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.

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)

This past Saturday saw two low level shows in Asia.

Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
The most notable of the two shows was in the Philippines as we had 7 bouts, two of which involved very interesting prospects that some are tipping as future world champions.

The most notable of those two prospects that were in action was the unbeaten Harmonito Dela Torre (14-0, 9) who made relatively light work of Indonesian visitor Isack Junior (22-6-2, 8) as he defended the interim World Boxing Federation Super Featherweight title. This was Junior's 5th loss in 7 bouts and he is now 0-5 when fighting outside of his homeland. As for Dela Torre it's time he stepped up and perhaps began to focus on the OPBF title scene. He's not ready for the likes of Daiki Kaneko or Jomthong Chuwatana but he is clearly more than capable of stepping up from this level.

The other prospect of note here was John Vincent Moralde (11-0, 6) who easily out-pointed Jason Butar Butar (16-14-1, 12) to claim the World Boxing Federation International Super Bantamweight title. Moralde dominated much of the bout to take a near shut out over Butar Butar and although it was 1-sided it was at leasta  bout between similarly sized men and Moralde will have learned more here than Dela Torre did in his bout.

Another title bout on this show saw Danny McDermott (11-5-2, 5) stop Filipino fighter Ronnel Esparas (10-15-1, 2) in 6 rounds to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver Light Welterweight title. Although this was a nightmare result for Esparas things weren't good before the bout with the Filipino fighter weighing a full 5lb over the Light Welterweight limit.

The undercard here kicked off with a four-some of 4 rounders, each of which included an unbeaten fighter.

One of those unbeaten men was Raymart Gaballo (5-0, 5) who continued his stoppage run by taking out the limited Zaldy Jordan Jr. (1-5, 1) in the second round. It took just 2 rounds for Rod Michael Sarguilla (2-1, 1) to lose his unbeaten record as Junel Lacar (5-1-1, 3) was too good for him. Romeo Duno (2-0, 1) maintained his 100% win record with a 4 round decision over fellow novice Frejun Dela Cruz (2-3-1) whilst Romeo Duno (2-0, 1) maintained his 100% win record with a 4 round decision over fellow novice Frejun Dela Cruz (2-3-1) whilst Markquil Salvana (4-0, 1) continued his winning run by over-coming the still win-less Rodel Garde (0-10-1).

Sanaa, Yemen
In Yemen the fans had a 3-fight show in the 22 May Sports Stadium.

The most notable of the bouts here saw former Ali Raymi victim Yaser Dalbant (1-2) suffer his second stoppage loss as the interesting Hani Ansi (3-0-1, 2) scored an opening round TKO. We like Ansi despite the fact he's a clear boxing clown and as long as he entertains us we have no problem with his bizarre theatrics.

One of the other bouts on this card saw Muhammad Harazi (2-0) take a surprise decision over the more experienced experienced Omar Awdan (9-2, 5) whilst the legendary name of Muhammad Ali (1-0) lives on following a debut win over Abdu Sameer (5-5, 1).

This past Wednesday wasn't a huge one for boxing, despite a live ESPN card in the night, though was a great one if you were a Filipino fight fan.

Connecticut, USA
The biggest fight, by far, for Asian fans was in the US as the hard hitting and always fun to watch Michael Farenas (39-4-4, 31) stopped the previously unbeaten Mark Davis (18-1, 5) in the 8th round. The fight, an IBF Super Flyweight eliminator, saw Farenas showing off his pressure, power and experience to stop the more technically skilled Davis who was taking a big step up and simply didn't have the answers to the questions Farenas was asking of him.

From what we understand this result should secure a fight between Farenas and the winner of the upcoming contest between Argenis Mendez and Rances Barthelemy.

Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
As well as the major bout in the US fans of Filipino boxing would also have rejoiced with action at the Bula Gymnasium.

This show saw the very promising John Vincent Moralde (10-0, 6) claiming the Philippines Boxing Federation Super Bantamweight title courtesy of a 2nd round stoppage of the over-matched Ronerex Dalut (8-15-2, 2). Moralde may not be one of the truly elite Filipino prospects but it's hard to deny that he is a very promising young fighter.

Another promising fighter on this show was the once beaten Daryl Basadre (12-1-1, 9) who scored a stoppage victory against the over-matched Saddam Barambangan (3-6-1, 2). 

Sadly it seems the three bouts of not on this card were all stopped early with American Danny McDermott (10-5-2, 4) taking an opening round DQ victory over Jesar Ancajas (15-25-2, 7). From what we've seen of the fight it looks like Ancajas was DQ'd for repeated headbutts in a bout that was certainly not a highlight real of the sweet science.