This past Saturday was an incredibly busy day in Asian boxing

New York, USA
It was in New York that we had the two highest profile bouts of the day to feature Asian fighters.

The first of those saw saw Filipino-American Brian Viloria (36-5-0-2, 22) put in a brave showing against the sensational Roman Gonzalez (44-0, 38). Viloria, who was attempting to claim the WBC Flyweight title, came out looking for the upset and did have plenty of success of his own, including hurting Gonzalez with a hard body shot in round 9. Sadly for Viloria that body was his last success of note before the referee saved him as Gonzalez went on the offensive.

Following the Viloria/Gonzalez bout we then saw Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31) add the IBF belt to his collection of titles as he stopped Canadian fighter David Lemieux (34-3, 31) in the 8th round of a very 1-sided bout. Golovkin showed his boxing ability early on, breaking down Lemieux with just his jab for the first few rounds before picking up the pace and eventually forcing the referee to stop a damaged Lemieux.

California, USA
Another major show from the US saw ALA make their US debut and take some of their best fighters to American soil for the first time.

The main event here saw talented WBO Light Flyweight champion Donnie Nietes (37-1-4, 21) take a clear win over the limited, but very tough, Juan Alejo (21-4, 13). Alejo was on the receiving end of a beating but never once looked like quitting as he repeatedly fought back, albeit with mixed success against the Filipino.

Another fighter who impressed was the much touted Albert Pagara (25-0, 18) who claimed the WBO Youth Intercontinental Super Bantamweight title with a 6th round KO win against former world title challenger William Gonzalez (27-6, 23). The Nicaraguan was stopped for just the third time in his career and it seems clear that Pagara is preparing himself for a world title fight in the not so distant future.

Another youngster who shined was Mark Magsayo (12-0, 10) who saw off Yardley Suarez (13-1, 8) in the early stages of their fight, whilst retaining the IBF Youth Featherweight title. On paper this one looked competitive but was totally one sided in favour of the brilliant Filipino prospect.

Another quick blow out saw Jason Pagara (37-2, 23) easily over-come Santos Benavides (25-8-2, 19) in the 2nd round as he moved a step closer to a potential world title fight of his own.

One other bout on this show saw Filipino-American Bruno Escalante (14-1-1, 6) take a 6 round decision win over Nestor Ramos (6-3-1, 2).

Massachusetts, USA
Yet more US action came from Massachusetts where a couple of promising Chinese fighters both scored wins.

One of those winners was touted Lightweight hopeful Wang Zhimin (5-0, 2) who scored a 6 round win over the experienced Guillermo Sanchez (15-17-1, 6). This was the second time that Zhimin has gone 6 rounds and it's likely than an 8 rounder bout will in the not so distant future.

The other was Meng Fanlong (4-0, 2) who scored a quick blow out win against the debuting Devonte Hopkins (0-1). This bout lasted less than a round with the Chinese fighter being too good, too strong and too talented

Gifu, Japan
In Gifu Japanese fans had a small profile show headlined by one of their most promising prospects in the lower weights.

That prospect was Genki Hanai (5-0, 4) who scored a 2nd round TKO win against Junya Nishikawa (7-7-2, 2). Following the win Hanai's team hinted that he would be fighting for a title next time out.

In the chief support bout Reiko Sugiyama (6-5-3, 4) scored a 6th round TKO win against Takuya Yamamoto (6-4, 3).

The under-card for this show, which featured 6 bouts, were all scheduled for 4 rounds. Of those two failed to go the distance. They saw Masaki Sasaki (1-0, 1) take an opening round KO win against Hidemitsu Yokoyama (0-1) whilst Yuto Nakamura (2-1, 2) took a 4th round TKO over Michitaka Umemoto (1-2, 1).

The most competitive bout of the show saw Tom Hamaguchi (3-3) take a majority decision over Seiya Kaga (1-1). Another competitive fight saw Takayoshi Mizoguchi (1-1) take a competitive win over Kiyoshi Nakamura (2-3, 1). Mizoguchi was one of 3 fighters to pick up their first win. Another was Kizuki Yamazaki (1-1), who beat Takashi Kagamihara (2-3) whilst Takayuki Sakai (1-0-1) claimed a win over Shohei Iwamoto (0-3-1).

Ishikawa, Japan
Another Japanese show took place in Ishikawa.

This card featured a genuine upset as Yudai Tamagawa (8-6-1, 2) claimed a split decision win over once touted Filipino Mark Gil Melligen (21-6-1, 12) For Melligen, who fought for an OPBF title earlier this year, this was a second successive set back and it's hard to see where he goes now.

The Tamagawa/Melligen bout was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds. Another saw Yudai Arai (7-3-3, 3) scored a wide decision win over Yukiya Hanabusa (8-3-2, 2), in a fight that looked good on paper, whilst the other saw boxing nomad Omrri Bolivar (3-0, 1) defeat Xinghua Wang (11-13-1). Bolivar, from Venezuela, has fought in China and Japan in recent weeks and seems likely to continue his interesting career on the road.

In a 6 rounder Hurricane Futa (20-5-1, 11) blow away Ik Soo Han (7-5, 2) inside a round whilst Mika Iwakawa (4-3-1, 1) out pointed Aiko Yamagishi (4-3-1, 2) in a female bout, also over 6.

Another female bout saw Asami Jinnari (3-1, 1) score a 3rd round TKO win over win-less Thai Petchluksor Sor Praithong (0-3), in a bout scheduled for 4 rounds. The only other 4 rounder was a narrow win for Yohei Fukui (3-0, 1), who defeated Dong Yang (1-5).

Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Staying with Japanese fighters there was a win for foreign based Japanese fighter Aniya Seki (29-3-2, 4) who defeated the heavy handed but crude Carolina Schroeder (8-2, 7) by a clear decision in a but for a couple of lowly recognised female world titles.

Suzhou, China
There was also action in China with a small card in Suzhou.

In the main event Shunkai Xia (5-0, 2) claimed the WBO China National Cruiserweight title with an 8 round decision against Samoan fighter Falani Tavu'i (4-2, 1). We're not sure how a Somoan, making a Chinese debut, was allowed to fight for a China national title though it certainly seems like Xia is missing details from his record, that could mean bouts or just small inaccuracies.

In another 8 round contest fans saw teenager Jian Wang (1-0) take a decision win over Zhan Gupo Sun (0-1-1). The win, a clear one for the 19 year old Wang, was an impressive debut but it will be interesting to see how far he can go.

The card also featured a couple of 6 round bouts. One of those saw 17 yeard old Light Heavyweight Fei Hu Wang (1-0) claim a clear win against Yu Qu (0-1). The other was a very wide win for Wen feng Ge (1-0) who took a 60-52 win, across the board, against, Xu Gao Yan (0-1)

In a female 4 rounder YuanYuan Zhao (1-0) took a 4 round decision win over Ling Wang (0-1).

(Image courtesy of GBP)

This past Sunday wasn't a great day in Asian boxing but there was two, small, Japanese cards.

Gifu, Japan
For us the most notable of the two cards came from Gifu where we saw a talented and promising prospect in action in a show that featured a pretty weak card over-all.

The prospect of note was Genki Hanai (4-0, 3) who stopped Indonesian visitor Bonis Purba (3-4-1, 3) in the 4th round of a less than memorable bout. Purba was the third choice opponent for Hanai, who had seen both Boy Tanto and Demsi Manufoe pull out, and it showed with the Indonesian having nothing to trouble Hanai. Sadly for the Japanese fighter this was a major step back after scoring a decision win last time our against Crison Omayao.

In a more competitive match up fans saw Shota Suito (10-4-1, 1) take a well earned 8 round decision over Shohei Fujimoto (9-5-3, 8). This was well matched on paper and credit needs to be given to Suito fore over-coming a much harder puncher than himself.

Another under-card bout saw Shota Okuda (6-2, 2) completely dominate Masami Moriizumi (5-6-1, 4). Although the contest went the scheduled 6 it was as one-sided as you could expect with Okuda winning by 8 points, twice, and 7 points.

Nara, Japan
Although we had more interest in the Gifu show there was, on paper, a better show in Nara which had a more notable main event and a genuine upset in the chief support contest.

The main event saw ranked contender Satoru Sugita (10-2-1, 6) take a razor thin win over Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (8-6, 3). This bout was supposed to be a mismatch but Sugita really struggled and left us wondering whether his rankings, with both the OPBF and the JBC, were really accurate.

The co-feature ended up being really competitive though ending in an upset as Takuya Yamamoto (5-3, 2) narrowly over-came the previous unbeaten Fumiya Imafuji (4-1-2, 1) with a narrow 6 round decision win.

This card had 4 bouts on it's under-card. Of those only one ended early as the debuting Yu Sumiya (1-0, 1) blew away Takahiro Shinoda (1-2, 1) in the 2nd round of their bout. A one-sided bout saw Shosuke Jo (2-1) take a wide decision over Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-6, 1) whilst a slightly more competitive contest saw Yosuke Taniguchi (3-3) defeat Masahiko Jikan (2-4). The only really competitive under-card bout saw Retsu Kosaka (1-0) take a narrow split decision over Toshiki Shimatani (0-2).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Monday was an incredibly busy day though unfortunately we were very slow to receive the results for the day, hence why we're only able to put them up now, almost 48 hours after the bouts. Thankfully in the interim we have managed to get together some video's from some of the bouts, so we guess it wasn't all bad.

IMP Hall, Osaka, Japan
One of two Osaka shows came from the IMP Hall and was probably the most notable of the 4 Asian cards. The show wasn't big by any means but did feature but some interesting bouts and a very notable pro-test bout.

The first of the pro-tests saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi, the second son of the legendary Joichiuro Tatsuyoshi, qualify for the C license with the intention for him to make his debut next year in a rookie style match up. Unlike his father he's not got a deep amateur pedigree but is said to possess genuine power, something his father also had. 

The main event on this card saw saw former OPBF Flyweight title challenger Myung Ho Lee (17-4-1, 5) struggle past Takashi Omae (12-4-5, 1) with a very competitive unanimous decision. Omae put up a great fight but was narrowly beaten by the more experienced Lee. 

One of the chief support bouts saw the heavy handed and unbeaten Ryuto Kyoguchi (13-0-1, 9) take a 7th round technical decision against Shohei Fujimoto (9-4-3, 8). Prior to the finish Kyoguchi was comfortably in the lead on two cards whilst the third had the bout close, he had however scored a knockdown early in the bout and seemed to be able to cope with Fujimoto's determined effort to upset the unbeaten man.

For us the most interesting bout on this card was the contest involving the much touted Sho Nakazawa (5-0, 4) who stepped up brilliantly to over-come former OPBF Super Bantamweight challenger Jhunriel Ramonal (14-8-4, 7). Ramonal lasted the 8 round distance with Nakazawa though failed to win a round in what was a genuinely impressive performance by the Japanese youngster who we suspect will move into the title mix in 2015. Prior to this bout Nakazawa looked like he was very flawed though this performance was a much more mature and complete one that we had expected and we now suspect that he is as talented as the hype suggests.

This card consisted of 3 undercard as well as the main trio of bouts. The first of those saw the unbeaten Kyosuke Tsutsumimoto (2-0, 2) stopping Tetsuya Kudo (3-4, 2) in the third round. Another of the under-card contests saw Kei Fujita (3-2, 1) take a very close decision over Kenji Khisa (2-2, 1) in a bout that was really close on all 3 cards which read 39-38, all in favour of Fujita. The third under-card bout was an all debutant clash that saw Ryo Inagaki (1-0, 1) stopping Yoshihisa Tanabe (0-1) at the very end of the first round, despite both of these guys being debutants were impressed by both.

Sumiyoshi Ward Center, Osaka, Japan
The other show in Osaka came from the Sumiyoshi Ward Center and also featured a notable pro-test bout as well as 4 interesting main bouts.

The pro-test fighter here was 17 year old Hinata Maruta, a man who some in Japan are tipping as a future world champion despite his age and his pre-debut status. Maruta was very impressive in his test bout and has received a B class license and it seems that his intention is to have a US based training camp next year before debuting in the fall against a world ranked foe. Yes Maruta want's to debut against an opponent with a world ranking, it's fair to say he's ambitious, young, talented and going to be very fun to follow.

As for the actual bouts on this show the most notable was a Middleweight bout between #6 ranked Japanese Middleweight Koki Tyson Maebara (7-1-1, 7) and WBC Youth Light Middleweight champion Petchsuriya Singwancha (12-9, 6). Petchsuriya, a talented Thai who has been in great form recently, was no match for Maebara who was far too big and too strong for the Thai who was dwarfed in comparison to the Japanese fighter who announced that he will be targeting a Japanese title fight in 2015. 

As well as the Maebara bout there were 3 other notable contests. The most interesting of those saw the heavy handed Jumbo Oda Nobunaga Shoten Petagine (9-2, 7) avenge his most recent loss as he out pointed Shohei Kanemoto (9-9-1, 3) and even the score for a loss in April to Kanemoto. A second bout that went the distance saw Cyborg Nawatedani (8-2-2, 3) take a hard fought and well earned decision over Shunji Nagata (10-12-2, 3). The most exciting of the main bouts to watch saw Yuta Uetani (16-5-1, 7) pull himself off the canvas to stop the usually tough Marjohn Yap (19-12, 10) in the 5th round of a back and forth bout. Uetani was down earlier though recovered well to drop Yap who looked unsteady when he recovered his feet and it forced the referee to stop the bout.

On the lower part of the card fans saw two draws from the 5 undercard bouts. One of those draws saw the unbeaten Kaminoko Okamura Kentokid (3-0-3, 2) fight to a split draw with Takuya Sugiyama (3-3-1) whilst the other saw Hiroaki Iwakura (2-1-1, 2) fight to a draw with Ryota Shimizu (3-6-1, 1), both the draw were split decision draws.

As well as the draws there 3 other undercard results. One of those went the distance and saw Tadao Iwaya (1-2) record his first win as he out-pointed the still win-less Shinchi Yokozato (0-4). The other two both ended in stoppages with Daiki Miyayama (3-2-1, 2) scoring an opening round victory over Yosuke Taniguchi (2-3) whilst it took 3 rounds for Takuya Olivia Hase (2-0-1, 1) to defeat the debuting Shigi Hosokawa (0-1).

Industrial Hall, Gifu, Japan
A third show in Japan was held in Gifu where the promising Genki Hanai (3-0, 2) battled against Filipino foe Crison Omayao (16-9-2, 4). Omayao, a man familiar to Japanese following losses to super prospects Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka, surprisingly managed to see out the 8 rounds with Hanai and actually took a few points from Hanai who in some ways showed he was a full level behind his much touted compatriots.

The main event here was the only standout bout on the show and was supported by 7 relatively uninspiring undercard bouts including a trio of 6 rounders. One of those saw Yujiro Nakamura (5-8-1, 2) taking a fifth round technical decision over Takayuki Morimoto (5-10, 3). The other 6 rounders both went the distance as Reiko Sugiyama (4-4-3, 2) out pointed Masami Moriizumi (5-5-1, 4) and Shota Okuda (5-2, 2) over-came Hajima Ikeda (4-5).

In the 4 rounders on this card Kazuyoshi Toguri (4-6) out pointed Keita Sakai (1-1, 1) in a competitive contest, Yoshiaki Inoue (1-4-1) claimed his first win with a very close decision over Kenta Yokoe (3-9-1, 1), the previously win-less Kazunori Takai (1-0-1, 1) claimed a second round stoppage against Genki Inoue (1-4-1, 1) and the previously win-less Yusuke Kubota (1-2, 1) took a second round KO win over the debuting Takumi Koroki (0-1).

Bukidnon, Philippines
In the Philippines we got the results for one bout as Anthony Sabalde (9-4, 4) defeated Bonnie Makiling (5-8, 4) with a 10 round decision victory.

(Image, of Maebara looking over a fallen Petchsuriya, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Some days in boxing are important with out making international headlines and that's exactly what happened this past Sunday with several notable bouts, only one of which would have made a dent on the international boxing circuit.

Grozny, Russia
The one major bout that we had a turgid Heavyweight affair as an out of shape Ruslan Chagaev (33-2-1, 20) fought a lackadaisical Fres Oquendo (37-8, 24). Chagaev managed to claim a victory in the end, taking a majority decision, but not with out some cheer leading from the Chechen president who offered words of encouragement toe Chagaev between rounds. Unfortunately not only was the bout an awful contest in terms of a spectacle but it was made even worse by the fact it was dressed up as a world title fight and now, as a result , Chagaev is a 2-time Heavyweight world champion.

On paper this should be a great result for Asian boxing, after all the Uzbek born Chagaev is now a 2-time Heavyweight champion from Asia, but in all honesty it's yet more proof of the mess the Heavyweight division sits in.

Whilst Chagaev was less than impressive there were some good wins for several unbeaten fighters on the show. They included Viskhan Murzabekov (9-0, 4) who managed to take a solid 10 round victory over Igor Faniyan (14-9-2, 7) to claim the WBC Youth Intercontinental Welterweight title. Murzabekov, dubbed "Little Tyson" looked like an interesting prospect with his victory but there is still a lot to work on.

Another unbeaten prospect on this show was Apti Davtaev (7-0, 7) who scored a sensationally quick blow out against Oleksandr Nesterenko (9-3, 4), needing just 12 seconds to score the win. A third unbeaten man in action here was Movsur Yusupov (7-0, 3) who took a 6 round decision over the more experienced Aliaksandr Sushchyts (16-3-1, 9).

In other bouts of note for ourselves Arbi Madaev (5-1-1, 2) managed to take a 5th round TKO over Chupaki Chipindi (13-7, 8) whilst Apti Ustarkhanov (6-1-2, 1) beat the win-less Gor Akopyan (0-5) in a 6 rounder.

Osaka, Japan
Whilst the results in Grozny may have received some international attention the results from Japan probably didn't despite filling 3 shows of fights.

The most notable bout on those shows took place in Osaka as former title challenger Kenichi Horikawa (26-13-1, 4) over-came fellow Japanese ranked fighter Naoki Matsumoto (9-8-2, 2) in an 8 round majority decision. The bout may not decide the next Japanese Minimumweight title challenger but Horikawa will certainly be hoping to get another chance at the title following this victory.

On the same show there was also two very interesting bouts involving unbeaten Japanese prospects. One of those saw the hard hitting Ryuto Kyoguchi (12-0-1, 9) taking out Kenta Takahashi (10-8-3, 3) in the 5th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. The other saw Tatsuya Ikemizu (11-0, 4) defeating recent Japanese Bantamweight title challenger Satoshi Niwa (15-18-3, 2) in a very competitive 8 rounder. We did expect Niwa to give Ikemizu a tough test and although the veteran came up short he used his experience to great effect to really push Ikemizu.

Lower down the card fans saw an upset as Tomonori Ota (6-4, 4) stopped Shoya Kawashimo (6-3, 1) in 4 rounds and Kosei Toyoda (2-1-1, 1) over-came the limited Kenji Nakayoshi (2-3, 1) in a 4 round decision.

Fukuoka, Japan
On a second show in Japan fans got to see 8 bouts in Fukuoka. The main event of this show saw  the experienced Yosuke Kirima (19-4-2, 13) defeat the previously unbeaten Takahito Osaka (6-1-2, 4) via an 8 round majority decision. It was competitive though Kirima managed to come out on top by relying on his extra experience.

It wasn't all bad news for unbeaten fighters and Takumi Sakae (9-0, 5) extended his winning run with an 8 round unanimous decision over Indonesian visitor Boy Tanto (6-15, 9). Sakae went 8 rounds for the first time though we tend to feel he needs more bouts at this level before he steps up to thinking about title action.

In a female bout Satomi Nishimura (7-1, 1) took an 8 round victory over Thailand's win-less Saosukhothai Por Preechagym (0-2). The bout did feature some competitive rounds though was a clear victory for Nishimura on the cards as she bounced back from her sole loss, a stoppage to Saemi Hanagata more than a year a go.

Oddly a good chunk of this card resulted in draws, in fact 3 of the 8 bouts saw no winner rendered. These draws included a 6 round unanimous draw for the experienced Yoshihiko Matsuo (17-5-6, 3) who fought a very even bout with Tatsuya Miyamoto (10-12-1, 6). In 4 rounders J Soul Maeda (1-1-2, 1) fought to a split draw with Bejita Ishikawa (2-6-2, 1) whilst the unbeaten Kotaro Ishibashi (2-0-1, 2) fought to a draw with Tsunehiko Aitoku (1-2-1).

In the opening 4 rounders of the show Satoshi Yamamichi (3-3, 3) wiped out Hikaru Nagamine (0-2) at the end of the second round and Yusuke Yamanouchi (5-1-1, 2) took a decision over Kazuyuki Hirayama (4-3-1, 3).

Aichi, Japan
The third Japanese show as at the Aioi Hall in Aichi. 

This show had a surprisingly competitive main event which saw Yuji Shimizu (16-8-1, 1) narrowly out point Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (1-4) in an 8 round split decision. On paper it was a mismatch with Yamaguchi ending a 7 year break from the ring though it turned out being incredibly tight with Shimizu being pushed all the way.

In another surprisingly competitive contest Shinji Takayama (22-3, 11) narrowly over-came Shota Okuda (4-2, 2) in a 6 rounder. In all honesty much of the card was competitive with many of the 4 rounders on the card being nip and tuck. These included a draw between Reiko Sugiyama (3-4-3, 2) and the unbeaten Takuya Mizuno (2-0-1, 2) and another draw in a bout between Akihisa Buma (1-0-1, 1) and Kyosuke Takaoka (2-3-1, 1).

Another of the 4 rounders saw Daiki Yamamoto (1-0) winning a majority decision over fellow debutant Takashi Kagamihara (0-1) whilst Kenta Matsui (4-2, 1) took a split over Hiroki Yajima (1-5, 1).

Not all the bouts were competitive however and we saw 3 stoppages on the show. One of those saw the hard hitting Daisuke Hayakawa (7-2, 6) taking out the usually durable Kenta Sugimoto (6-7-1) in the 5th round of a scheduled 6 rounds and another saw Shuichi Ingaki (1-1, 1) blast out Tatsuya Shibayama (0-2) inside a round.  

The most notable stoppage however was scored by the promising Genki Hanai (2-0, 2) who made light work of Thailand's Fahrung Porsuwangym (0-1) with a second round KO. Although Hanai's opponent seems to be unproven Hanai himself has been in 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds and was a former amateur standout. From what we understand the plans are huge for this youngster and hopefully we'll see him in with a decent opponent sooner rather than later.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp was taken during the Horikawa bout)

This past Sunday was a crazy day in Japan with 5 separate shows run across the country. Unfortunately with so much action it has taken us a few days to get all the results together but here they are.

Osaka, Japan
The biggest show of the day was in the IMP Hall in Osaka as Green Tsuda put on a 10 bout show, headlined by a Japanese Bantamweight title fight.

This show began with 6 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. These 4 rounders included just 2 stoppages with the quickest of those being an first round retirement scored by the debuting Naotoshi Nakatani (1-0, 1) who saw his foe Takafumi Yamada (4-4, 1) pull out at the end of the opener. In the other stoppage bout scheduled for 4 rounds it didn't take much of round 2 for the unbeaten Yuki Nagashima (5-0, 2) to stop Hiroto Sugai (1-3, 1).

A third of the 4 rounders here failed to go the distance as the previously win-less Shosuke Jo (1-1) took a third technical decision over the debuting Kewpie Tsubasa (0-1).

In the other 4 rounders Shohei Kawashima (5-0-1, 1 nigh on shut out Hikaru Matsumine (3-1), the unbeaten Michitaka Muto (2-0-1) was given a great run for his money by fellow novice Hirohide Murakami (1-2) and Kazuma Fukuyama (3-2-2) struggled past Ryota Yada (3-3, 2).

The sole 6 rounder on this card lasted just 166 seconds as Tomonori Ota (5-4, 3) swiftly took care of Hisashi Kawanishi (4-6, 1).

In a pair of 8 rounder we saw very competitive action. The most competitive, on the score cards, saw Yoshihito Ishizaki (9-6-1, 4) take a split decision over Ryota Kihara (6-8-4, 5) whilst in the other bout Takayuki Okumoto (11-6-2, 5) took a hard fought victory over the previously perfect Yuki Yonaha (3-1, 3). We had feared, going in to Okumoto/Yonaha, that the novice's lack of decent level competition would bite him in the backside though he put up a valiant fight and we'd not complain at seeing him at this level again.

In the main event we got Japanese title action as Kentaro Masuda (19-6, 10) defeated Yu Kawaguchi (20-6, 9) via technical decision to claim the Japanese Bantamweight title. The belt, which had been vacated by Kohei Oba prior to his fight with Randy Caballero, now belongs in the the arms of Masuda who had previously failed in a Japanese title fight against the excellent Ryosuke Iwasa back in 2012.

Ishikawa, Japan
We got a second title bout on a card in Ishikawa which had a certain international feel to it with visitors from Thailand, the Philippines, China and South Korea.

The only all-Japanese bout on this card saw Katsuteru Yoshifusa (1-0) claim a 4 round decision over the previously undefeated Kazuyuki Tomita (2-1).

Following the all-Japanese bout we then had a trio of bouts pitting Chinese fighters against Japanese fighters, this 3 fight series ended at a very even 1-1-1. 

The Japanese win came in a female bout as the debuting Miki Matsumoto (1-0) out pointed China's poor Li Yun Ting (1-5, 1), who incidentally recorded her first distance fight. The Chinese win came as Xu Chan (2-0) over-came a 7lb weight disadvantage to defeat the debuting Kota Hamamoto (0-1). The series found no winner as Yukiya Hanabusa (5-2-2) was held to a 6 round majority draw by Xiang Jing (7-3-1, 1).

After the undercard bouts we then got down to real action with a pair of well regarded Filipino's in action. These saw bouts went 2-0 for the Filipino fighter with Marlon Tapales (25-2, 9) taking a 5th round technical decision over Japan's Hayato Kimura (21-6, 15) and Mark Gil Melligen (18-4-1, 9) stopped the previously unbeaten Thai Bualuang OnesongchaiGym (12-1, 4) midway through the 5th round.

The main event was the title bout as South Korean Ye-Joon Kim (8-1-2, 3) scored a 9th round TKO over Akihiro Matsumoto (12-5-1, 6) to claim the WBC Youth Super Bantamweight title.

An interesting side note to this card is despite there being 7 Japanese fighters on this show only 2 actually won.

Gifu, Japan
Although there were no titles on the line at the Industrial Hall in Gifu we did see some very notable debutant action. 

The show began with 3 nondescript bouts which began with Yuya Shimakura (2-0) who outpointed Shinnosuke Yonekawa (1-3) over 4 rounds before Reiko Sugiyama (3-5-2, 2) stopped Hajime Ikeda (4-4) in 2 rounds and Hajime Kawase (5-7-2) took a competitive 6 round victory over Yujiro Nakamura (4-7-1, 2).

It was after those undercard bouts that we got the debutant action. The second of the bouts involving debutants was an expected win for the very highly regarded former amateur stand out Genki Hanai (1-0, 1) who easily saw off fellow debutant Atiwit Munyapho (0-1) in 159 seconds. Hanai is seen as one of the potential stars of the future and made headlines in Japan when he announced his intention to turn professional.

Although Hanai's victory is a good one it really pales in significance to the upset we saw in the other bout featuring a debutant as Thailand's Saranyu Intakaew (1-0, 1) scored a 48 second blow out of Japan's very own Toshihiko Adachi (13-7, 6). Although Adachi isn't one of the best Light Welterweight's in Japan this has certainly been a result that could leave Intakaew as one to watch.

The main even on this show saw Futoshi Usami (12-1-1, 9) make light work of Akira Shono (7-6-2, 4) scoring a stoppage at the very end of round 2.

Osaka, Japan
A second show at the IMP Hall, though one with much less significance than the Japanese title bout spoken about above tough a lot more competitiveness, took place courtesy of Taiho Promotions.

This show featured 8 bouts and began with some extremely competitive bouts as Ryosuke Morioka (0-0-1) was held to a split decision draw with Daiki Miyayama (2-2-1, 1), a split decision was also seen when Keisuke Tabuchi (4-1-2, 3) narrowly took a win over Noboru Osato (2-2-2, 1). Another competitive contest saw Chocoboy Oizumi (2-2-2, 1) take a slim unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Naoki Taniwa (1-1, 1)  whilst another 3 rounder saw the stoppage run of Takuma Hayashi (4-0, 3) come to an end with majority decision over the tough Yukitaka Nishida (4-8-2, 1).

It wasn't just the 4 rounders that were well matched with both 6 rounders also being very narrow victories. These saw Takahito Osaka (6-0-2, 4) keep his unbeaten record with a razor thin unanimous decision over Hideo Mikan (6-6-1, 2) whilst Ken Osato (5-1, 3) only just beat Katsuhiko Kanno (8-8-7, 3) who is now win-less in 7.

Even the main bouts were competitive as So Takenaka (20-7-2, 8) was given a hard work out by Thai debutant Wanchana Wilaiphut (0-1) and Satoru Sugita (8-2-1, 5) could only take a split decision over the more experienced Ryota Kajiki (22-9, 14). This may not have been the headline card but in terms of value for money this genuinely great, competitive and the sort of well matched bout that will bring people back to boxing! Well done Taiho.

Hiroshima, Japan
The remaining show took place at the Green Arena in Hiroshima and featured 10 bouts in total. For those wanting to see quick finishes this was the show for them with 7 bouts finishing inside the distance.

Of the 3 bouts to go the distance one was the main event as Takashi Omae (12-3-5, 1) took a majority decision over Koji Itagaki (12-9-2, 5) in what turned out to be more competitive than we had expected. Another of the distance bouts saw the debuting Kazuya Okubo (1-0) taking a majority victory over the more experienced Teruyuki Kobashi (2-9-1, 1) whilst the other saw a shut out by Morihisa Iju (4-0, 3) who over-came Takuya Fujio (1-2-1) with ease.

The quickest of the 7 stoppages on the card came after just 2 minutes as Toshiki Yanari (2-0, 2) won a battle of unbeaten Minimumweights stopping Takahiro Morisaki (1-1, 1). The only other opening round KO saw the debuting Takahiro Maeda (1-0, 1) score a stoppage at 3:09 of the opening round as he took out Makoto Yoshimura (0-2).

The second round brought us 3 stoppages. The quickest of those saw Taiyo Inoue (1-1, 1) take out Garyu Takuma (1-5, 1) in just 63 seconds. Inoue's win was 8 seconds quicker than the one scored by Daigo Nakahiro (24-4-2, 10) over Thai novice Phetsaifar Lukmaelamperigym (0-3) which it's self was 9 seconds quicker than the one scored by Yuya Okazaki (9-7-1, 3), who took out another Thai novice in the form of Kittisak Sithsaithong (0-2).

Both of the remaining stoppages came in round 4 with exactly the same time recorded, 1:00. These saw Shisato Okuma (6-1-2, 5) score a KO over Ryusuke Hoashi (1-4, 1) whilst Taichi Yoshizato (1-1, 1) scored his first pro victory with a TKO over Junya Akitake (0-2).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)