This past Saturday was one of the busiest and most interesting days of the year with numerous notable bouts taking place across the planet.

Texas, USA
Things have been really disappointing for the Kameda brother's recently and it's fair to say that the most recent hit to their once impressive empire came late on Saturday when the previously unbeaten Tomoki Kameda (31-1, 19) came undone in a thrilling encounter with WBA Bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell (26-2-1, 12). Tomoki had vacated his WBO title ahead of this bout and stupidly threw away round 12 which cost him the bout and the WBA title. Were it not for the non-effort in the final round Tomoki, who dropped McDonnell in round 3, would still be unbeaten. For fans who missed this one we suggest you give it a watch as it was an incredibly close and well fought bout. One of the best of the year so far.

Hyogo, Japan
In regards to action in Asia one show certainly got more attention than any other. That was the Shinsei promoted card from Kobe with featured a world ranked prospect and a former 2-weight world champion, as well as several other notable contests.

The main event here saw former Bantamweight and Featherweight world champion Hozumi Hasegawa (34-5, 15) roll back the clock and put on a stirring performance as he dominated the previously unbeaten and world ranked Horacio Garcia (29-1, 21) of Mexico. Hasegawa took a few rounds to feel his way into the bout but dominated it soon afterwards with Garcia coming off second best time and time again. We're unsure if Hasegawa will get another world title fight but he looked great here.

World ranked prospect Shun Kubo (7-0, 5) moved towards a title fight, likely to be a Japanese title fight or an OPBF title fight, as he made light work of domestic foe Masajiro Honda (6-6, 4) with a 7th round TKO. The talented Kubo is very promising and needs a more challenging bout than this one.

A very interesting looking 8 rounder bout saw Filipino veteran Jonathan Baat (29-6-3, 14) out point the once promising Takahiro Shigee (12-2-1, 10) over 8 rounds. The bout was moderately competitive but Baat was the well deserving winner. This was great second win in the space of a few weeks for Baat who has got to be approaching a more notable bout in the near future.

Another bout that went the distance saw Shota Yamaguchi (13-2, 8) take a wide decision win over Filipino visitor Roman Canto (10-6-2, 5). For Canto this loss ends a 2-fight winning streak, however he's better than his record suggests and he could test decent fighters in the future.

Another 8 rounder on this show saw Tetsuya Hisada (22-9-2, 12) score an 8th round KO against the light hitting Shun Kosaka (9-2), who suffered his first stoppage loss with this defeat. Interestingly the win for Hisada was his first in around 18 months.

Osaka, Japan
In a separate Japanese show fans got the chance to see a female world title fight as well as some low level support bouts.

The main event saw southpaw fighter Yuko Kuroki (13-4-1, 6) retain her WBC female Minimumweight title as she easily out pointed close veteran Masae Akitaya (9-6-2, 3) in a very 1-sided contest. Kuroki found a home for her straight left hand early on and dominated with it, but couldn't finish off Akitaya, who has now lost in 4 world title challenges.

On the under-card we did see stoppages with Ryota Yada (7-3, 5) making very light work of Thai visitor Teerapong Sithsaithong (0-1), who lasted just 165 seconds. Another quick blow out saw the limited Hisashi Kawanishi (5-7, 2) over-come Prabpram Sithsaithong (0-4) in just 2 rounds.

Seoul, South Korea
Korean fans got a title double header in Seoul with a weak under-card but a pair of notable feature bouts.

The main event saw Eun Chang Lee (9-4, 5) claim the WBA Asia Middleweight title with a 4th round KO against Australian based Thai John Ford (6-7-1, 5), real name Nawakon Kitee. Ford was stopped just 2 months ago in a bout at 140lbs and we really do wonder what made anyone think he was going to be competitive at Middleweight.

The other title bout saw Nam Joon Lee (8-4-3, 4) claim a variant of the PABA Featherweight title with a 2nd round TKO win against Thailand's Rachamongkol Sor Pleonchit (14-10, 6). From what we understand this was a bout for the PABA junior title, similar to the “youth” titles that we see.

On the under-card their was 3 bouts involving novices. The most notable of those bouts came in a scheduled 6 rounder as Kyoo Hwan Hwang (1-0, 1) began his career with a 4th round TKO against Jung Ho Jang (1-1-1, 1). A more competitive bout saw Jong Hyuk Yoon (2-1) take a clear decision victory over Chang Kyoo Lee (0-1-1) whilst a very close bout saw Jae Hyung Ahn (1-0) take a split decision over Myung Soo Kim (0-1).

Texas, USA
Back in the US fans saw Chinese Heavyweight giant Taishan Dong (4-0, 2) struggle to a win over over the limited Jamal Woods (6-19-3, 6). Dong looked exhausted in the final round and it's clear his stamina, power and speed are going to be an issue when he steps up. He is however a big of a circus figure and one that Golden Boy seem happy to wheel out on a regular basis as he continues his development.

Vratsa, Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, and shown on our live stream, fans saw the heavy handed Kazakh Zhanat Zhakiyanov (15-1, 18) score a 6th round KO of the previously unbeaten Hector Rolando Guzman (14-1, 9) of Argentina. On paper the bout was interesting with Guzman down twice in the early rounds and Zhakiyanov himself down in round 2, however the bout felt like a really low quality contest until Zhakiyanov finally showed some world class ability and knocked out Guzman in eye catching fashion in round 6. The win for Zhakiyanov netted him the WBA International Bantamweight title though seemed to show that he wasn't ready for a world title fight and although he has a very potent right hand he is very predictable.

Wellington, New Zealand
In New Zealand fans saw Thai visitor Anrey Onesongchaigym (7-2-1, 3) suffer her first stoppage loss as she was beaten in the 6th round by Gentiane Lupi (4-1-1, 2). As a result of this win Lupi claimed the WIBA interim Super Bantamweight title.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Osaka, Japan
Not many days this year were as highly anticipated as Wednesday 23rd April and the world title double header at the Castle Hall in Osaka. The show was one that seemed to have boxing fans around the world excited and whether you were American, British, Belgian, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Japanese or Thai you almost certainly had some interest in what happened.

What ended up happening split emotion like very, very few shows ever will. We had pure sadness felt by everyone in the arena and we had the joy of one of Japanese boxing's current elite fighters.

The sadness was that felt for former WBC Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa (33-5, 15) who was stopped in his attempt to become a 3-weight world champion. Hasegawa, fighting against Spain's IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23), looked only like a shadow of the man who had once dominated the Bantamweight division.

Although as game and as fast as ever Hasegawa simply didn't have the legs or energy to hold off the marauding Spaniard who scored a knockdown in round 2 that seemed to worry the fans. Less than 30 minutes later the crowd were shocked in to a silence that said it all, as Hasegawa was stopped in the 7th round. For those who had seen the recent WWE Wrestlemania the crowd had that same shocked silence and tearful look as they had had when Brock Lesnar had beaten The Undertaker. Just like the WWE show this seemed to be the end of an era, the end of a man's career and the end of a fan favourite.

Whilst Hasegawa hasn't actually announced his retirement the fight and the crowd said it all. Hasegawa isn't the fighter he once was and the crowd really want this to be it for him. We hope he takes a night or two to think about his future then decides it's best to retire with his health. His legacy is already secure and he will go down as one of Japan's most popular fighters in history.

Thankfully for all those in attendance the sadness turned into happiness and after giving Hasegawa a standing ovation they got to see the immensely skilled Shinsuke Yamanaka (21-0-2, 16) successfully defend his WBC Bantamweight title with a 9th round KO against Stephane Jamoye (25-5, 15).

Yamanaka, who was defending a title held not only by Hasegawa but also by his idol Joichiro Tatsuyoshi who is in he picture, managed to cheer the crowd up with a one sided and relatively pain free beat down of Jamoye who was dropped 4 times before the referee waved the contest off.

Whilst Yamanaka is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter currently plying his trade in Asia it was actually Jamoye who did much to keep this bout interesting. Sadly for the challenger it was interesting as he was being used as a willing punch bag who was being tagged with powerful straight lefts both upstairs and downstairs as Yamanaka recorded his 6th defence overall and his 5th successive by stoppage.

Amazing to think Yamanaka started his career 6-0-2 (2) and has since reeled off 15 wins with 14 by T/KO!

Talking about men who have just began their career this show also featured a selection of novices in action. The most notable of those was Sho Nakazawa (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thailand's Petchnakulua Sornattasak (0-1). Nakazawa is regarded very highly as a prospect and his 63 second victory over the Thai showed enough to be excited about him.

Although Nakazawa is a few fights in to his career the show did feature one Japanese prospect just beginning his career, Ryo Kakutani (1-0) who clearly out pointed fellow debutant Sho Hasegawa (0-1). Kakutani wasn't the only man scoring his first win as the previously win-less Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-4, 1) stopped the still win-less Kimiharu Oura (0-6) inside a round.

Although Hasegawa and Yamanaka were the main events they weren't the only world class fighters in action and fans in attendance also got the chance to see former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (26-3-1, 12) . Unfortunately Ao failed to really impress and although he over-came Mexican visitor Marco Lopez (23-4, 14) he really did little to remind fans that he is a world class fighter, in fact his struggle here represented less a "world class" talent and more a man who is already looking at the end of the line. Ao is supposedly looking for a Lightweight title though on this performance he doesn't even look like a top 15 fighter at 135lbs.

(Photos courtesy of boxingnews.jp)