moved towards a world title contest though it's hard to see him beating any of the top Light Flyweights at the moment.

Thai veteran Noknoi Sitthiprasert (51-4, 30) scored his 30th stoppage victory, as he over-came Dechai PetchasemfourGym (0-1) in just 2 rounds.

Other bouts on this card saw Petch Sor Chitpattana (28-0, 18) extend his winning run with a decision over Petchchumpol Sor Visetkit (4-3, 2) whilst Ratchasak KKP (25-3-1, 11) over-came the tough Joel Kwong (1-7, 1) in what was a second meeting between the two men.

Tokyo, Japan
At the Korakuen Hall, the holy land of Japanese boxing, there was 8 domestic bouts with several of them being of genuine interest.

The main event saw Japanese based Filipino Ricky Sismundo (27-8-1, 12) narrowly over-come heavy handed Japanese fighter Shuhei Tsuchiya (16-4, 14) with an 8 round split decision. Although the bout went the distance it certainly wasn't a dull one with Tsuchiya down twice and Susmundo down once in a great contest between two men who knew just how much this bout meant to their careers. For Tsuchiya this is his second loss of the year, following a stoppage loss to Leonardo Zappavigna, and seems to hint that he's never going to be a domestic champion however he will always be a lot of fun to watch. For Sismundo this win should move him towards a Japanese title fight.

In an 8 support bout Yuya Sugizaki (20-9-1, 6) managed to take a fifth round technical decision over Filipino Gabriel Royo (9-11-2, 8), who has now lost 4 in a row. Royo is a heavy handed fighter but is clumsy and it showed against the more skilled Sugizaki. Another 8 rounder saw Yuta Nakagawa (14-4-1, 8) take a clear 8 round win over Yuta Saito (7-5-2, 6) in a Bantamweight contest. The first of the 4 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds was the only one that saw a knockout as Kazuya Nakano (8-3, 7) lived up to his reputation as a heavy handed fighter and stopped Takahisa Nayuki (11-12, 2) in the 5th round of their bout with an eye catching shot that immediately caused the referee to wave off the bout.

On the under-card there was one man we were particularly interested in, Koki Koshikawa (3-0, 1). Koshikawa is tipped as a prospect with real potential having been a stand out amateur and he showed that class as he dominated Ryoji Miyagi (7-5-1, 4) to take a 1-sided decision win.

Another unbeaten fighter in action was Hiroyasu Shiga (4-0, 3) scored a 4th round TKO victory over Takuo Watanabe (2-8-3), an impressive victory considering that Watanbe has got a reputation as being somewhat durable. Another unbeaten man extending his run was Daisuke Yamada (2-0, 1) who scored a second round KO against Kosuke Tsunoda (1-3). In the opening bout Takuya Kurata (1-2, 1) defeated Yuta Ouchi (0-1), also by second round TKO.

Moscow, Russia
We had another show in Russia as the capital city, Moscow, played host to a show that got more interest than many Russian shows have in recent years.

The card began simple enough with two debutants scoring low profile wins. One of those was Dmitry Bivol (1-0, 1) who scored a 6th round TKO against the limited but experienced Jorge Rodriguez Olivera (25-11, 12) the other debutant was Heavyweight hopeful Sergey Kuzmin (1-0, 1) who blasted out Nicholas Buule (3-1, 3).

Another of the undercard bouts saw the very promising Sergey Lipinets (5-0, 4) score and 8th round knockout against Filipino visitor Ernie Sanchez (14-6-1, 5) in a bout that saw the unbeaten Russian claim the WBC International silver Light Welterweight title, Lipinets's first title as a professional boxer. Another man in title action was Andrey Klimov (19-1, 9) who took a very wide decision over Gabino Cota (16-3-1, 14) to defend his WBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title.

One of the more interesting under-card bouts saw Olympic champion, and former amateur stand out, Egor Mekhontsev (7-0, 6) take hid first decision win as he completely shut out Joey Vegas (17-10-1, 10) in an 8 round bout. Mekhontsev will likely feel disappointed that he didn't score the stoppage here but will certainly feel happy to get some professional rounds under his belt given that his first 6 opponents lasted a combined 16 rounds.

One man who didn't need to go any rounds was the heavy handed Eduard Troyanovsky (20-0, 17) who scored a beautiful knockout out as he took out Jose Agustin Feria (16-2-1, 10) inside a round. Another man who scored an opening round KO was Cruiserweight crusher Dmitry Kudryashov (16-0, 16) who took just 22 seconds, yes you read that correctly, to wipe out former world champion Juan Carlos Gomez (55-4-0-1, 40). Gomez might be well beyond his prime but no one would have expected this from Kudryashov who is now ready for a top contender.

Another Cruiserweight contest saw Rakhim Chakhkiev (21-1, 16) make relatively light work of Brazilian Light Heavyweight Jackson Junior (15-2, 13) with a fourth round TKO. Although the bout was relatively straight forward for the big punching Russian he did seem to have problems the few times Junior did catch him.

Towards the top of the card, in fact in the chief support slow, we ended up with a contest that many dubbed a freakshow. The bout, supposedly an exhibition, saw Mickey Rourke (6-0-2-1, 4), yes the Hollywood actor, score a knockout against the frankly hapless Elliot Seymour (1-9-0-1, 1). Seymour may well have put in the worst performance of a professional fighter this year and fought such an incredibly tame effort that it appears he was the actor pretending to be a boxer. For what it's worth we're unsure if this bout will feature on either man's record though we've noted it as a “no contest” on both records.

In the main event of the card we saw former world champions colliding as Russian slugger Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17) took on Mexican veteran Jose Luis Castillo (66-13-1, 57). The two men, from completely different eras, were never on an even keel as Provodnikov took control of the bout in the opening round and was never really under any sort of pressure before Castillo was eventually stopped in round 5.

Barnaul, Russia
A second Russian card came from Barnual and attracted much less attention from the boxing world.

Theunder-card hear features 3 bouts with one of those being an all debutant 4 rounder that saw Mahir Pashayev (1-0) out point Abbas Turgunbaev (0-1). The show's sole upset came in an 8 rounder as Vladyslav Yeromenko (2-1) out pointed Artem Merzlikin (5-1-1, 3).

The show's sole 10 round bout saw the unbeaten Yury Kashinsky (5-0, 5) continue his stoppage streak as he stopped Yuriy Barashian (27-8, 18) in the 7th round

The main event here saw PABA Light Middleweight champion Pavel Mamontov (10-1-2, 1) retain his title with a 12 round decision win over Oscar Roberto Medina (24-7-2, 9).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Saturday was a day where the boxing world turned their attention to the US where we had two major fighters in action whilst other bouts took place in Asia it's self.

California, USA
In the US we saw two world title fights with mixed success for the Asian fighters who were involved in the contests.

For Filipino fighter Nonito Donaire (33-3, 21) the night was a painful one, a very painful one. The Filipino was attempting to defend his WBA Featherweight super title but was made to look small, weak and a long way from being a world class Featherweight as Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21) really "beat the shit" out of Donaire, to quote the Filipino himself. Donaire was dropped in round 3 before being sent down again in round 6, that time he wasn't fit to continue when he recovered to his feet. For Jamaican power puncher Walters this was a break out win whilst for Donaire it may have been a loss that sends him into retirement.

The other bout saw Kazakhstan banger Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28) continue to rip apart the Middleweight division as he destroyed Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1, 51) in just 2 rounds. Rubio, who came in well above the Middleweight limit, looked a full division bigger than Golovkin though was battered in round 2 as Golovkin went to work in style. The win for Golovkin was his 18th straight stoppage and saw him defending his WBA Middleweight super title and claiming the WBC interim title as he moved one step further to proving that he was the best 160lb fighter on the planet.

A third Asian on this show was Ruslan Madiev (2-0), also from Kazakhstan, who secured a 4 round decision over the debuting Oscar Rojas (0-1).

Suwannakhet, Laos
In Laos we had 2 more titles fights, both of which were at a much lower level.

The more notable of these bouts saw Kongthara KKP (5-0, 5) score his first title win as he claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council silver Super Bantamweight title. Konthara, who has also gone by the name Attanon Kunlawong in the past, stopped Macau's Kin Fong Leong (0-1) to record his 4th stoppage of the year and really build on an excellent victory over Japan's Shingo Kawamura.

In the other title bout female fighter Nampetch Kwanjaisrikod (3-1, 1) out pointed Zongju Cai (0-1) to successfully defend the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental female Light Flyweight title for the first time.

As well as the results we currently have we have been made aware of two other shows. Hopefully we'll be able to add those results shortly though currently we've not have them made available to us.

Negros Occidental, Philippines
An interesting, albeit some what small, Filipino show took place in Negros Occidental. Sadly many of the bouts turned out to be relative mismatches.

One of the mismatches was the main event which saw the very promising and unbeaten Melvin Gumban (18-0, 9) quickly dispatch of Roger Echavez (7-13-1, 4) inside a round. This blow out won't have done much for the long term development of Gumban but keeping him active over the coming years is likely as important as anything else.

Although the main event was over quickly the co-feature dud go the distance as Juren Labordo (13-2, 8) took an 8 round decision over Ryan Tampus (11-12, 8), an astonishing result given that Tampus had been stopped 7 times prior to this bout. Another bout that went the distance saw James Paul Talaman (2-0, 1) take a decision over the win-less Sonny Basanez (0-3). Other bouts that went the distance saw Kenneth Neron (1-0) take a split decision over Jay Solomon (1-1, 1) whilst Jeffrey Concerman (1-0) began his career with a win over Holly Quinones (0-2).

As for stoppages on the under-card fans saw Rafael Sueno (2-1, 2) blasted out Macmac Baribar (2-2-1) in a round and it took Ricardo Sueno (1-0, 1) just as long to see off Kavin Parrenas (0-1). The other stoppage on this card saw Archie Moyani (1-0, 1) stop Ronald Cajes (0-1) in the second round.

Rostov-na-Donu, Russia
We also got action from Russia with a 9 fight card that featured a trio of title bouts as well as one of the hardest hitting on world boxing.

The shortest of the title bouts saw the unbeaten Viskhan Murzabekov (10-0, 5) successfully defend the WBC Youth Intercontinental title with an opening round blow out over Ramadhani Shauri (18-6-1, 10). This was the first defense of the title by Maruzabekov.

In a UBO Middleweight title bout Aliklych Kanbolatov (10-2-2, 5) scored a 5th round TKO against Mada Maugo (17-12, 12) whilst a UBO InterContinental Super Middleweight title fight saw Varazdat Chernikov (8-2, 3) score a 6th round KO against Karama Nyilawila (18-11-2, 10).

The most notable fight on the show saw Dmitry Kudryashov (15-0, 15) score a second round stoppage over Giulian Ilie (20-8-2, 6). Ilie was sadly forced to retire after just 2 rounds giving the heavy handed Russian an unexpectedly easy victory against the usually tough Romanian. Whilst Kudryashov's stoppage run continued we did see the run of Apti Davtaev (8-0-1, 8) come to an end after he was held to a 6 round split decision draw by Ante Verunica (3-1-1, 1).

Davtaev's bout was one of 4 bouts that went the distance. Another saw Apti Ustarkhanov (8-1-2, 1) take a 6 round decision over the limited Murad Dalkhaev (3-4, 2). In 4 rounders Arbi Madaev (7-1, 2) took a unanimous decision over Andrey Zapisov (0-2), the unbeaten Robert Bagaev (2-0) defeated Oleksiy Shteplyuk (0-10-1) with a 4 round decision whilst Roman Ivanov (3-6, 1) struggled past Rustem Abdinanov (1-3-1)

(Image courtesy of Sumio Yamada)

Not many days are genuinely packed with action but this past Friday was with action around the world, a lot of which was genuinely notable.

Tokyo, Japan
The sole Japanese card of the day took place at the Korakuen Hall and was the much anticipated Dangan 101 B Class Tournament Finals. This show, which in total featured 9 bouts, shared the card well between none tournament bouts and tournament bouts. In total there were 4 B class tournament bouts, 3 none tournament bouts and 2 Rookie of the year qualifiers.

The show began with Mimura Toshinobu (1-0-1) recording his first career victory as he took a hard fought decision over the still win-less Kazuhiro Baba (0-2-1). 

Following the show's opening bout we then had the first Rookie of The Year qualifying bout which saw the unbeaten 17 year old Kenya Yamashita (3-0, 2) narrowly over-come the more experienced Kadomoto Tatsuji (3-5, 1). This bout, which saw Yamashita taking a split decision, was easily the toughest of his young career and hopefully he'll use the experience and struggles to develop. It was a tough win but the sort of character building win that does a fighter a lot of good in the long run. The show's third bout was also a Rookie of the Year Qualifying bout which saw Toshiki Maruyama (3-4, 2) taking a split decision over the previously unbeaten Akinori Kubota (2-1, 1).

The show's fourth bout saw Naoto Takanashi (4-7-2, 3) fighting a 4th round technical draw with Kazuyuki Nakayama (4-4-3, 1). It was a disappointing ending to what was a very even contest up to the stoppage point. In the show's 5th contest  Kyosuke Sawada (1-2) scored his first career victory as he took a decision over Hiroshi Miwa (4-6, 2) in what was the final bout before the show moved on to the main section of the card, the B class tournament finals.

The first of the finals was in the Super Flyweight division as Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (8-5-1, 4) stopped the chinny Masatoshi Tomita (5-7-2) in the second round. This was the 5th stoppage loss for Tomita who simply hasn't got the durability to survive in the ring against anyone who can really put some snap on their shots.

Yamaguchi's victory in the Super Flyweight division was followed by a majority decision victory for Takumi Takahashi (6-3-1, 1) who took home the Super Bantamweight title by over-coming the heavy handed Shota Kumazawa (6-6-1, 5). This bout was more competitive than the previous bout but two of the judges felt that Takahashi did far more than enough to just "deserve" the victory as used his height and reach to great effect.

In the Featherweight final fans saw Hideto Miyoshi (7-3-1, 5) come up short against an inspired Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (8-3, 3). Takabayashi was always in control though couldn't find the extra gear needed to finish off his foe.

The biggest disappointment of the show was the main event which finished with a 5th round technical draw between between Ryoichi Tamura (2-1-1) and Yoichi Ide (1-1-1, 1). The bout was bloody, entertaining and well fought though unfortunately accidental founds opened up wounds that forced an early decision. In the end it was a split draw though Tamura took home the title as the card in his favour was wider than the one in favour of Ide. Hopefully we'll see these two rematch each other somewhere down the line.

Osaka, Japan
A second Japanese show took place in Osaka with 8 bouts in total, though all of them were of less interest than the Dangan tournament. 

The main event was every bit as competitive as it looked on paper as Shunji Nagata (9-11-2, 3) narrowly over-came Yusaku Suzuki (8-12-2, 5) in a competitive contest. The Nagata/Suzuki bout was much better than the co-main event which saw Masato Morisaki (8-3-1, 5) make very light work of Thai debutant Wut Pitakparmuangkem (0-1) with a first round stoppage.


In the shows 6 rounders Kazuharu Morimoto (11-7-3, 2) scored a 6th round stoppage over the wonderfully named Monkey Shuhei (5-4-1, 2) whilst Yuichi Arai (8-8-1, 2) took a decision over Tomohiro Iwasaki (4-5-2) in a bout that was surprisingly one sided.

Half of this shows bouts were 4 rounders and these saw just the one stoppage as Toru Kageyama (4-5-1, 2) stopped Michio Mizuno (1-2-1) in just 2 rounds. The other 3 contests all went the distance as Masahiko Jikan (2-2) defeated Ryuto Araya (2-6-1, 2) in a clear decision, Tatsunori Fukunaga (4-4) levelled his record off with a narrow victory over the debuting Yuki Arakawa (0-1) and Kazuki Ikemoto (2-1-1) took a very narrow majority decision over Shoki Nozawa (0-5)

Krasnodar, Russia
In Russia we also had a big profile card that featured titles aplenty across a number of divisions, and in both genders.

The card began, as most do, with some low profile action on the under-card. These under-card bouts saw the once beaten Arbi Madaev (4-1, 1) claim his first stoppage taking out the awful and ridiculously easy to stop Valentyn Trostyanchuk (0-9) inside a round. Another of the under-card bouts saw Apti Ustarkhanov (5-1-2, 1) take the undefeated record of Dilmurod Satybaldiev (4-1, 2) who was out-pointed over 6 rounds.

After the under-card we then moved on to the under-card bouts, the first of which saw Aliklych Kanbolatov (8-2, 4) claim the lightly regarded UBO International Middleweight title with a stoppage over the inexperienced Vladyslav Yeromenko (1-1). Kanbolatov wasn't the only fighter to claim a UBO title as the unbeaten Natalia Smirnova (8-0, 5) also claimed a UBO title. Smirnova claimed both the UBO female and WIBA Super Featherweight titles with an opening round stoppage over the very limited Yarkor Chavez Annan (7-7-1, 3).

Smirnova was one of two women to win in title bouts on this show with WBC female Super Middleweight champion Nikki Adler (12-0, 7) defending her title with a 9th round stoppage over Gifty Amanua Ankrah (3-4-1, 2). Unfortunately the female Super Middleweight division is really poor right now and Adler is probably the second best in the world, though we thunk she's a very long way behind the #1 fighter Christina Hammer who is head and shoulders the best in the division.

In another title bout fans got to see Sergey Ekimov (11-0, 5) extend his unbeaten run with a second 2nd round stoppage over Mikhail Krinitsin (11-5-2, 7). This victory got to see Ekimov claim the regional WBC CISBB Light Heavyweight title. Ekimov's compatriot Dmitry Kudryashov (14-0, 14) continued his impressive start to professional life as he took out Ivica Bacurin (17-6-1, 7) and with the victory Kudryashov scored a defence of his CISBB title.

New York, USA
In the final of the Lightweight Boxcino tournament fans got to see Spanish based Russian Petr Petrov (35-4-2, 17) stopped Fernando Carcamo (17-6, 13) in a very impressive performance. Petrov started carefully though slowly broke down and eventually stopped Carcamo who looked out of his depth from the opening round to the eventual stoppage. The victory is a huge one for Petrov who will likely be moved on to bigger and better things though hopefully his team won't throw him in to bouts he can't win, as they did when he fought Marcos Maidana a few years back.

(Image, courtesy of boxingnews.jp, comes from the Tamura/Ide bout)

This past Thursday saw action spread nice across Asia with fights in Thailand, the Philippines and Russia. Whilst none of the fights were hugely significant there was enough notable action to interest fans from all over the continent.

Samut Sakhon, Thailand
Arguably the most notable of those 3 cards was in Thailand, on Channel 9, with the headline bout being between Pharanpetch Tor Buamas (13-0, 9) and Rey Las Pinas (18-9-5, 11). The unbeaten Pharanpetch was given a much tougher than expected battle by Las Pinas though did managed to take home a decision to defend WBC Asian Boxing Council Super Featherweight title.

Pharanpetch was one of 5 Tor Buamas fighters on the card, all of whom won.

Amongst those others was top female fighter Samson Tor Buamas (32-3, 14) who defeated the debuting Saengmanee Sor Kulawong (0-1) via a 6 round decision. Another notable name on show was the former WBO Oriental Bantamweight champion Tiger Tor Buamas (16-1, 12) who also took a 6 round decision over a debuting fighter Srisomdech Kwanjaisrikod (0-1).

Another decision on the card saw the debuting Laithai Tor buamas (1-0) defeat fellow debutant Saengsakda Chor Vachira (0-1).

The only stoppage on the card saw the unbeaten, and much touted, Kaewfah Tor Buamas (14-0, 9) stopping the debuting Rafael Naffa (0-1) who was stopped in 2 rounds.

Unfortunately the card did feature too many debuting opponents to really be classed as a major show despite the talented fighters who were showcased.

Metro Manila, Philippines
Whilst the card in Thailand was the most notable, at least in regards to television exposure, the most interesting was arguably the Filipino card which feature 2 title bouts from the shows 6 total bouts.

This card's lowest profile bout saw the unbeaten Toto Landero (3-0, 1) scoring a decision on an unknown opponent before a series of KO's saw Andrew Palas (3-2, 1) stop Marco Niones (3-12, 1), the unbeaten Richard Claveras (7-0-2, 7) wipe out Rolando Niones (4-16-2, 2) and the very exciting Warlito Parrenas (19-6, 17) stopped Ryan Soliveres (4-24-1, 1). Combined those 3 stoppages took a total of 4 rounds.

Following the under card we then moved on to the title bouts. The most disappointing of these saw a 4th round technical decision after Rey Juntilla (17-4-3, 10) suffered an horrendous cut at the end of the 4th round. Juntilla, fighting against Edison Berwela (12-28-7, 3), was rightfully ruled unfit to continue and as a result the Philippines Boxing Federation (PBF) Super Bantamweight title remains vacant.

The other title fight was a close and tense affair as Rene Dacquel (11-3, 3) took a very, very hard fought decision over the experienced Albert Alcoy (14-18-7, 4) to win the Philippines Luzon Professional Boxing Association (LuzProBA) Super Flyweight title. 

Novorossiysk, Russia
As well as the bouts in Asia there was also a card in Russia. This card, headlined by the destructive Dmitry Kudryashov (13-0, 13) may not have been a hugely exciting card but it did see the man of the hour scoring his biggest win to date. Kudryashov, fighting against Lubos Suda (31-9-1, 23), continued his reign of terror with his 13th straight stoppage and it seems only a matter of time before he faces a genuine world ranked opponent.

In the chief support bout the unbeaten Viskhan Murzabekov (8-0, 4) took a decision over journeyman Bogdan Protsyshyn (7-9, 2). 

The undercard saw Zubayra Suleymanov (3-1) take a decision over the debutant Mykola Polezhaev (0-1), Varazdat Chernikov (6-2, 1) claimed a decision over the win-less Andriy Danichkin (0-10-1) and Rustem Abdinanov (0-1-1) fought to a draw with Abdulkhamid Abdulkhamidov (0-1-1).

(Poster, from the Russian show, is courtesy of the 13th round)