Chonburi, Thailand The first Asian card of the day came from Thailand where a number of promising South Korean fighters were on show as AK Promotions managed to keep their stable of fighters busy. The most notable name on the card was former OPBF title challenger Jaesung Lee (18-4-2, 9) who surprisingly struggled to over-come the previously unbeaten Rivera AK Gym (1-1, 1). Lee's performance was much worse than expected though it may be excused by the fact he was fighting at Featherweight and had had a March 1st bout changed and then cancelled prior to this contest. Hopefully we'll see an improved version of Lee next time out. The other 3 Korean fighters on the card were all involved in title bouts. Of those the most promising was Hyun Woo Yu (4-0, 4) who claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council silver Light Welterweight title with a 31 second blow out win against Indonesia's Oke Haryanto (5-6-1, 2), who has now been stopped in 4 successive bouts. We like what we've seen of Yu but we don wonder what the WBC were doing allowing Haryanto to fight for any title at 140lbs. Another early blow out in a title contest saw Hong Kyoon Shin (10-3-1, 6) score a 2nd round KO against Jack Madison (2-4) to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Super Flyweight title. Amazingly for Shin this is his first win since 2006, however he has been inactive in recent years with a record of 0-2-1 in his previous 3 bouts dating back more than 7 years. For Madison this was his 4th stoppage loss overall and his second in a row. The remaining title bout came in a female contest as Hee-Jun Yun (15-2, 6) scored an 8th round TKO win over Nonggift Onesongchaigym (7-3-2, 1) to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council female Super Flyweight title. This win saw Yuh scoring her 13th straight win and become the first fighter to stop Nonggift, who had previously been in with Hongfah Tor Buamas and Eva Voraberger. The one bout that didn't feature a Korean saw “losers” colliding as Kongfah Singwancha (6-12-1, 3) take an opening round stoppage against Kong Windy Sports (1-9) who was stopped for the 6th time in his career, including a loss last time out to the very promising Yu. México, Mexico In Mexico we had a genuinely thrilling female fight between two of the sports elite female fighters. The bout saw Japan's sensational Naoko Fujioka (13-1, 6) look like a star as she gritted her teeth and over-came Mexican starlet Mariana Juarez (40-8-3, 17) in a bout our friend Jake Donovan described as FOTY contender. Juarez, a very popular Mexican, started well as was in the lead on two of the cards when the open scoring was announced after 4 rounds. That announcement seemed to wake up Fujioka who moved up a gear to win the final 6 rounds and take a very well deserved split decision win with scores of 98-93 and 97-93 in her favour, whilst the dissenting judge gad it 94-96. Despite being 39 it's clear that Fujioka still belongs at the top and should continue to be recognised as one of the best female boxers on the planet, despite her loss to Susi Kentikian last time out. Baja California, Mexico Things in Mexico weren't as good for Filipino fighter Rogelio Jun Doliguez (19-3-2, 14) who suffered his 3rd loss in 4 bouts as he was easily beaten by the world class Fernando Montiel (54-4-2, 39). The bout was completely one-sided with Montiel winning by a score of 99-88 on all 3 cards. Sadly for the once promising Filipino it seems like his early hype has now been thoroughly finished. New Jersey, USA In New Jersey fans got the chance to see two touted Chinese fighters in action with both of them taking decisions wins. One of those Chinese fighters was Heavyweight hopeful Zhang Zhilei (3-0, 2) who went the distance for the first time in his career as he was unable to see off American fighter Eric George (2-9). For Zhilei, dubbed “Big Bang” this will be a disappointing result but at the end of the day a win is a win for the 2008 Olympic silver medallist. The other Chinese fighter was Wang Zhimin (2-0) who took a 6 round decision win over the very testing Jesus Lule (7-11, 1). Although Lule's record is less than spectacular this was a genuine good result for the Chinese novice who could well be one of the countries most promising fighters despite the lack of hype he's received so far. Queensland, Australia In Australia we saw a minor upset as the unbeaten Filipino John Vincent Moralde (12-0, 6) dominated and out pointed the previously unbeaten Brayd Smith (12-1, 10) in a very one sided bout that showed just how good Moralde is. Aged 20 we thought this bout might have come too early for Moralde but he was sensational landing combinations at will and looking a clear level above his foe who struggled to claim more than a round. For Moralde this win is likely to be rewarded with a fringe WBC ranking to go alongside his newly acquired WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Featherweight title. (Image courtesy of Pepe Rodriguez)
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This past Wednesday saw action in Japan and Thailand Hyogo, Japan The Japanese show was the most notable of the two shows on Wednesday despite not being a huge show on paper. The highlight for many was the retirement ceremony of former Japanese champion Kohei Oba who thanked his fans and family, did some shadow boxing in a suit before being handed a bouquet by Hozumi Hasegawa, who gave a speech about his friend and former stablemate. In terms of the actual boxing the biggest bout of the show saw former Japanese Lightweight title challenger Yuhei Suzuki (16-4, 12) state his case for another title bout down the line as he made light work over the over-matched Junki Oura (6-6, 2), who was stopped for the second time in his career. Oura was no match for Suzukin who has come up short in two title fights with Yoshitaka Kato. In a real upset Kenta Sugimoto (9-7-1, 1) managed to narrowly out point Tetsuya Hisada (21-9-2, 11) with a narrow split decision. Sugimoto had entered the bout with back-to-back wins but had never scored a win over someone like Hisada before. Sadly for Hisada his career really is on the rocks with just 1 win in his last 5, having now gone 1-2-2 in that stretch. A third notable bout saw Ryotaro Kawabata (11-2-1, 5) take a 4th round TKO win against the limited Ryuta Wakamatsua (10-12, 7), who has now been stopped 8 times. Kawabata's win was his 3rd in a 4 fight unbeaten streak dating back to a slim loss to Marjohn Yap back in 2013 and it's fair to say the 24 year old Japanese fighter will now be looking to move on to bigger and better things. On the undercard the promising Takuya Uehara (4-0, 2) blew away Thai visitor Fahkiangkrai Sithsaithong (0-1) in 101 seconds whilst the debuting Yuna Hara (1-0) took a 4 round shut out against Kojiro Furukawa (0-3) Chonburi, Thailand In Thailand we had mismatches galore, though thankfully many were over quickly The shortest bout lasted just 81 seconds as Chatpayak Sithkopon Nuengkawkawhok (3-9, 2) scored a rare win blowing away Yutthaphum Sithsuthiphan (0-2). On paper this looked like an even contest but Chatpayak, who has used numerous names though his career, really made things look easy against an opponent who was stopped in 3 rounds in his only previous “recorded” bout. A similarly quick bout saw Gurlal Rebluegym (5-0, 5) blast away Changsuk Nonphitayakhom (0-3) in 108 seconds. Indian born Gurlal has run up all 5 of his wins in in just 5 months and it seems that he could step up now, though competition in the Cruiserweight in Asia may not be great to him develop. A third opening round knockout came in the main event where he promising South Korean Hyun Woo Yu (3-0, 3) blew away Erawn Sithkongnapa (0-2) in 113 seconds. We like what we've seen of Yu and find him to be fan friendly though this bout was a mismatch from the second it was signed given that Erawan is a naturally several divisions smaller than the promising Korea. In bouts that went a little bit longer we saw two bouts reach the second round. One of those saw Filipino Joan Imperial (12-6, 7) take out Saming Sithachansanguan (0-2), as Imperial bounced back from a blow out loss to Myung Goo Yuh back in February. The other saw Joaquim Mahe (9-2, 5) stop the win-less Mongkolchai Sithsomchai (0-2) as Mahe ended a 2-fight losing streak to world level foes, Sod Kokietgym and Tepparith Kokietgym. It's now expected that we'll see Mahe fight Jaesung Lee in April. In an all debutant affair we saw Rivera AK Gym (1-0, 1) score a 4th round TKO against Kan Hamongkol (0-1). The only bout that actually went the distance was a female bout that saw the unbeaten Filipino Naome Tacda (4-0, 3) go the distance for he first time in her career as she over-came Nongploy Sithjemayurin (0-3). This was the only time either fighter had been the distance though it was far from competitive as a contest with Tacda winning all 6 rounds. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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