Pathum Thani, Thailand
There wasn't much action this past Tuesday though Thai fans did get a televised show courtesy of Channel 3.

In the main event of the show fans saw unbeaten Thai prospect Jirapan Nakornluang (14-0, 10) retain his WBC Youth Silver Featherweight title with a decision victory over limiter, but game, Filipino Nathan Bolcio (12-9-2, 4). Bolcio, despite his record, came to win though lacked the skills to over-come his promising foe.

Whilst Bolcio gave it a go and wasn't good enough the same could not be said about Mohamed Larabi (4-5, 2) who gave it a go and was good enough as he battled Sirimongkol Singwancha (85-2, 54). The Frenchman may have been one of the biggest under-dogs this year though more than did enough to deserve a win against the former 2-weight world champion, unfortunately however the judges failed to agree and gave Sirimongkol one of the most contentious decisions of the year. Larabi showed his disgust at the decision immediately and was right to do so.

One bout that didn't need the judges saw another former world champion in action. That bout saw former WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rugnvisai (36-4-1, 33) mow down Indonesian visitor Hendrik Barongsay (28-23-3, 17) in just 2 rounds. Srisaket is now eyeing up an opportunity to reclaim his old title from Mexican fighter Carlos Cuadras.

Another man who didn't need the judges was Pongsaklek Sithdabnij (4-3, 3) who scored a 3rd round KO against Khaosod Lookklongbangklang (0-1). This win sees Pongsaklek finally move to a “winning” record and is his 4th straight win, following a shock upset of the then 22-0 Kongfah Nakornluang just over a month ago.

One other bout on this card saw Veerasak Himalaigym (1-0) take a debut win against Peemai Por Kobkua (0-1), with a decision victory.

Thailand
This past Friday's action kicked off in Thailand with a Channel 7 show courtesy of Nakornloung which featured 4 bouts in total.

One of those saw Pongsaklek Sithdabnij (1-3, 1) record his first win as he took a 4th round stoppage against the debuting Rachadam Por Kobkua (0-1). From the opening bell Pongsaklek looked like an aggressive ball of energy and was really fun to watch prior to scoring a gut busting KO. Whilst he'll never be mistaken for the great Pongsaklek Wonjonkam we will enjoy watching this kid in the future.

Another of the low level bouts saw Yuaza Meanburisport (1-0) fight to a decision win against Daoden Lookklongbangklang (0-1) in a more technically well accomplished bout that we're used to seeing in Thailand.

One of the bouts on the card was a rematch as Kongfah Nakornluang (21-0, 13) took on Indonesian Ricky Morales (4-2-1). In their first meeting Kongfah seemed to win following a vicious low blow that left Morales with the fight knocked out of him. Sadly for Morales his “family jewels” were again a target of Kongfah's shots with many going below the belt. To his credit however the plucky Indonesian never complained, though was stopped in the 6th round. Despite Kongfah's 21 fight winning streak we need to admit we're not sold on him, at all.

Another unbeaten prospect of note on this card was Jirapan Nakornluang (11-0, 8) who looked sharp en-route to a comfortable win over a limited foe. Jirapan stopped his foe with a body shot though really didn't need to ever get out of second gear. Jirapan does look good at times but we certainly want to see him face a better quality of opponent in the near future. From what we under-stand Kongfah claimed a WBC Youth title with this win.

California, USA
In California fans watching Fox Sports 1 had the chance to see Chinese giant Taishan Dong (5-0, 3) record his second win the space of weeks as he took out Lance Gauch (5-9-2, 3) inside a round. Gauch, who was a shorter, fat foe, was taken out by a hard right hand and had to receive medical care before being taken out of the ring. This was a much better result for Dong than his decision win over Jamal Woods, back n May 9th, though it's clear the baby steps will continue for the 27 year old giant and that Gauch was never going to be any sort of a test.

Interestingly for Dong this was the first time he had faced a man heavier than himself, though Gauch certainly didn't didn't look like a professional boxer in the ring.

Nevada, USA
Unfortunately in Nevada fans saw Uzbek fighter Bahodir Mamadjonov (17-2, 11) suffer his first stoppage defeat as the heavy handed Richard Commey (22-0, 20) stopped him in the 8th round and claimed the IBF Inter-Continental Lightweight title. Mamadjonov had never been stopped prior to this bout but this loss is a big set back for a man who was in, and around, the world rankings. Prior to the stoppage we had been impressed by Mamadjonov, though he appeared to run out of steam whilst Commey came on strong.

Note-Jirapan's record on boxrec.com has been updated to include a number of wins he fought under a different alias dating back to 2013.

Thailand
This past Tuesday saw Thai fans having some action on Channel 3. The fights were big but they did feature some notable fighters in action.

The most notable man in action was former WBC Super Flyweight champion Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (41-6-1, 10) as he stopped fellow Thai Yodpichai Sithsaithong (10-13, 4) in a stay busy fight. Suriyan, who is waiting for a bigger bout to be arranged later in the year, did as he pleased with Yodpichai before moving through the gears and finally finished off Yodpichai in round 5 with a spiteful left hook to the head.

WBC #1 ranked Flyweight Nawaphon Por Chokchai (27-0, 20) easily retained his WBC Asian Boxing Council Flyweight title as he stopped the horribly over-matched Dion Arema (3-4, 2) in the 5th round. Prior to the finish Arema had been battered from pillar to post by Nawaphon who continues his chase of a world title fight with Roman Gonzalez.

Another bout on this card saw the unbeaten Jirapan Nakornluang (4-0, 3) defeat an unknown opponent, who's name we hope to get soon. The opponent gave a good effort in the opening round but Jirapan took advantage of his defensive flaws in round 3 dropping him twice with right hands. The gutsy foe tried to get back to his feet but was counted out on his way up.

As well as the 3 bouts mentioned this card also featured another couple of bouts. Sadly however we've not got the names of those involved in those bouts.

This past Tuesday Asian fans in Thailand and Japan had action to make note of.

Pathum Thani, Thailand
In Thailand fans got televised action courtesy of Channel 3 who aired a short Nakornluang promoted show featuring a highly ranked Flyweight, a former Super Flyweight champion and a very promising young novice.

The novice was the unbeaten Jirapan Nakornluang (3-0, 2) who managed to continue his winning run as he defeated Italian debutant Philipo Piatada (0-1) with a 6 round unanimous decision. Another bout that went the distance saw former WBC Super Flyweight champion, and current Bantamweight contender, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (40-6-1, 18) take a decision over experienced Indonesian loser Samuel Tehuayo (18-33-2, 3). Meeting for the second time Suriyan did what he needed to do to take home the win though again left us wondering why Tehuayo, aka “Sammy Hagler”, is still used as a journeyman considering his run of 4-33-2 has really failed to see him do much more than survive at times.

In the main event of this show fans saw Flyweight contender Nawaphon Por Chokchai (26-0, 19) successfully defend his WBC Asian Boxing Council Flyweight title with a 5th round KO against Filipino Southpaw Powell Balaba (8-13-1, 5). This was Balaba's 4th straight loss and it again leaves questions as to how a bout like this will really help Nawaphon prepare for a world title fight, or a mooted world title eliminator.

Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans had a show that was much more competitive on paper and provided plenty of action, though did also feature one bit of disappointment. The card, which was mostly a B class tournament looked brilliant on paper and proved, on the hole, to be really good.

The began with a 4 round bout, the only 4 round bout on the show, and saw the debuting Yuta Ishikawa (1-0, 1) defeat fellow debutant Makoto Yamazaki (0-1) in the 3rd round with a KO to begin his career with a win.

The second bout was at Middleweight where the win-some, lose-some Koji Kase (5-4, 2) managed to narrowly defeat the heavy handed Wataru Seino (4-3, 4). For Seino this was his first bout in more than a year, following an opening round defeat to Koki Tyson Maebara in the 2013 Rookie of the Year final whilst Kase has now streaked to 3 straight wins following a 4 fight losing run.

A scheduled bout involving Kenya Noguchi (2-0, 2) against an experienced Thai foe was supposed to be the 3rd bout on the card but was sadly cancelled, and we're unsure why.

The first B-class tournament bout was the shows 3rd contest and it saw a notable upset as Tatsuji Kakumoto (5-5, 1) took a clear decision win over Yuji Okinori (6-2-1, 1) in a bout at Flyweight. The 22 year old Kakumoto certainly doesn't have a great record but it's clear he's better than the numbers suggest and many of his losses have been razor thin decisions. As for Okinori this is his 3rd straight set back following a 6-0 (1) start to his career.

Kakumoto's win was one of two bouts in the Flyweight division with the other being between Kensuke Sasaki (3-1, 2) and Yasuhiro Tanaka (4-2-2) with Sasaki taking a clear but hard fought decision over his more experienced foe. Sasaki is a man we suspect is being groomed as a better prospect than many may suspect and he could well be a man to make a note of. Tanaka on the other hand suffered his second defeat in 3 bouts.

One of the most competitive bouts saw Hyuma Fujioka (5-3-1) take a hotly fought split decision win over Naoto Fuimoto (7-5-1, 4). Fujioka entered this bout following a stoppage loss to Gaku Aikawa 10 months ago and fought possibly the best bout of his career so far to inflict the second successive decision on to Fujimoto who has also lost last December.

Heavy handed Super Bantamweight Kazuki Yokoyama (7-2, 5) continued to leave opponents in his wake as he notched up the 5th stoppage of his career and forced the referee to save Shota Kumazawa (6-7-1, 5) in the 4th round. For Yokoyama this is a second straight win following an opening round defeat in November 2013 whilst Kumazawa has now lost 4 of his last 5 dating back to 2012.

The talented Shingo Koike (7-2, 3) appeared to be under pressure early on against Ryuta Nakajima (5-5-1, 4) though in round 3 it was Nakajima who ended up on the canvas following a wonderful shot from Koike who ended the bout. Having been out of action for 14 months this was a great win for Koike, even though Nakajima had lost his previous 3.

In a really exciting contest between two men who believed there power was the key fans saw Takahiro Shinohara (6-4-2, 6) stop Atsuhi Kudo (3-4-2, 3) in the 3rd round. The bout saw plenty of exchanges and was a fun fight with Kudo being stopped on his feet. For Hinohawa this was his second win in a row following almost 2 years of inactivity. Kudo has now been stopped for the first time.

Possibly the pick of the bouts, at least on paper, was the penultimate contest on the show which saw the talented Daisuke Watanabe (2-0, 2) dispose of the more experienced Ryuto Araya (7-3-1, 1) in the second round, with the corner throwing in the towel to say Araya. Watanabe caught out eye last year when he stopped Toru Kudo in the 4th round and we suspect he's going to achieve something notable sooner rather than later, so keep an eye on this 23 year Featherweight hopeful. Araya on the other hand suffered his first stoppage defeat and saw a 2-fight winning streak come to an end.

In the final bout of the show fans saw Makoto Kawasaki (6-2-1, 1) take a 5 round decision over Mamoru Takeuchi (5-6-3). This loss ended a 3 fight winning streak for Takeuchi whilst Kawasaki scored his second win in a row. In the ring this was a big of a mismatch with Kawasaki being too good for Takeuchi who was unable to really compete with his more skilled rival.

Bangkok, Thailand
On Friday Thai fans got treat to a televised card, unfortunately however it was a card that consisted primarily of mismatches.

The biggest of the mismatches, at least on paper, was a clear stay busy fight that saw former WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rugnvisai (32-4-1, 29) make light work of the game but thoroughly out classed Ardi Tefa (6-3, 4), who was stopped in the 3rd round. Srisaket is lining up a WBC world title eliminator with Jose Salgado and this bout literally a tune up bout prior to that one which is expected in late Spring.

Srisaket wasn't the only former world champion in action here as his close friend Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (39-6-1, 18), himself a former WBC Super Flyweight champion, defeated the debuting Daoden Sithsaithong (0-1), also in the 3rd round. Suriyan is expecting to be moved towards a WBC Bantamweight title fight later in the year and this was, like Srisaket's bout, a stay busy contest.

The main event of the card wasn't a stay busy fight, but was an interesting development in the career of the limited but incredibly fun Kongfah Nakornluang (19-0, 11). Kongfah is among the most limited 19-0 fighters you'll find but he made light work of the badly matched Rendi Stone (3-4-1, 2). Stone, an Indonesian journeyman, was battling for the WBC Silver youth Super Flyweight title but was stopped in the 3rd round by Kongfah.

Another promising unbeaten fighter on this card was Jirapan Nakornluang (2-0, 2) who stopped Ratchasi Himalaigym (0-1) after 3 rounds. We were impressed by Jirapan on his debut and it seems like the talented Thai is going to be one to keep an eye on for the long term, especially given his big stablemate. As for Ratchsai he appeared to have a lot of promise though was retired with what appeared to be a damaged hand

One other bout on this card saw Jaipetch Chaiyonggym (4-3, 1) score a 6 round decision win over Denchai Por Korbkua (1-2) in what was a second meeting between the two men who first fought last November.

Camarines Sur, Philippines
In the Philippines fans also got some action though, as with the Thai show, much of it was mismatches.

The main trio of bouts went a combined 9 rounds an all went to the expected winner. One of those bouts saw former world title challenger Bernabe Concepcion (33-6-2, 19) quickly take care of Indonesian visitor Rasmanudin (18-8-3, 9). Rasmanudin was stopped in the 2nd of a scheduled 10 rounds  and suffered his 5th stoppage loss as a result. Sadly for the Indonesian "Lost Boy" this was his 4th loss in 5 bouts and it seems any hope he had of fighting for a major title are now dead and buried.

A second of the main bouts saw Al Sabaupan (24-2-1, 19) pull himself off the canvas in the opening round en route to stopping Geisler AP (6-5, 3) in the 3rd round. Geisler is probably best known for being stopped in a round by IK Yang in Macau last year and it's clear that also Sabaupan is exciting he's never going to reach the top. He will however always be fun to watch.

The remaining main bout saw saw Jestoni Autida (7-2, 2)  score a 4th round TKO over the experienced Pit Anacaya (9-25-2, 2).

As well as the 3 headline bouts there was also 5 other bouts. The weakest of these was a 4 rounder which saw Jerwin Mejes (2-1, 2) pick up his second win as he stopped the debuting Ali Francisco (0-1) in the 3rd round. Mejes's win was one of just two stoppages on the under-card with the other one being scored by Philip Luis Cuerdo (7-1, 4) who took out Ryan Bajala (3-2-1, 1) in the second round.

The remaining three undercard bouts all went the distance. Of the three bouts only one of them ended in what we would describe as an upset as Gabriel Royo (10-11-2, 8) managed to overcome Michael Rosal (5-4, 3), though it was a minor upset with Royo taking an 8 round split decision. The other undercard bouts saw Ariel Arevalo (4-1-2, 1) over-come Diover Mangaya-ay (1-6-1) with a 6 round unanimous decision and JayAr Diama (3-5-4, 1) defeat Alberto Pentecostes (1-4-1), also by 6 round unanimous decision.

California, USA
In the US we saw Cruiserweight hopeful Murat Gassiev (20-0, 13) take a stay busy win over Terrance Smith (8-18-3, 5) with Smith being disqualified in the 4th round. Gassiev was well in charge and Smith knew it as the out classed American did all he could to prevent a fight, eventually being DQ'd for his holding.

This past Friday was a busy day in the world of Asian boxing, both regionally and internationally.

Mendoza, Argentina
In Argentina fans saw a WBA Flyweight title fight that saw interim champion Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep (34-2, 20) attempt to unify his title with “regular” champion Juan Carlos Reveco (35-1, 19). Sadly for Yondmongkol he was stopped in the 5th round as Reveco unloaded on his and forced the referee to step in. Prior to the stoppage both men had scored knockdowns with Reveco going down in round 2 and Saengthep down just prior to the stoppage.

Quebec, Canada
In Canada was saw several Russian's in action and all of them seemed to have very different nights.

The most disappointing of the Russian's was Dmitry Sukhotsky (22-3, 16) who looked awful, genuinely awful, as he challenger Adonis Stevenson (25-1, 21) and put up a nothing effort. Sukhotsky did little more than follow the champion who landed left hands at will before stopping Sukhotsky in round 5 after scoring a trio of knockdowns in the round.

Another notable Russian on the card was the unbeaten Artur Beterbiev (7-0, 7) who over-came Jeff Page Jr (15-1, 10) with a 2nd round TKO. Whilst on paper the result was a good one the performance was terrible from Beterbiev who was dropped in the opening round and showed little more than crude power as he came out swinging for the fences whilst setting nothing up. It was, in many ways, a humbling performance from one of the most touted up-and-comers in the sport and will hopefully serve as a reminder that he needs to use his boxing ability as well as his power.

A third Russian was the debuting Vislan Dalkhaev (1-0) who scored a clear win over journeyman Csaba Toth (13-25-1, 8).

Samut Prakan, Thailand
The feature bout in Thailand saw former world champion Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (28-6-1, 17) bounce back from his recent loss to Shinsuke Yamanaka with a very easy win over the horribly over-matched Tony Arema (3-6). Arema was never able to put the That under any pressure and midway through the opening round Suriyan landed a nasty left to the body which put Arema down in agony, where he stayed for the count. Strangely this bout was for the WBC Asian Boxing Council Bantamweight title and see Suriyan getting immediately back into the mix for a world title fight in 2015.

In a stay busy fight we saw former WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (31-4-1, 28) score a straightforward win over limited journeyman Jemmy Gobel (18-16-5, 13). Srisaket tried to pick his shots in a controlled opening round as it appeared he was attempting to get some rounds under his belt though Gobel didn't take the chance to test the Thai, despite landing some clean uppercuts in the opening round. In round 2 Srisaket went to work and broke down Gobel with steady and hurtful body shots that quickly had Gobel in trouble, a follow up attack up top dropped the visitor who stopped soon afterwards.

Another bout on this card saw the limited, but unbeaten and exciting, Kongfah Nakornluang (18-0, 10) over-come the win-less Vichannoi Chaiyonggym (0-3) with a 6 round decision in what was an unexpectedly close fight. As is often the case Kongfah made life very difficult for himself but very entertaining for us and we don wonder how many times he can get away with having such damaging fights though we can't complain about the entertainment as he is great value every time he's in the ring.

Possibly the stand out performance came from debutant Jirapan Nakornluang (1-0, 1) who dominated fellow debutant Toto Lookmuangbangklang (0-1) en route to securing a 4th round TKO. If we were to suggest that Jirapan was the most complete Thai prospect we've seen recently we wouldn't be lying and he looks like he has the potential to be the real deal. He showed a nice sharp jab at range and really great body work up close, that body was eventually what ground out Toto. This guy is one to watch.

The remaining bout on the show saw Denchai Por Korbkua (1-1) claim his first professional win as he over-come the more experienced Namphol Sithsaithong (7-9, 5) to take home a 6 round split decision. The scoring was a bit all over the place here unfortunately.

Hyogo, Japan
We're sorry it's taken us a while to get all the results from this show, which was the only Japanese show last Friday and came courtesy of Shinsei Promotions.

In the main event fans saw the very promising Shun Kubo (6-0, 4) score his best win to date as he took a decision over the world ranked Luis May (15-8-1, 7). Both men had knockdowns rules against them, though the one against Kubo did seem harsh, and May had a point deducted to leave us with weird looking scorecards but it was a clear win for Kubo who has announced himself with this win. Although clearly a novice Kubo has called out Japanese champion Yukinori Oguni and has made it clear that the domestic title is his aim for next year.

An interesting co-feature saw Toshiya Yokogawa (7-7-1, 6) score a shock win over Tokiya Nishioka (9-4-2, 5) with a 2nd round KO. Another bout from the top of the card saw Takahiro Shigee (12-1-1, 10) score a 5th round TKO against Petchfankaen Keelanakornpatom (0-1), this was Shigee's first bout since he was stopped by Rodrigo Guerrero. The least interesting of the 8 rounders saw Kenta Sugimoto (8-7-1, 1) score his first stoppage as he over-came Saengpetch Lukmatulee (0-1) in the 2nd round.

The undercard here featured 5 bouts scheduled for 4 rounders with only a single bout failing to go the distance. The one bout that didn't go to the final bell saw Makoto Mizoshita (3-1, 2) score an opening round blow out against Hiroki Yatomi (2-1, 1).

In bouts that went the distance we saw Shintaro Yano (1-0) take a debut win with a split decision Shin Tomita (1-1-2), another close decision saw Taichi Sugimori (3-1) take majority decision over Ryusuke Tanaka (3-3, 1). The closest bout saw Ryo Sumiya (1-1-1) fighting to a draw with Shohei Matsuo (1-1-1). The only clear decision saw the unbeaten Kenta Sakata (2-0-1) take a clear decision over Kodai Nakashoya (0-2)

(Image, from the Kubo fight, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)