May 2nd 2015 was a date we all had marked in our calendars for several months. Sadly however it came and went with out leaving a lasting memory. Las Vegas, USA We had the biggest bout of the day, in fact the biggest bout of all time, in the US as the era's two biggest fighters met in the supposed “Fight of the Century”. Sadly however it turned out to be more of a damp squib than a great and memorable fight. The bout in question saw Floyd Mayweather Jr (48-0, 26) unify the WBC, WBA and WBO Welterweight titles as he out pointed Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38) in a bout that had it's moments but over-all lacked drama. Mayweather was his usual self showing great technical ability and movement but unfortunately Pacquiao failed to show his usual aggression and only really fought in spurts winning only a handful of rounds. The bout, on the whole, felt like we were watching two men coming to the end of their HOF careers and sadly it left us wondering what would have happened a few years. For Mayweather however it was a career defining win and proof that technically he is the best boxer of his era. Tokyo, Japan Prior to the big show in Las Vegas there had been action in Tokyo with Dangan 127. The show wasn't anywhere near the profile of the Las Vegas card however there was still a number of interesting bouts on it. One of those interesting bouts was the main event, a Light Welterweight bout between former Japanese champion Shinya Iwabuchi (25-5, 21) and the under-sized Ryusei Yoshida (26-7, 13). Coming in both men were ranked by the JBC however Iwabuchi was too strong from the off and stopped Yoshida in eye catching fashion with a vicious salvo in round 6. Another of the main bouts saw Hayato Kimura (23-7, 15) take a 6th round technical decision win over Filipino brawler Jomar Fajardo (14-7-2, 7). The bout was unfortunately curtailed due to a cut on Fajarado that had been caused in round 4. Notably the the Filipino had taken this bout on short notice after Takuya Kogawa pulled out due to an upcoming Japanese Flyweight title fight, and unfortunately he appeared to be under-sized from the off. The third of the main bouts saw Ribo Takahata (11-5-1, 3) score a shock stoppage win over the previously unbeaten Japanese-based-Filipino Johnriel Maligro (12-1, 9). Maligro had looked really promising in his previous two bouts but trouble with the weight saw him looking flat before being stopped in the 5th round. The sole 6 rounder on this card saw Takahiro Araki (6-4, 3) take a clear decision win over Koki Yoshida (4-5, 2). Prior to this bout Araki had lost back-to-back bouts though his win sees Yoshida suffering his third successive loss. Prior to the notable bouts this card had had 6 under-card bouts, each scheduled for 4 rounds. One of those bouts was a female contest that saw the debuting Emi Iwashita (1-0) take a clear but competitive decision over the win-less Natsuki Tarui (0-3). Another clear but competitive bout saw Koji Ida (4-0) extend his winning record with a decision win over Shogo Dairakuin (2-3, 1). A much closer bout saw Naoki Morooka (3-2, 2) take a majority decision over Yuki Uchida (2-3). In less competitive bout Masaya Sakamoto (2-0, 1) dominated Takuya Tamaguchi (1-3-2, 1) to a very wide decision, another wide decision saw Ryota Ishida (3-0, 2) dominate Akira Watanabe (1-4-1, 1). The only under-card bout to end inside the distance was a win for Masaya Kohama (4-2-1, 2) who stopped Masafumi Suzuki (3-4-1) in the opening seconds of round 3. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
0 Comments
Amagasa wins, Toi scores a shock, Maligro blows away Sanpei and Tomomi returns with a win!10/15/2014 Today was an interesting day in Asian boxing with two cards that were notable for very different reasons. In Japan we had a very interesting card with a number of solid match ups whilst in Thailand we had a few bouts of interest. Tokyo, Japan The big show of the day came from Tokyo where Kyoei put on an excellent show that really should have applied to every type of boxing fan out there, of course barring those that ionly care about the big PPV stars. The show began with a 4 rounder as Kohei Hasegawa (1-1, 1) scored a 3rd round TKO over the debuting Junpei Hakota (0-1). This was the only 4 rounder on the show and was one of 5 stoppages from the show. A second stoppage occurred in the second bout of the show as female model-come-boxer Tomomi Takano (6-1, 5) stopped hapless Thai Dokmaipha Kiatpompetch (0-5) in the 4th round of a scheduled 6 rounder. This was Takano's first bout since being stopped by Kai Johnson and although this was a win it was hard to really tell how much the queen of weigh-ins had actually improved given that Dokmaipha and Johnson are from very, very different levels. The only bout that actually went the distance saw Ryo Narizuka (7-4) take an incredibly close decision over Kazuaki Moriya (11-6, 1) in an incredibly competitive 8 rounder. Although the Narizuka/Moriya was the only one to go the distance it wasn't the only bout that that didn't end in a stoppage as fans saw Toyoto Shiraishi (24-8-2, 11) fight to a second round technical draw with Mako Matsuyama (7-8-2, 3), a real disappointment for Shiraishi who will still be eyeing another title fight in the next year or two. In a major upset fans saw Kenta Toi (4-4, 1) score a shocking stoppage over Mikihito Seto (34-12-3, 18) in the second round. The 34 year old Seto hasn't been in great form recently but had challenger for a Japanese title less than 2 years ago, giving Hidenori Otake a very tough bout. For Toi this is a a career changing win, it may not net him a title fight but it's still huge and will almost certainly put him in the Japanese rankings. On paper the best bout was a Super Featherweight bout between unbeaten men. That turned out however to be a short bout as Japanese based Filipino Johnreil Maligro (12-0, 9) quickly wiped out the touted Kazuma Sanpei (11-1, 4). This was an amazing bout on paper but Maligro's power was the difference and Sanpei was unable to take it for long, a real shame in some ways, but something that could boost Mailigro towards a Japanese title shot. The main event here saw OPBF Featherweight champion Hisashi Amagasa (28-4-2, 19) retain his title for the 3rd time, but only just, as he over-came a very spirited challenge from the under-rated Ryo Takenaka (11-3-1, 6). Takenaka gave Amagasa absolute hell, and was in the lead going into the final rounds. Sadly for the challenger however he was unable to stay the course and was stopped in the final round of a real tear up. Real credit needs to go to Takenaka for putting up a great effort whilst Amagasa dug hard and deep for this win. It was every boxing fans could possible wish for. Bangkok, Thailand In Thailand fans got a small cards but one with some title implications. The main event of the card saw veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (81-2, 52) take a 12 round decision to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Light Middleweight title. Sirimongkol, fighting against Filipino Dan Nazareno Jr (20-12, 16), took his time and fought very patiently to take a clear win though it did appear like he was deliberately fighting for 12 rounds rather than upping the pace. Another televised bout from this card saw the heavy handed but very limited Chalermpol Singwancha (11-0, 9) take a 4th round win over a fighter we've been told was Kevin Solimani (0-1) in what was described as a massive mismatch. A third bout from this card saw Kalae McShane (1-0, 1) score a 1-round blow out over Petch Twins Gym (1-5) with Petch being dropped 3 times in just 114 seconds. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) This past Saturday may have been all about "The Moment" in terms of boxing but there was other, lower profile action in Asia. Cebu, Philippines The card we were looking forward to the most was in the Philippines. The show had promised a world title fight, a handful of top Filipino prospects and was expected to be a show to look forward to. Instead what we got was a disappointment. We still got the prospects but the world title fight was effectively taken from us after the the champion was stripped of their title. The man who was stripped was the now former IBF Light Flyweight champion John Riel Casimero (20-2, 12), who was stripped of his title for weighing more than 5lbs over the Light Flyweight limit. That weight advantage wasn't needed by Casimero and the class difference was quickly shown as he swiftly dispatched the hapless Mauricio Fuentes (16-3, 10) who was dropped 3 times inside a round. Although Fuentes was "able" to win the title in theory he really shouldn't have been given this opportunity and the fight really was a farce from the second it was announced to the second it was stopped. Whilst the "world title fight" was a farce we did get some interesting prospect action. Amongst the prospects in action was the very highly touted Harmonito Dela Torre (13-0, 8) who managed to score a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Gadwin Tubigon (10-9-2, 5). Dela Torre's win saw him claim the lightly regarded vacant World Boxing Federation International Super Featherweight title. Another of the prospects in action was former amateur stand out Jack Tepora (10-0, 6) who scored a 10th round stoppage over Jo-as Apericio (11-12, 8) to claim the World Boxing Federation International Super Bantamweight title. Tepora, dubbed "The Golden Boy", claimed his first title with this victory and seems set to move up a level or two in the next year. The same Filipino show had yet more title action as Rey Labao (26-5, 17) defended his Lightweight title with a 5th round TKO over Rodel Wenceslao (7-8-1, 2) in what was a mismatch, whilst Jessie Cris Rosales (14-0-1, 5) claimed the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Featherweight title with a hard fought 10 round victory over Anthony Sabalde (8-4, 4). Lower down the card, in 8 round bouts, Jessie Espina (7-1, 3) out pointed the debuting Philip Jun Pronco (0-1) whilst Joey Canoy (5-0-1, 3) out pointed Mark Anthony Florida (8-5, 7). In the only 6 rounder Jaybie Haya (3-1-1, 2) out pointed the previously unbeaten Carlo Demecillo (2-1, 1). Whilst over the 4 round distance Junuel Lacar (4-1-1, 2) wiped out Honorato Boc (0-1) inside a minute and the previously win-less Eduardo Joaquino (1-1) upset the previously unbeaten Ronnie Tanallon (3-1, 1). Davao Del Sur, Philippines On a second Filipino show we saw the return to the ring of the very talented highly promising Jerwin Ancajas (20-1-1, 12) who made very light work of Thai opponent Petchwanchai Sor Visetkit (14-7, 6), scoring an opening round stoppage. This was Ancajas's second stoppage this year over Thai opponents and it seems time that he was stepped up a level. There is little point in such a talented fighter running up a series of these type of wins when he could well be fighting his way to a world title fight. Tokyo, Japan Whilst the action in the Philippines stole the day in regards to the Asian fight scene there was two shows in Japan. One of those was in Tokyo as we got "Dangan 100". This show began with a female bout that saw Chie Higano (2-0) over-come the debuting Sayaka Aoki (0-1) in a clear decision over 4 rounds. The female bout was one of three 4 rounders with the others both seeing swift stoppages. The swiftest of those stoppages came inside a round as the debuting Ryu Ueda (1-0, 1) scored an 83 second victory over Taisho Sugano (0-2), the other stoppage came part way through the second round as Hisao Narita (5-1, 3) stopped Naoya Kaneko (3-2, 3). The only 6 rounder on "Dangan 100" saw the debut of the very highly touted former amateur stand out Kenya Noguchi (1-0) who out pointed Hideharu Takahashi (6-10, 2), Noguchi is a teenager we've been told is "an outstanding talent" and we'd advise fight fans to follow him intently. Following the under-card we than had a foursome of feature bouts. None of them featured world class fighters but all 4 were interesting contests on paper. The first of those bouts saw Johnreil Maligro (11-0, 8) out point the unbeaten Tatsuya Yanagi (10-1, 4) in a genuinely excellent match up. Maligro, known as Jun Sakura, got easily the most impressive victory of his career and the 19 year old really does have the potential to go on and win titles if he continues to develop like he seems to be. Following Maligro's fantastic victory we then saw former Japanese title challenger Ryuta Otsuka (14-6-2, 4) score a stoppage over Yosuke Fujihara (14-3, 4). For Otsuka this was his first stoppage in well over 2 years whilst it was Fujihara's second successive stoppage loss. In the chief support bout fans got to see former Japanese Super Bantamweight champion Masaaki Serie (25-6, 10) out point Filipino visitor Michael Escobia (10-7-1, 2) in what turned out to be an very hard fought and competitive match up. Although not an old fighter in terms of years, the 31 year old does look like an older fighter and perhaps needs a break from the ring. A former opponent of Serie was also in action on the card, that was Rikiya Fukuhara (29-7-1, 21). Fukuhara, a hard hitter, made light work of Filipino fighter Jaderes Padua (9-4-1, 6) scoring an opening round KO. After the fight Fukuhara called out Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono. We can't help but think that Hosono would stop Fukuhara, as he did in a previous meeting between the two men, but it'll certainly be fun. Osaka, Japan A second show in Japan was headlined by Hiroshige Osawa (25-3-4, 14) stopping the game Kosuke Saka (8-3, 5). Saka fought well but was stopped due to a nasty injury. Osawa, a former OPBF champion, is really rebuilding his career after a year long suspension by the JBC for taking part in an unsanctioned contest in South Korea. (Picture, courtesy of Celes Boxing Gym, is of Noguchi) |
Archives
October 2015
Categories
All
|