This past Friday was a hectic day with action in Thailand, Japan, Dubai and Asian fighters fighting in Australia.

Ratchaburi, Thailand
The most significant card of the day was in Thailand where we got the only world title bout of the day.

The show, like many in Thailand, began with a single preliminary bout. This saw WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight champion Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (56-2, 37) score a 6th round TKO win over Indonesian visitor Boido Simanjuntak (18-29-1, 7). It seemed clear from the opening bell that Chonlatarn was too good for the Indonesian who showed some guts but was eventually ground down in the 6th round. Whilst this was an expected win for the former 2-time world title challenger the result was rather disappointing given that Super Flyweight contender Srisaket Sor Rungvisai stopped Simanjuntak in in just as many rounds a year ago.

The main event was the aforementioned world title bout. The contest was for the WBO Bantamweight title and saw Pungluang Sor Singyu (51-3, 35) become a 2-time champion as he stopped Japan's Ryo Akaho (26-2-2, 18). On paper it looked a really good bout but unfortunately Akaho was never really able to get into it before being stopped in the second round. There were complaints about infringements from Pungluang but it seemed like Akaho had lost the bout before a punch was even thrown. Amazingly this continues the terrible run that Japanese fighters have had in world title fights in Thailand.

Another notable name on this card was “Manny Pacquiao Look-a-like” Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym (32-1-2, 17) who defeated journeyman Thaminkhao Sor Tharnthip (4-14-1, 3) by stoppage early in their bout. Kwanpichit, who lost to Zou Shiming last year, is now 5-0 (5) since his loss to the Chinese star.

The undercard here featured two prospects. One of those was Saentanong Onesongchaigym (7-0, 3) who continued his perfect start by over-coming Teeradech Sor Praithong (0-1). On paper Saentanong looks like a genuine prospect but sadly digging below the numbers shows that all 7 recorded bouts have come against debutants. The other prospect was Thewa Onesongchaigym (10-2, 5) who scored a stoppage win against Saksiam Or Sompote (0-1). Although Thewa has a couple of losses on his record he is on a 5 fight winning run and has seemingly put back-to-back defeats to Xian Wei Qian well behind him.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Whilst the most significant single bout was in Thailand it's fair to say that some of the most notable fighters were actually in Dubai as part of an ALA promotions show.

The main event of the evening saw the fast rising Albert Pagara (24-0, 17) make very light work of Mexico's Jesus Rios (31-8-1, 25). Rios, who had failed to make weight for the bout, had talked a good fight in the build up but lasted less than a round with the talented Pagara who really does look like one of the sports top prospects.

Albert wasn't the only Pagara in action as older brother Jason Pagara (36-2, 22) managed to take a technical decision win against Ramiro Alcaraz (15-5-1, 9). Pagara, who is world ranked at 140lbs by the WBO, really isn't up to the same level as his younger brother though will likely more attention when ALA make their promotional debut in the US.

A third main bout on this card resulted in an 8 round decision win for veteran Jimrex Jaca (40-8-4, 22) who out pointed Pablo Lugo Montiel (21-6, 17) in a relatively competitive bout.

This card also had 4 bouts on the under-card. One of those saw Larry Abarra (4-3-1, 3) score a stoppage against the fragile Tony Arema (3-7-1), who has now been stopped in 5 of his losses. Another stoppage on this card saw the promising Deo Krizito (2-0, 1) take out Thailand's Fapetch Manopchaigym (1-1). The only other stoppage on this undercard saw the debuting Lasisi Bamidel (1-0, 1) defeat Singnoi Simanasak (1-2).

In a bout that went the distance Muhammad Akram (4-0-1, 1) out pointed Nicholas Mwangi (0-1).

Tokyo, Japan
The Thai show was probably the one with the highest profile single bout and the show in Dubai was probably the strongest in terms of over-all name appeal. It was however a show in Japan that left a lasing impression, despite it being a flop for the promoter who saw only one of their 7 fighters pick up a win.

The one fighter to win from the promoter who put the show on was Hikaru Nishida (13-8-1, 5) who stopped former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-11, 12) in the 5th round of their bout. The contest was a rematch of their 2014 bout, which saw Nishida claim a narrow win. For 3 rounds it seemed like Fuchigami was going to avenge his loss as he boxed beautifully against a strong and determined, but basic, Naishida. In round 4 however Nishida began to turn the tide before forcing the referee to save Fuchigami in round 5, ending what was a Round of the Year contender.

The Nishida/Fushigami rematch was the co-main bout along with a brilliant Super Bantamweight bout between Yasutaka Ishimoto (26-8, 7) and Gakuya Furuhashi (17-6-1, 7). Whilst the the other main bout was a 5 round round war this one was a tactically sharp, high octane boxing contest with both men throwing a lot of leather in a brilliant, competitive and genuinely enthralling contest. The result was a close win for Ishimoto, who took the decision despite being deducted a point for holding in the penultimate round.

The two main bouts were both streamed on a ustream channel along with one of the under-card bouts. That under-card bout saw the much talked about Kohei Kashino (2-1, 1) suffer his first defeat at the hands of the under-rated Hizuki Saso (5-1, 1). Saso took over this bout in round 3 before stopping a tired Kashino in the 4th round of their Rookie of the Year bout.

Another much talked about fighter being stopped here was Riyako Goshi (3-4) who was stopped in round 3 by Chie Higano (4-3, 1). Goshi has been popular due to her out of the ring activities and her unusual ring outfits but the attention she got was massively more than her talent deserved.

Kashino wasn't the only fighter to lose his unbeaten record here as stablemate Yui Oikawa (2-1) also suffered his first defeat. Oikawa was relatively unfortunate to lose a very close majority decision to Sho Nagata (5-1, 2), who advanced to the next round in the Rookie of the Year.

Another bout with novices saw teenager Taiju Shitatori (2-0, 1) out point Ryo Nakano (1-3) whilst a 6 rounder saw Masayuki Ichikawa (6-2, 2) take a wide decision win over Masayuki Sakurai (3-9-2).

Victoria, Australia
In Australia we saw two title bouts featuring Asian fighters.

The more significant of those two bouts saw Czar Amonsot (29-3-3, 17) retain his PABA Light Welterweight title as he took a 4th round technical decision win over Rusmin Kie Raha (14-8-2, 3). Amonsot, a Filipino based in Australia, managed to add the lightly regarded WBA Pan African title to his collection, though we do wonder how a Filipino and an Indonesian qualify to fight for an African belt.

The other bout saw another Australian based Filipino in action, sadly however Roberto Lerio (16-22-1, 6) couldn't match the result of Amonsot. Instead Lerio was on the end of a clear decision loss to the unbeaten Ibrahim Balla (8-0, 5), who claimed the Australian Super Bantamweight title with this win.

Tokyo, Japan
This past Monday saw Japanese fans enjoying a really good looking card at the Korakuen Hall. The card, on paper, had 2 really good looking match ups, a return to action for a female fighter that we are big fans off, and a couple of interesting under-card bouts. It wasn't a mega show but it was a very solid looking international card.

In the main event fans saw former Japanese Lightweight champion Akihiro Kondo (21-5-1, 10) get his career back on track after a surprise loss last December to Tomoya Yamada. Kondo was facing former “world” title challenger Jimrex Jaca (39-8-4, 22), a popular Filipino puncher. On paper it was a brilliant match up and we expected it to be a test between Kondo's chin and Jaca's vicious power. Instead it turned out that Kondo was the man with the danger fists and forced a 4th round stoppage a very exciting and enthralling contest.

Surprisingly after the bout Kondo announced that he would be back in the ring on April 22nd to fight another Filipino visitor, Ricky Sismundo, in what looks like another excellent match up.

The other notable match up didn't go as well for Japan with the much touted Kenta Onjo (4-1, 3) being surprisingly stopped by the shop worn and smaller Filipino Jonathan Baat (28-6-3, 14) in the 5th round of their bout. Onjo had been touted as a future title holder but was taking a big step up in class, it was however seen as smart step up with Baat having fought much of his career at Super Bantamweight before moving up to Super Featherweight for this bout. It appears with the shackles of weight off his shoulders Baat was more a more durable fighter and found a home for his right hands which took their toll on the Japanese youngster.

In a horrible mismatch fans saw former female world champion Tenkai Tsunami (21-10, 10) score a 2nd round victory over Thai visitor Rathsada Sor Worasin (0-5). We are Tsunami fans and understand she has been in very over the last few years so don't begrudge her too much for an easy bout like this, but it was a predictable outcome.

Another good looking bout, at least on paper, saw Yukiya Hanabusa (8-2-2, 2) score a surprisingly early stoppage against Yudai Arai (6-2-3, 3). On paper this was a well matched bout but Hanabusa managed to see off Arai in just the second round.

We saw more stoppages in the couple of scheduled 6 rounders. The quickest of these saw Minoru Iizuka (5-2, 5) score a 111 second victory over Masaharu Hanaka (4-2-1, 2). The other 6 rounder went in to the 2nd round as Naoaki Kumagai (5-2, 3) over-came Hitoshi Ando (4-9-1, 3).

The only 4 rounder on this card saw Fumiya Naoi (2-0) defeat the struggling Seiji Honma (1-5) with a 4 round decision.


(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Sometimes a day in boxing is insanely busy with fights coming thick and fast with bouts taking place all over the world. This past Saturday was one such day with notable fights taking place in the USA, South Africa, the Philippines, Belgium and Switzerland. If we say it was a multi-national day it really wouldn't be a lie.

California, USA
The fight of the night, at least as a spectacle, was in the US as Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-2-1, 21) and Robert Guerrero (32-2-1-2, 18) fought a bloody, violent phone booth war that lived up to the tag of being the "main event" on a major show. The two men seemed to cast aside defence and boxing and instead just stood in front of each other, breaking each other up to the body and smashing each others faces.

Despite the effort of Kamegai the judges all saw Guerrero taking the win. At the end of the day though the fans were the winners and hopefully the action and style of this fight will see Kamegai brought back to the US sooner rather than later. There are lots of fights Stateside for a guy like Kamegai to be involved in and plenty of them could be made easily and be just as entertaining as this one was.

Mote Carlo, Monaco
Whilst the fight in the US was the best of the day the "most significant", at least in the division it was fought in, was in Monaco as South Africa's popular and talented Hekkie Budler (26-1, 8) defended his WBA Minimumweight title with a stoppage of Thailand's experienced Pigmy Kokietgym (52-7-2, 22). Pigmy tried to take out Budler with big right hands though at the end of the day the South African was too sharp, too accurate and too big for the Thai who struggled to get close. Although competitive at stages Budler finished the fight in style with a devastating body attack that dropped Kokietgym for the count in round 8.

The win for Budler makes a dream fight between himself and Katsunari Takayama seem like a real possibility for either this year or early next year as long as Takayama can overcome Francisco Rodriguez Jr on August 9th. If things go as planned a bout between Takayama and Budler would be a triple title unification with the IBF, WBO and WBA belts all on the line for the winner.

Cebu, Philippines
Whilst the biggest fights too place outside of Asia there was still some action closer to home with an explosive ALA show in the Philippines.

The show was headlined by the Pagara brothers who both scored notable stoppage victories and wowed fans with their aggression and power. 

The first of the Pagara's in action was the unbeaten "Prince" Albert Pagara (21-0, 15) who made very light work of the over-matched Hugo Partida (21-5-2, 16). Partida was drown 3 times in quick succession and referee Bruce McTavish was forced to stop the bout. It was clear from the first right hand that Pagara landed that this wasn't going to last and that proved to be the case with Partida completely unable to take his power. The win for "Prince Albert" helped him claim the IBF Inter-Continental Super Bantamweight title and may well have helped the younger Pagara to a world ranking at last.

For Albert Pagara the bout was about winning a new title, for his brother Jason Pagara (34-2, 21) the fight was all about defending his WBO International Light Welterweight title, which he did with ease dropping Mario Meraz (20-4, 16) twice and forcing the referee to wave of the bout at the end of the 4th round.

The Pagara's wren't the only men to score stoppages and earlier on the card there was also a stoppage victory for the former world title contender AJ Banal (31-2-1, 22) who had to get off the canvas in the first round stop Indonesia's Defry Palulu (10-1, 9) in the second. Palulu's power looked genuine but there is still serious work to do for him however the body shot that Banal landed was a beauty and and very few would have taken it well.

The only disappointment on this show saw Jimrex Jaca (39-7-4, 22) and Masayoshi Kotake (9-8-2, 5) fighting to a 3rd round technical draw. The bout had the potential to be a show stealing war but a head clash put paid to that and the bout simply couldn't go on.

Glattbrug, Switzerland
In what, on paper, looks to have been an upset Japan's Aniya Seki (24-3-2, 2) was stopped in the second round by Mexico's Judith Rodriguez (7-7, 5). Unfortunately this bout really showed the difference between the two women despite the records suggesting the opposite. Rodriguez, despite her scratchy record, had only lost to world champions, and had often run them close. Seki however was somewhat untested and it showed when Rodriguez took the fight to her and used his very genuine power and strength.

The loss for Seki, just her second stoppage loss in 29 fights, saw her losing the WBC female Silver Super Flyweight title and quite probably her dreams of a world title fight.

Vienna, Austria
Female action wasn't just in Switzerland but also in Austria as two Thai fighters took on European opponents.

The less competitive of the bouts saw Buangern OnesongchaiGym (11-7-1, 2) suffer her third stoppage loss so far this year. Buangern was fighting against the unbeaten Oezlem Sahin (18-0-1, 6) and was stopped in the 6th round in what was a battle for the WIBF, WBF and GBU female Minimumweight titles. The loss, more than anything, summed up that Buangern isn't a championship level fighter and, rather than getting beaten again, she needs to go back to the gym and work on her skills. We all know she's not tough enough to survive with a decent fighter so will her team please stop throwing her to the wolves!

In a much more competitive contest Nonggift Onesongchaigym (6-2-1, 1) gave a great account of herself despite losing a decision to home town fighter Eva Voraberger (18-3, 9). Voraberger is a fighter we've been told was very good prior to this fight so we'd assume that Nonggift, at just 18, has a very bright future and it would be far from a surprise to see her picking up a title of some type in the near future. This bout, for the WIBF and WBF female Super Flyweight titles, might be a set back but we honestly think this loss could the the making off the Thai youngster.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

February has, on the whole, been a disappointing day with only a handful of notable contests. Thankfully though the month did end on a high with a trio of notable Asian cards.

Bangkok, Thailand
The first of the cards took place in Thailand and was televised on Thai Channel 7. The show, which featured a total of 4 bouts, including a title bout, was arguable the show with the most significant fight of the day on it.

The notable fight in question saw the world ranked Noknoi Sitthiprasert (48-4, 28), pictured, successfully defending his WBC international Silver Flyweight title against the previously unbeaten Rajah Renoel Pael (12-1-1, 5) of the Philippines. Unfortunately for Pael he was denied what seemed like a clear victory with the judges some how preferring the work of Noknoi who was very fortunate to retain his belt.

Fights like this one explain why Thailand do struggle to get over top class fighters. The judging is simply too questionable and with Noknoi's world rankings, including a WBC #4 and WBA #5 placings, there was no chance he was going to lose unless Pael could knock him out. Very unfortunate for the poor Filipino.

Thankfully no other bout on this card much in terms of controversy, though unfortunately they weren't great match ups. The most notable of which included the promising Petch Sor Chitpattana (24-0, 16), who stopped the debuting Carlo Bavetta (0-1) in 4 rounds. 

The other two bouts saw novices fighting each other with Petchchumpol Sor Visetkit (2-1, 1) defeating the debuting Kengkaj Sakpracha (0-1) via a decision and Morakote Patanakan Gym (3-3, 1) stopping Petch Twins Gym (1-4) in just 3 rounds.

Tokyo, Japan
Although the most important bout of the day was in Thailand the best shows were both in Japan. These included "Dangan 94" which was headlined by a fantastic international contest between a highly regarded Japanese fighter and a world ranked Filipino.

The fighters alluded to were WBO #12 ranked Light Welterweight Jimrex Jaca (39-7-3, 22) and former Japanese national champion at 140lbs Shinya Iwabuchi (23-4, 19). 

The fight started well for Jaca who looked sharp from the opening round and dropped Iwabuchi in the first half of the fight. Unfortunately for the Filipino he was unable to see off the brave Japanese fighter who began to turn the fight around as it progressed and eventually stopped Jaca in round 7 with the Filipino being saved after taking some bombs.

Below the main event this show had a notable upset as Koji Umetsu (21-14-3, 9) defeated Tsuyoshi Tojo (12-13-3, 2). On paper we accept this wasn't a shock but Tojo was the #1 ranked Japanese Super Featherweight challenger whilst Umetsu was unranked. As a result of this bout we expect to see a major shake up of the domestic rankings.

Further down this card, though staying with the more important under-card bouts Koshinmaru Saito (20-5-1, 11) stopped Yuichi Ideta (13-10-1, 7) in 6 rounds and Yusaku Kuga (8-1-1, 5) stopped Yuki Iwasaki (11-5, 6) in round 5. 

On the undercard, where we had 4 other bouts. This included the shows opening 4 rounders which saw Gaku Sato (1-1) take a split decision over Takaya Tsuji (1-3, 1) and Kazunori Sato (2-4, 2) stopping the debuting Masato Nunotani (0-1).

As for the 6 rounders, they saw Norimitsu Ebine (9-7-1, 6) taking 6 rounds to stop Yuichi Asano (7-8-1 6) in a bout that looked like a shoot out on paper, and Tomoyuki Kaneko (7-2, 4) taking less than a round to defeat Takuma Okada (4-9, 2).

Hyogo, Japan
A second major card, "Real Spirits 35", was held in Japan in Hyogo. This card, a 7 bout show, was headlined by a contest between Akihiko Katagiri (14-7-2, 5) and Kota Fukuoka (15-4-2, 13). Going in to this bout Fukuoka was ranked by the OPBF whilst Katagiri was ranked by the JBC. Amazingly it was the "non-puncher" of the two who managed to take home the victory with Katagiri opening a cut on Fukuoka's eye that caused the end of the bout and handing Katagiri a 6th round TKO.

Whilst the main event was brilliant on paper it wasn't joined by other great match ups. Despite that lack of great bouts on paper the chief support bout, between Ryotaro Kawabata (10-2, 4) and Kenta Toi (3-4) proved to be great fun whilst it lasted, even if it did prove to be 1 sided with Toi being stopped in round 5.

Another mismatch on the card saw Tokiya Nishioka (8-3-2, 4) quickly stopping Thailand's Thiendaeng Manoprungroj (1-4, 1) in 2 rounds. It took Kazuki Hashimoto (9-4, 5) just as long to stop Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth (10-8-1, 5) in another mismatch.

The under-card wasn't all mismatches and Yuichi Arai (7-8-1, 2) only just managed to over-come Kenta Sugimoto (6-6-1) in a brilliantly even match up. There is no debating that this one was close though could have been swayed by "what you like" as shown in the score cards.

Unfortunately the other lower card bouts were both lacking the competitive edge as Tatsuya Yoneo (6-3, 1) put on a great performance to clearly defeat Ryuto Maruo (5-6, 2) in a 6 rounder whilst the debuting Takaaki Maeda (1-0) scored a shut out over Masashi Katayama (0-2).

California, USA
In the US Filipino prospect Bruno Escalante (12-1-1, 6) proved he his harder than his record indicates as he swiftly took out Lorenzo Trejo (33-29-1,20) and claimed the lightly regarded International Boxing Association Super Flyweight title in the process. It took Escalante less than a round to see off Trejo and whilst the IBA might not be a major title it will still have boosted Escalante's confidence no end to wrap the belt around his waist.


(Picture courtesy of boxrec.com)