This past Friday was a hectic day in Asian boxing with a televised card in Thailand and a couple of notable shows in Japan

Bangkok, Thailand
In Thailand fans had a number of bouts televised on Channel 7 from Bangkok. We won't pretend these were anything too special but there was a notable main event as well as several prospects.

The stand out name in action was Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym (29-1-2, 14) who claim the WBO Oriental Flyweight title with a 12th round TKO over the stubborn Haji Juma (14-7-5, 7). Juma, who began his career 0-2-5 wasn't expected to put up a fight against Kwanpichit but appeared to fancy his own chances and gave the Thai some real questions to answer in a worth while main event.

In a less worth while bout fans saw the promising Rakniran Muadransarakam (4-0, 3) score a quick win over the debuting Kriengkrai Kiatchansing (0-1). This was Rakniran's 3rd successive stoppage following a 6 round decision win over the experienced Saichon Or Ounsuwon on his debut last October and although this was over quickly it was highly entertaining. Another relatively quick win was scored by Saentanong Onesongchaigym (5-0, 2) who over-came Petchpookradung Mor Rattanabandit (0-1) in the second round of their bout and scored one of the most hilarious KO's we've seen this year

The only bout between men to go the distance saw Thewa Onesongchaigym (6-2, 1) take a 6 round decision over debutant Somkiet Sor Sompotgym (0-1). This was accompanied by two female bouts which also went the distances. One of these saw novice Petcharas Mor Krungthepthonburi (2-0) extend her perfect record with a decision over Kularbgoen Sor Visetkit (0-1) whilst the other saw Anrey Onesongchaigym (7-1-1, 3) take a decision over the win-less Petchluksor Sor Praithong (0-2).

Osaka, Japan
Fans in Japan had an interesting looking card at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, the venue formerly known as the Bodymaker Colosseum.

In the main event of this show the fans saw female fighter Tamao Ozawa (8-2, 2) score the most significant win over her career and take a split decision over Terumi Nuki (6-1, 3) to claim the OPBF female Super Flyweight title. The bout was close on all cards but Ozawa was the deserving winner and used that little bit of extra experience to over-come Nuki who will come back stronger from this loss.

Although the female title bout was the main event it was just one of 4 notable bouts on the show. Another saw former world title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka (23-13-1, 10) score a career saving decision win over Keisuke Nakayama (6-2-1, 3). Hisataka had lost his previous 3 bouts, including a world title fight to the then WBO Super Flyweight champion Omar Andres Narvaez, and seemed to accept 4 straight losses would be the end. This however was a clear win for the “Sexy Soldier” who scarcely lost a round.

Another notable name on this show was former OPBF Featherweight champion Hiroshige Osawa (27-3-4, 16) who managed to see off Indonesian veteran Arief Blader (20-17-1, 7) in the 9th round of their scheduled 10 round bout. This was Osawa's 4th straight stoppage win following a year long suspension by the JBC for taking part in a bout in the Philippines that they were unhappy about. Notable this was Blader's 4th straigth defeat but the first time he has been stopped since being taken out in 2 rounds by talented Pinoy prospect Mark Bernaldez almost 2 years ago.

The other bout saw the previously unbeaten Takeru Kamikubo (8-1, 5) lose his unbeaten record inside 90 seconds as he was dropped 3 times by former Japanese title challenger Atsushi Aburada (10-7, 6). Kamikubo, who had impressed us last year, really seemed unable to recover after the first knockdown and it'll be a big wake up call to the promising, but still very young, fighter.

Lower down on this card we saw the unbeaten Shoma Okamoto (5-0) extend his perfect record with a 4 round decision victory over Kazuki Kimura (3-4, 1) whilst Takaaki Kanai (4-3, 2) scored an opening round TKO against Nobuya Nakazawa (2-2, 2).

Tokyo, Japan
A second Japanese show was a Rookie of the Year qualifying show which tool place at the Korakuen Hall. This card featured a total of 12 bouts and saw a lot of action, ranging from very competitive to complete blow outs.

At Welterweight Toshinori Kikuchi (2-1, 2) scored a 31 second blow out against the previously unbeaten Hiroki Watanabe (1-1, 1), this was the shortest bout of the show, though one of 3 bouts that failed to last a minute.

In a Lightweight bout Ryusei Yabe (4-0-1, 3) scored a 4th round TKO against the win-less Hiroshi Higuchi (0-2). At Super Featherweight we saw another another 4th round TKO as Mamoru Suzuki (1-1, 1) defeated Hyuga Aoki (1-1) and claimed his first win.

More 4th round TKO's occurred at Featherweight where Shogo Sakai (3-2-1, 3) stopped Isami Komikado (1-5, 1) and Kanehiro Nakagawa (2-1, 2) over-came Tetsuya Hirokawa (2-5, 2).

The other bouts that failed to go beyond a minute were both at Super Bantamweight. One of those bouts lasted 37 seconds before resulting in a technical draw, leaving both Masayoshi Yamasaki (1-1-1) and Yuta Itagaki (3-2-2, 1) feeling frustrated. The other lasted 54 seconds as Wataru Yokoyama (2-3, 2) blew away Shuntaro Ouchi (1-3).

At Flyweight we saw a 90 second blow away win by Shunya Nagaoka (2-2, 1), who blew away Shuhei Takahashi (2-3, 1). A more competitive bout saw Jun Ishimoto (4-3, 2) claim a split decision win over the previously unbeaten Daisuke Yamada (2-1, 1). The remaining Flyweight bout saw Norris Yano (3-1-1) take a clear decision win over Alan Shimizu (1-1).

At Light Flyweight Fumiya Akao (3-0-1, 1) claim a split decision over Akira Kokubo (1-5-3) whilst Satoru Todaka (3-1-1, 1) scored a clear decision over Naoki Akagi (2-6-2, 1).


(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Sunday was a hectic day in Asian boxing with numerous cards held on the same day including the final set of Rookie of the Year regional finals which have now set up the All-Japan finals and interesting card in Korea.

Osaka, Japan
The biggest show this Sunday was in Japan as fans saw the second of the Rookie of the Year semi final shows. The show, which decided the west representative at this year All-Japan Rookie, featured 12 bouts and was really great throughout.

The winner in the Minimumweight division was Reiya Konishi (6-0, 4) who narrowly over-came Jun Takigawa (5-1, 3) in a battle of unbeaten men. The bout was genuinely close through out with Konishi taking the decision with scores of 47-45, 46-45 and 46-45. The win for Konishi secures him a fight with Yuki Kubo in the All-Japan final. At Light Flyweight Seita Ogido (6-1-1, 1) fought to a draw with the still unbeaten Seigo Yuri Akui (2-0-1). Although the bout was a 4 round split decision draw we've been told that Ogido qualified for the All-Japan final who will now find himself up against Kenji Ono in that contest.

In the Flyweight contest the unbeaten Shun Kosaka (9-0) took a very clear decision win over the experienced but limited Naoki Shoda (4-8-1). The bout was scored 50-44 by all 3 judges as Kosaka progressed to the All-Japan final where he will fight against Kenya Yamashita in a very interesting battle of unbeaten men. The bout at Super Flyweight was won by the very promising Ioka gym hopeful Masayoshi Hashizume (6-0, 4) who made surprisingly light work of the previously unbeaten Eita Sakurai (4-1, 1) with a win after 2 just minutes of the bout. The win netted Hashizume a place in the All Japan final against Shogo Yonenaga and also earned him the MVP for the card adding to his West Japan MVP award. We've got to be honest and say that this kid looks a little bit special and we think he'll prove that in his upcoming bout.

At Bantamweight there was another stoppage as Keisuke Tabuchi (8-1-2, 5) took the unbeaten record of Morihisa Iju (5-1, 4) courtesy of a 2nd round TKO. Tabuchi's All Japam Rookie of the Year final bout will see him up against Ryohei Takahashi in what should be a thrilling encounter given how good Takahashi looked in his East Japan Rookie of the Year final last weekend.

One of the show's closest bouts saw Shohei Kawashima (8-0-2, 1) take a split decision over the heavy handed Shisato Okuma (8-2-2, 6) in a bout scored 48-47 by all 3 judges. As a result of this win Kawashima will battle against Yuki Matsudo in the All Japan final. In a relatively one sided bout Kyohei Tonomoto (5-1, 2) clearly over-came the previously unbeaten Takashi Igarashi (5-1, 1) in a clear cut bout at Featherweight. Tonomoto will be fighting Reiya Abe in the All Japan final in what looks a great contest in the making. In the Super Featherweight division we had a razor close bout that ended in a split decision draw between Masashi Wakita (4-2-1, 2) and the unbeaten Yuya Shimakura (3-0-1). The draw will see Wakita moving on to the next round where he will fight against the very exciting Yuichiro Kasuya who won the MVP from the East Japan Final's last weekend with a thrilling win over Yutaka Ekawa.

In a battle of unbeaten fighters at Lightweight fans saw Shogo Yamaguchi (6-0-1, 3) took a decision over Takahiro Shinoda (1-1, 1). This win sets up a really intriguing final bout between Yamaguchi and the highly touted Andy Hiroaka. The Light Welterweight division saw the heavy handed Tetsuya Morisada (4-3, 4) scoring a very quick victory over Chocoboy Oizumi (4-3-2, 2), with the bout lasting less than a minute. The win for Morisada will see him fight Naoharu Kida in the All-Japan final.

The heavy handed Yuki Beppu (7-0, 7) continued the very impressive start to his career as he claimed a place in the All-Japan Welterweight final with a 53 second victory over Shota Yamamoto (5-2, 3). Beppu will now risk his unbeaten record, and KO streak, against fellow unbeaten Hironobu Matsunaga in a bout that looks like a real highlight for the All Japan Rookie of the Year. At Middleweight Toshihiro Kai (4-6-2, 1) scored his first stoppage win as he  stopped Ryota Ikawa (1-6) in the third round to set up a very tough bout for himself against Hisao Narita.

For those wondering about the All Japan Rookie of the year Finals they will happen on December 21st at the Korakuen Hall.

Osaka, Japan
A second show in Osaka was headlined by former OPBF Featherweight champion Hiroshige Osawa (26-3-5, 15) who predictably made light work of the horribly over-matched Nongdear Sor Bangkhru (0-5) who suffered his 4th stoppage loss. For Osawa this was too easy however it was his first bout since changing gyms earlier this year and it seems that his new gym just wanted to give him a work out more than anything else.

In the sole 8 round contest fans saw a much more interesting looking contest as Kosuke Saka (9-3, 6) scored an 8th round TKO against Tetsuya Nishinaga (11-10-1). It wasn't the greatest  match up but it was significantly better than the main event of the card. 

Although Osawa was the biggest name on the show we were mostly interested in Ioka youngster Takeru Kamikubo (7-0, 4) who did what he had to do to shut out the tough Masaki Hirai (4-12-3, 2) over 6 rounds. For the 18 year old Kamikubo this was a perfectly good test and it seems that Ioka have a real diamond on their hands here if he's developed properly, like we suspect he will be. The other 6 rounder on the show was just as interesting as the unbeaten Terumi Nuki (5-0, 2) took a hard fought decision over Kai Johnson (5-7-3, 2) who's win over Tomomi Takano now looks like it was a long, long time ago.

In 4 rounders on this card fans saw two men record their first career wins. One of those was Katsuhito Kudo (1-2, 1) who took his first win with a 96 second KO against Keisei Nishiwaki (0-3-1) whilst the other was Keita Yamamoto (1-2) who took a very close decision over debutant Hikaru Iwasaki (0-1). The only other undercard bout saw Takuya Yamamoto (4-3, 2) take a clear win over Noriyuki Imamura (2-3)

Hiroshima, Japan
A third Japanese card came from Hiroshima and it's fair to say this was the smallest and least interesting of the three Japanese shows.

Of the 9 bouts on this card 6 of them were 4 rounders and interesting only a single one of them failed to go the distance. The one bout that failed to go 4 completed rounds saw Takahiro Morisaki (2-1, 1) take a 3rd round technical decision over the debuting Tasuku Matsunoshima (0-1) with the bout called after 92 seconds of round 3. The other undercard bouts all went the scheduled and saw some very interesting and competitive bouts including a a majority decision draw in an all debutant bout between Toshiya Kawauchi (0-0-1) and Tomoya Yonehara (0-0-1). We weren't far from getting draws with Riku Inokuchi (1-0) narrowly defeating Takahiro Maeda (1-1), the limited Hinonori Miyake (3-3, 1) only just out pointed Yuya Kondo (2-1, 1) and Masashi Kamon (1-1) defeating Yoshiki Tatsukami (0-1) in a third bout that could easily have ended up in a draw. The only clear undercard bout here saw debutant Tamaki Miwa (1-0) clearly beat Maito Fujii (0-3) in a hotly contested bout, though one that was a clear win for Miwa on the cards..

The card, advertised as being a triple main event show, saw the 3 main bouts lasting just 13 rounds. The shortest of those bouts was a second round blow out win for Ryuji Ikeda (8-2-1, 4) who made light work of Thailand's Eaksayarm Mor Krungthep Thonburi (0-2), it took just 1 round longer for Yuya Okazaki (11-7-1, 4) to see off Shinichi Tsukaha (8-7-3, 3). The remaining bout saw Koji Itagaki (13-9-2, 6) struggle to see off Yamato Uchinono (5-3-5, 3) in the most competitive and interesting of the 3 main events.

Seoul, South Korea
In a small, and supposedly "unsanctioned" South Korean show fans saw several Korea Vs Japan bouts.

The main event from the show saw WBC Youth Super Bantamweight champion Ye Joon Kim (10-1-2, 5) stopping Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (4-5-3) in the 7th round of their contest. Kim, the star of South Korean boxing, appears to be on a great roll at the moment and has now scored 4 successive stoppages. In the co-feature Nak-Yul Park (6-2, 3) scored a 6 round split decision over Kentaro Endo (4-5, 3) in a very closely scored bout.

We've been informed that Japanese boxers on this show went 0-6 however we've not managed to get all the results from it unfortunately.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Saturday may have been all about "The Moment" in terms of boxing but there was other, lower profile action in Asia.

Cebu, Philippines
The card we were looking forward to the most was in the Philippines. The show had promised a world title fight, a handful of top Filipino prospects and was expected to be a show to look forward to. Instead what we got was a disappointment. We still got the prospects but the world title fight was effectively taken from us after the the champion was stripped of their title.

The man who was stripped was the now former IBF Light Flyweight champion John Riel Casimero (20-2, 12), who was stripped of his title for weighing more than 5lbs over the Light Flyweight limit. That weight advantage wasn't needed by Casimero and the class difference was quickly shown as he swiftly dispatched the hapless Mauricio Fuentes (16-3, 10) who was dropped 3 times inside a round. Although Fuentes was "able" to win the title in theory he really shouldn't have been given this opportunity and the fight really was a farce from the second it was announced to the second it was stopped.

Whilst the "world title fight" was a farce we did get some interesting prospect action. Amongst the prospects in action was the very highly touted Harmonito Dela Torre (13-0, 8) who managed to score a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Gadwin Tubigon (10-9-2, 5). Dela Torre's win saw him claim the lightly regarded vacant World Boxing Federation International Super Featherweight title. 

Another of the prospects in action was former amateur stand out Jack Tepora (10-0, 6) who scored a 10th round stoppage over Jo-as Apericio (11-12, 8) to claim the World Boxing Federation International Super Bantamweight title.  Tepora, dubbed "The Golden Boy", claimed his first title with this victory and seems set to move up a level or two in the next year.

The same Filipino show had yet more title action as Rey Labao (26-5, 17) defended his Lightweight title with a 5th round TKO over Rodel Wenceslao (7-8-1, 2) in what was a mismatch, whilst Jessie Cris Rosales (14-0-1, 5) claimed the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Featherweight title with a hard fought 10 round victory over Anthony Sabalde (8-4, 4).

Lower down the card, in 8 round bouts, Jessie Espina (7-1, 3) out pointed the debuting Philip Jun Pronco (0-1) whilst Joey Canoy (5-0-1, 3) out pointed Mark Anthony Florida (8-5, 7).

In the only 6 rounder Jaybie Haya (3-1-1, 2) out pointed the previously unbeaten Carlo Demecillo (2-1, 1). Whilst over the 4 round distance Junuel Lacar (4-1-1, 2) wiped out Honorato Boc (0-1) inside a minute and the previously win-less Eduardo Joaquino (1-1) upset the previously unbeaten Ronnie Tanallon (3-1, 1).

Davao Del Sur, Philippines
On a second Filipino show we saw the return to the ring of the very talented highly promising Jerwin Ancajas (20-1-1, 12) who made very light work of Thai opponent Petchwanchai Sor Visetkit (14-7, 6), scoring an opening round stoppage. This was Ancajas's second stoppage this year over Thai opponents and it seems time that he was stepped up a level. There is little point in such a talented fighter running up a series of these type of wins when he could well be fighting his way to a world title fight.

Tokyo, Japan
Whilst the action in the Philippines stole the day in regards to the Asian fight scene there was two shows in Japan. One of those was in Tokyo as we got "Dangan 100".

This show began with a female bout that saw Chie Higano (2-0) over-come the debuting Sayaka Aoki (0-1) in a clear decision over 4 rounds. The female bout was one of three 4 rounders with the others both seeing swift stoppages. The swiftest of those stoppages came inside a round as the debuting Ryu Ueda (1-0, 1) scored an 83 second victory over Taisho Sugano (0-2), the other stoppage came part way through the second round as Hisao Narita (5-1, 3) stopped Naoya Kaneko (3-2, 3).

The only 6 rounder on "Dangan 100" saw the debut of the very highly touted former amateur stand out Kenya Noguchi (1-0) who out pointed Hideharu Takahashi (6-10, 2), Noguchi is a teenager we've been told is "an outstanding talent" and we'd advise fight fans to follow him intently.

Following the under-card we than had a foursome of feature bouts. None of them featured world class fighters but all 4 were interesting contests on paper.

The first of those bouts saw Johnreil Maligro (11-0, 8) out point the unbeaten Tatsuya Yanagi (10-1, 4) in a genuinely excellent match up. Maligro, known as Jun Sakura, got easily the most impressive victory of his career and the 19 year old really does have the potential to go on and win titles if he continues to develop like he seems to be.

Following Maligro's fantastic victory we then saw former Japanese title challenger Ryuta Otsuka (14-6-2, 4) score a stoppage over Yosuke Fujihara (14-3, 4). For Otsuka this was his first stoppage in well over 2 years whilst it was Fujihara's second successive stoppage loss.

In the chief support bout fans got to see former Japanese Super Bantamweight champion Masaaki Serie (25-6, 10) out point Filipino visitor Michael Escobia (10-7-1, 2) in what turned out to be an very hard fought and competitive match up. Although not an old fighter in terms of years, the 31 year old does look like an older fighter and perhaps needs a break from the ring.

A former opponent of Serie was also in action on the card, that was Rikiya Fukuhara (29-7-1, 21). Fukuhara, a hard hitter, made light work of Filipino fighter Jaderes Padua (9-4-1, 6) scoring an opening round KO. After the fight Fukuhara called out Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono. We can't help but think that Hosono would stop Fukuhara, as he did in a previous meeting between the two men, but it'll certainly be fun.

Osaka, Japan
A second show in Japan was headlined by Hiroshige Osawa (25-3-4, 14) stopping the game Kosuke Saka (8-3, 5). Saka fought well but was stopped due to a nasty injury. Osawa, a former OPBF champion, is really rebuilding his career after a year long suspension by the JBC for taking part in an unsanctioned contest in South Korea.

(Picture, courtesy of Celes Boxing Gym, is of Noguchi)