This past Saturday was an incredibly busy day in Asian boxing, as a result we've unfortunately been slow to get the results all up and ready.
Cebu, Philippines The most notable, of 3 Filipino shows, came from Cebu where ALA Promotions put on the wonderful, and entertaining, “Pinoy Pride 31”. A card which really had everything. The main event was a competitive bout at the top level which saw Donnie Nietes (36-1-4, 21) retain his WBO Light Flyweight title with a clear, but competitive, win over Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr (17-3-1, 11). Rodriguez, a former unified champion at 105lbs, went over to Cebu with real confidence and, at times, looked to have Nietes in trouble but the Filipino icon managed to use his experience and skills to take advantage of Rodriguez's flaws. Following the win Nietes has been linked to a world title fight at 112lbs where we expect he'll be fighting by the end of the year. Another title bout on this show saw the highly touted Mark Magsayo (11-0, 9) pick up the IBF Youth Featherweight title with an excellent 5th round TKO against Rafael Reyes (16-5, 12). Reyes had come to fight and gave Magsayo a good test before being stopped from a wonderful Magsayo assault. Although the fight showed some flaws with the touted youngster it's clear he's going a long way and we can't wait to see him step up again. Another talented young fighter in action here was Kevin Jake Cataraja (1-0, 1) who made a successful debut as he stopped Indonesian fighter Ardi Tefa (6-5, 4) in the 6th round. The debuting Cataraja looked sensational, despite his novice status, and looks likely to be on the fast track through the ranks. Although he was debuting he was considered as the 3rd most significant bout on the card. Whilst we were impressed by the fighters in the main bouts there was a number of other bouts on the card. One of those saw former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion Roli Gasca (23-6-1, 7) score a sensational KO over Rasmanudin (19-10-3, 10). The typically light punching Gasca landed probably the best show of his career as creamed Rasmanudin in the early stages of round 2. Another KO saw Vic Saludar (10-1, 8) score a 4th round KO against Michael Kaibigan (3-3-2, 2). Saludar, another touted fighter, is tipped for success though does need to be matched harder than this now. One other Filipino to score a memorable KO was Elmo Traya (9-1, 7) who stopped Bryan Macamay (9-3-2, 5) with a nasty body shot in the 3rd round. Sadly one other KO on this show came in a farce as Mexican politician Jorge Kahwagi (12-0, 12) scored an opening round “KO” against Ramon Olivas (13-4, 9). This bout, put on the card as a favour to Zanfer, was a joke and really was hilariously bad with Olivas looking like he had taken one of the most blatant dives in boxing history. On the under-card a couple of bouts went the distance. One of those saw Carlo Demecillo (4-2, 1) score an upset against the previously unbeaten Virgel Vitor (4-1, 2). Another distance bout saw Raul Yu (6-1-1, 5) fight to a draw with Ricardo Sueno (2-0-1, 1). Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany In Germany we had another “world” title fight as WBA Heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (34-2-1, 20) made light work of the awful Francesco Pianeta (31-2-1, 17), who lasted less than a round. Pianeta was dropped early in the opening round before being stopped at the end of the round by Chagaev who made the first defense of the title that he won, controversially, last year against Fres Oquendo. Metro Manila, Philippines A second notable Filipino show came from Metro Manila where two former world title challengers were in action as well as some talented young Filipino fighters. One of those former world title challengers was Richard Claveras (13-1-2, 12) who scored his first decision win as he defeated Benezer Alolod (16-8-5, 5) in a relatively compelling bout for the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title. The other former challenger was Ardin Diale (29-9-3, 15) who scored a 6th round retirement victory against Heri Amol (35-24-4, 15). Interestingly Diale's victory was his 6th straight win following a loss, in an OPBF title fight, against Koki Eto last year. The Claveras Vs Alolod bout was one of 4 title bouts on this show. Another title fight saw the much under-rated Michael Dasmarinas (21-2, 13) take a decision win over Jhaleel Payao (11-1, 6) to claim the WBC Youth Super Flyweight title that Payao had won last year. This was, on paper, a brilliant match up between two talented Filipino youngsters and despite the loss for Payao we don't really see it as a major setback with both of these fighters likely to on to big things in the future. Another title bout saw Jonas Sultan (9-2, 5) take a competitive decision win over Rene Dacquel (14-5-1 5) to become the new GAB Super Flyweight champion. The remaining title bout saw the experienced, and often under-rated, Danilo Pena (27-21-4, 12) score a 7th round technical decision over Rey Juntilla (20-7-4, 13) to claim the LuzProBa Featherweight title, in what was an upset but not as much as the records of the fighters would suggest. On the undercard there was several bouts. One of those saw the unbeaten Fighting Heno (5-0-3) take a very close decision win over John Ray Logatiman (3-2-1), another unbeaten fighter picking up a decision on this undercard was Cris Ocana (2-0, 1), who out pointed Diego Gabayeron (0-1). One unbeaten fighter who did score a stoppage was Lorence Rosas (4-0-2, 2) who defeated Alberto Pentecostes (1-6-1). A stoppage on the under-card saw Eric Panza (8-4-1, 2) score a 3rd round KO as he took out the fragile Marco Niones (3-16, 1) with a body shot. There were two other bouts on this card. One of those Ernie Mino (3-5-2) score an upset decision win against Masazumi Furukawa (6-7-2, 1) whilst the other saw Joel Taduran (5-2) out point career loser Jhon Jhon Faminiano (1-12-3). Cotabato del Sur, Philippines There was yet more Filipino action with a card at the Robinson's Mall Atrium with this one also featuring some notable young fighters. Arguably the most notable of the fighters in action here was unbeaten prospect John Vincent Moralde (13-0, 7), who fought for the first time since his tragic bout with Brayd Smith in March. Moralde easily defeated William George (10-23, 3), who was stopped in the 3rd round, though there will continue to be questions over whether or not Moralde will ever become the fighter he was once expected to be. This win for the 21 year old was, however, a good step forward in terms of getting a read on his mentality in the ring. Another notable youngster was Jake Bornea (10-1, 5) who saw off Richard Rosales (9-3-2, 4) in 4 rounds to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Flyweight crown. Jake's younger brother Jade Bornea (4-0, 2) was also on this show as he over-came the previously unbeaten Salatiel Amit (6-1-2, 4) with an 8 round decision. Yet another touted youngster in action here was Jelbirt Gomera (9-0, 6) who scored a 3rd round TKO win against the limited Prell Tupaz (9-28-5, 1) to claim the PBF Super Bantamweight title. Arguably the best match up the card was a non-title contest that saw the talented Jetro Pabustan (26-2-6, 7) out point former world title challenger Vergilio Silvano (20-5-1, 12) over 10 rounds. Whilst Pabustan shouldn't yet be looking at t a world title fight this was the type of step up win that his career desperately needed. Another 10 round bout that also looked interesting ended in a draw between Junuel Lacar (7-1-2, 5) and Jimboy Haya (7-2-2, 4), we'll be honest this looked tasty on paper and proved to be a well matched contest between two young domestic level fighters each looking ton make their mark on the sport. The under-card here had 5 bouts. From those bouts we saw a genuine upset as Jayar Diama (5-5-5, 2) leveled off his record with a decision win against Marjun Pantillgan (5-3, 4). Another decision win was scored by Joey Antonio (2-1-1), who claimed a majority decision over debutant Lony Cadayday (0-1). Another under-card bout that went to the judges saw Mark Bawaan (1-0-1) fight to a draw with the win-less Holly Quinones (0-4-1). Under-card bouts that didn't go the distance saw Renz Magarce (7-0, 5) score a 4th round KO against Romulo Ramayan Jr (6-5-3, 3) and the debuting Vinz Paras (1-0, 1) blow away Romeo Garde (0-1) Guerrero, Mexico In Mexico we saw disappointment for Filipino fighter Jhon Gemino (12-4-1, 5) who suffered a 10 round decision defeat to unbeaten Mexican Andres Gutierrez (32-0-1, 22), who is now looking likely to get a major fight. Gemino was dropped early in the fight but fought back well, despite the loss.
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Boy, did we ever have a busy Saturday with fights taking part all over the globe. Some were thrilling, some were close, some were one sided, some ended in upsets and some were controversial but man did we ever have a lot of action! Tokyo, Japan The first card of real significance for the month came from the Korakuen Hall where Nakaya put on a brilliant show with a trio of main event level fights. The card began with the 4 rounders that typically make up and under-card. These 4 rounders saw Sho Nagata (2-1, 1) score his first decision win as he over-came the limited Ryo Sugimoto (1-7-1) with a clear decision and Takahiro Yoneshige (2-1, 1) also claimed his first decision win as he defeated the win-less Kazuya Nomura (0-3-1). The only stoppage in the 4 rounders was scored by the debuting Shuji Kato (1-0, 1) who began his career with an opening round win over Masayuki Kondo (1-2, 1). The show's only real upset came in it's only 6 round bout as the limited Quaye Peter (6-5-2, 3) easily out pointed Japanese ranked Lightweight Kazuya Maruki (17-3, 11). This loss for Maruki ends a 6 fight winning streak whilst Peter scores his first win in in over 2 years and ends a run of 5 fights without a victory, including a loss to a then debuting Koki Koshikawa. The first of the main bouts was a truly compelling Japanese Super Bantamweight title bout between Yukinori Oguni (14-1, 4), the former OPBF champion, and Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-8, 7). The bout was close through out with neither man managing to take control of the contest. Although neither man came close to stopping the other it was highly competitive and the sort of even match up we love even if the action isn't explosive. For Oguni this sees him winning his second professional title and it appears he has eyes on a world title fight next year though in all honesty he's unlikely to beat any of the division's top fighters. In the second of the 3 big fights fans saw unified Japanese and OPBF Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (24-8-1, 10) scoring a rare stoppage as he retained his titles and forced the referee to save former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-10, 12). Fuchigami was down early in the bout and never seemed capable of really testing the champion who has now won 3 straight since being stopped a then debuting Ryota Murata back in August 2013. For Fuchigami this really could be the end and he's now 3 of his last 4, and 4 of his last 6. The highlight bout of the show wasn't a title bout but was a rubber match between current Japanese Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (29-5-1, 9) and former champion Nihito Arakawa (25-5-1, 16). The bout, fought in great spirits, saw Kato having too much for the tough Arakawa who was competitive but never seemed to be quite able to get into any sort of a groove. It's a shame that Arakawa has now lost 3 of his last 4 though we wouldn't be shocked to see him back in the ring next year against a possibly lower level opponent. For Kato this bout is a perfect ending to the year, a year that began with him losing the OPBF Lightweight title to Masayoshi Nakatani, and it could be that 2015 will see him kick on with things and possibly even work towards a world title fight. Pathum Thani, Thailand In Thailand we had two bouts, one of which was interesting and one of which wasn't interesting, at all. The less bout saw the world ranked Norasing Kokietgym (13-0, 10) make very light work of Indonesian visitor Jack Madison (2-4) in a bout that really wasn't worth making. Madison genuinely looked like someone who didn't want to be there and Norasing looked like he was embarassed by how poor his opponent was. Without trying to sound too rude we never want to see Madison fight again. The more interesting contest saw the very promising Kongthara KKP (6-0, 5) go the 12 round distance as he defended the WBA Asian Boxing Council silver Super Bantamweight title against former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane (27-16-1, 17). Manakane came in to the bout to win though was clearly beaten despite putting up a solid effort. Despite his record Manakane is a solid fighter for a prospect like Kongthara and this bout will certainly not have done Kongthara's any harm despite the fact his stoppage run has come to an end. Cotabato (del Norte), Philippines In the Philippines there was an interesting but low profile show courtesy of Sonshine Sports Management. The headline bout here saw Rolando Magbanua (25-2, 17) make light work of the over-matched JP Macaumpuis (9-5-1, 3), who has now been stopped 5 times in 15 bouts. A more interesting bout was the co-feature which saw the heavy handed Lorenzo Villanueva (27-1-0-1, 14) go the 8 round distance with the incredibly tough Jamie Barcelona (38-57-1, 10). Villanueva may have had the clear edge in power but was fortunate to come out on top here with a majority decision over the experienced Barcelona. Another majority decision went the way of Jaime Quitoriano (2-3, 1) who narrowly beat Vergel Deguma (2-2). The rest of the card was thrills and spills as prospects scored blow out after blow out on local journeymen. The most notable of those prospects was youngster Jade Bornea (2-0, 2) who dispatched Armando Yee (2-6-3, 1) in the 2nd round. Jade's brother Jake Bornea (8-1, 4) also took a win in the 2nd as he stopped Rowel Garcia (6-16-3, 1). Others to score stoppages were Roskie Cristobal (10-0, 8), who stopped Rey dela Cruz (2-8, 2) inside a round, Jelbirt Gomera (8-0, 4), who beat Dingdong Quinones (4-12-1, 2) and Michael Bravo (7-1, 2) who beat Jessie Suacasa (3-4, 2) Sonora, Mexico Possibly the most surprising performance of the day came from unheralded Filipino Joebert Alvarez (14-1-1, 6). Alvarez was, and still is, an unknown in the eyes of many but he genuinely gave a really tough test to unified Flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (31-2, 22) in a bout much, much more competitive than the score cards suggest. The bout, scored 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92 to Estrada make the bout look like an easy win for the Mexican but it was anything but easy for “Gallo”. Hopefully we see Alvarez back in the ring soon and hopefully in the mix for an OPBF title as he has the ability to go a long way though seems to lack the experience at the moment. Nuevo León, Mexico Sadly it wasn't just in Sonora where the judges failed to show their impartiality and in Nuevo León fans saw Shindo Go (14-3, 9) lose the WBC female Flyweight title to Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) with a split decision defeat. The bout, a very competitive one, was marred by the regular “WTF” card which read 99-91 in favour of the home time town fighter. The other card in favour of Mucino had the contest 96-94 whilst one judge had the contest 96-93 in favour of Go who unfortunately loses for the second time on the road. We suspect that Go's team will begin to think twice before allowing the fighter to compete outside of Japan as both of her losses on the road were controversial to say the least. California, USA In the US the ever popular Brian Viloria (35-4-0-2, 21) made light work of Armando Vazquez (21-12, 4) as he attempts to rebuild towards another world title fight. This really wasn't much of a work out for Viloria who stopped his foe in the 4th round of their contest with a left to the body. Incidentally there is now talk about Viloria getting a rematch with Estrada. On tonight's performances Viloria actually has a chance against the man that almost stopped him last year. New South Wales, Australia In Australia there was a pair of Indonesians who were both embarrassed by unbeaten Australian's. One of those was Gun Tinular (11-19-1, 6), who was announced as “Gumilar”. Tunilar was stopped inside a round by Tony Bates (10-0-1, 8), who previous to this bout had stopped a trio of Thais. The other was Elly Pangaribuan (3-5, 1) who was stopped in the second round by Ahmed Dib (15-0, 9). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Saturday wasn't the biggest day in Asian boxing but it was an interesting one with a lot of fights and plenty of recognisable names in action
Davao Del Sur, Philippines The bulk of the Asian action on Saturday came from the Philippines where Sonshine Sports promoted a very deep and long card with numerous big names on it. Sadly a lot of those bigger names were matched very softly. The biggest mismatch, at least on paper, saw former WBC Minimumweight title challenger Denver Cuello (34-5-6, 22) have a field day with Thailand's horribly over-matched Jaipetch Chaiyonggym (3-2, 2). Cuello, fighting for the first time since his loss to Xiong Zhao Zhong last year, repeatedly tagged the Thai with lefts upstairs which left some nasty damage on Jaipetch's face and everntually forced him to retire. The bout was a mismatch but it was a clear tune up for Cuello who has been inactive and injured recently and needed a soft touch in all honesty. Cuello was one of 3 fighters expected to take part in title bouts next time out. Another was IBO Light Flyweigth champion Rey Loreto (19-13, 11) who did what was needed to stop Indonesian journeyman Heri Amol (34-20-4, 14). Amol, fighting for the 58th time, was stopped for just the 7th time as Loreto scored a tune up win ahead of his first title defence, scheduled for December. The third title level fighter was former IBO Super Flyweight champion Edrin Dapudong (30-6, 18) who scored a 5th round TKO against Wisanlek Sithsaithong (11-6, 6). We're now expecting Dapudong to rematch Lwandile Sityatha in an attempt to regain his IBO title, possibly before the year is out. A third big puncher in action in a 10 rounder was Lorenzo Villanueva (27-1-0-1, 24) who forced a doctors stoppage victory over Gadwin Tubigon (10-11-2, 5) with Tubigon's face looking a real mess from a suspected broken nose. The only other 10 rounder saw Rolando Magbanua (24-2, 16) quickly get rid of Joel Escol (8-16-3, 5) in just 113 seconds. Cuello wasn't the only former world title challenger on the show and former WBO Minimumweight title challenger Rommel Asenjo (26-3, 21) was also in action. Surprisingly however Asenjo really struggled as he took a majority decision over Powell Balaba (8-12-1, 5) in a very narrow 8 rounder. Another 8 rounder to go the distance saw Jelbirt Gomera (7-0, 4) out point Jhun Ryan Quimbo (4-6-1) whilst Jake Bornea (7-1, 3) out pointed Rogen Flores (13-25-5, 6). The only 8 rounder not to go the distance saw Robert Udtohan (22-1-2, 14) take out the over-matched Renz Llagas (6-7-1, 4) in the 3rd round. We also saw just a single stoppage in the 6 rounders as Ryan Lumacad (7-0-1, 4) returned from a notable break and took out Robert Awetin (5-18-2, 5) in 3 rounds. In the other 6 rounders we saw Roskie Cristobal (9-0, 7) get taken the distance, unexpectedly, by Rolly Llino (5-13-1, 2) whilst Jamie Quitariano (2-2, 1) took a decision over Bryan Samson (4-4, 2) In the 4 rounders we saw the debut of the much touted Jade Bornea (1-0, 1) who needed just 123 seconds to welcome himself to professional boxing with a quick and impressive victory over the previously unbeaten Mark Baribar (2-1-1). The other 4 rounder saw Michael Bravo (6-1, 1) take a decision over Saddam Barambangan (3-7-1, 2). Victoria, Australia Down under we saw two other Asian fighters in action and unfortunately both were defeated inside the distance. The more recognisable of the two was Filipino journeyman Aswin Cabuy (14-48-4, 7) who suffered his 21st stoppage loss after retiring at the the end of the second round of his bout with Mitchell Middleton Clark (3-0, 3). From what we under-stand Cabuy was dropped in round 2 and suffered an injury that forced him to retire at the end of the round. The other bout seems to have been more interesting as Iranian debutant Rezvan Khasmafkan (0-1) was stopped in 6 rounds by Steve Attard (5-0-2, 2). Prior to the stoppage we've been told that Khasmafkan landed a MMA style knee was deducted a point. Incidentally Attard has been scheduled to fight in Macau on November 22nd against the Macau Kid Kuok Kun Ng in what appears to be a very interesting contest. London, United Kingdom In the UK we saw Russian Heavyweight journeyman Denis Bakhtov (38-10, 25) being stopped in 2 rounds by Olympic champion Anthony Joshua (9-0, 9). Bakhtov was too small, too slow and too old to make Joshua really work for the win and stopped by the referee part way through the second round as Joshua wailed away with heavy looking shots. |
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