Tokyo, Japan
There was more action in Japan this past Thursday as fans at the brilliant Korakuen Hall had the chance to see yet another great show.

Fans in Hyogo have certainly had a week to remember. On Wednesday they saw two of their local stars, Kota Tokunaga and Shohei Omori, retain their Japanese national titles, with both men stopping local foes. That success seems to have bred more success and just a day later we saw another Kyoto fighter became a Japanese champion. Here it was the turn of the highly experienced Kenichi Horikawa (30-13-1, 7) who claimed a Japanese title in his 4th attempt and scored a career defining victory over former world title challenger Shin Ono (18-7-2, 2). Horikawa set off trying to force the pace and tempo and in round 6 had Ono ready to go before the bell saved the Watanabe man. Ono however couldn't survive the 7th round as Horikawa completed what a fairytale rise to climb to the top of Japanese scene after several razor thin losses. Sadly for the new Japanese Light Flyweight champion it does seem likely that he will have Ken Shiro sniffing around his new title in early 2016.

Whilst the main event saw a new champion being crowned the chief support bout saw a former begin his climb back up the mountain. Here it was the turn of Kentaro Masuda (22-7, 11), who was fighting for the first time since losing the Japanese Bantamweight title to the aforementioned Omori. Masuda, who had been in damaging back-to-back fights managed to be given a good 8 round work out here by the under-rated Wataru Miyasaka (9-4-1, 2), who's record really doesn't show what a good test he is. For Masuda this win will have shook off some rust, before a November showdown with Hideo Sakamoto whilst Miyasaka should have kept himself in the proverbial “shop window” to have another notable fight next time out.

Another supporting bout saw the once touted Kazuma Sanpei (12-2, 4) take a razor thin win over Ribo Takahata (11-5-1, 3). Sanpei, who had won his first 11 bouts, came into this one following back-to-back stoppages and the 20 year old may well have waved good bye to the sport with a third successive loss, and he was lucky to avoid that fate. Takahata, a 36 year old veteran, will likely feel aggrieved by the judging but the competitiveness may lead to a rematch in 2016. It's a shame to Sanpei looking a shadow of the fighter that some thought he'd have become by now.

Yet another intriguing support bout saw the talented, but light hitting, Jo Tanoka (12-2-3) take a clear win over the limited but gutsy Mako Matsuyama (7-10-2, 3). Tanoka, a genuinely promising young talent, ran a clear winner on the cards but it's likely he'll fall short when he steps up given his lack of power. As for Matsuyama he'll be involved in some exciting fights down the line but is unlikely to be more than a fun-to-watch loser.

In another 8 round Sho Kimura (8-1-2, 2) took a 6th round TKO win over Ryo Narizuka (7-6), with Narizuka retiring at the end of the 6th round.

On the under-card there were two more bouts. In a 6 rounder Masaya Kohama (6-2-1, 3) took a razor thin decision win against Shogo Yonenaga (6-3, 3) whilst in a 4 rounder Kazunori Yorimasa (2-1, 2) scored a 2nd round win over the debuting Kosuke Hasegawa (0-1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Monday was a busy day in Asian boxing with notable fights taking place in both Japan and Korea.

Osaka, Japan
The most of two Japanese shows came from Osaka as Osaka Teiken put on a very notable 9 fight card that showcased prospects and domestic contenders as well as novices.

The most promising fighter in action was Japanese youngster Sho Nakazawa (7-0, 4), who scored his biggest win to date as he out pointed former world title challenger Silvester Lopez (24-10-2, 18) over 10 rounds. The Japanese 22 year old was dropped early in the fight but then found his groove and took a comfortable decision win over Lopez. Following this win Nakazawa seemed to suggest that he was eyeing up a Japanese title fight with Yukinori Oguni.

Another of the main bouts saw tough Flyweight contender Myung Ho Lee (19-4-1, 6) take a clear decision win over Akiyoshi Kanazawa (12-4-4, 6), as Lee continued his hunt for a title fight of his own.

Talking about title fights it's now clear that Kenichi Horikawa (29-13-1, 6) will be fighting Shin Ono for the Japanese Light Flyweight title later in the year. Horikawa booked his place in that fight by scoring an 8th round TKO win here against Il Che (7-9-5, 1), who was stopped for just the second time in his career.

Although a number of bouts were notable in and around the title level there was one, major bout, that wasn't even close to being relevant at the top of the domestic level. That bout saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi (2-0, 2) continue his career with a 2nd round KO win against Naoki Okamura (1-4). Tatsuyoshi, the son of the charismatic Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, already appears to be a huge draw despite facing poor opposition and it's clear that his team are going to make the most of his surname.

In low level action we had a number of novices all facing off. The most notable of those bouts was a split decision win for Toshiki Kawanishi (3-4, 1), who over-came Yosuke Taniguchi (3-4). Another split decision saw Shintaro Ukezono (2-0) over-come the debuting Masayuki Kuroko (0-1). In competitive decision bouts Hayate Ikuta (2-0) out pointed the win-less Wolf Nakano (0-1-2) and Kazunori Harima (1-1-1) over-came Ryo Inagaki (1-1, 1).

There was also a blow out on this opening portion of the card as Ryuta Miyoshi (1-2, 1) stopped Kenji Okawa (0-2) in just 129 seconds.

Fukuoka, Japan
A second Japanese show took place in Fukuoka where fans got an 8 bout card.

In the main event of this show we got a mild surprise as Satoshi Ozawa (10-6-1, 2) claimed a split decision win against the much more experienced Yoshihiko Matsuo (18-6-6, 3). The co-feature also ended in a split decision as Koki Ono (8-3, 4) out pointed Aki Koto (8-3-1, 4), though the judge scoring in favour of Koto does seem to have gotten this one wrong.

Another very competitive match up here saw Yusuke Sekido (9-11-2) take a majority decision win over Takanori Hayashida (5-10-3) in a very well matched bout.

The remaining bouts here were all 4-rounders. These included a female bout that saw Maika Fukuzaki (1-1) claim her first win as she out pointed Arisa Iwanaga (0-2), a very competitive win for Tsunehiko Aitoku (3-3-1), who out pointed the previously unbeaten Yukinori Yamaguchi (4-1-1, 2) and a wonderfully competitive split decision draw between Kaito Akiyoshi (1-0-1) and Akito Terada (1-1-1).

The only one sided bouts among these 4 rounders, other than the female bout, was a clear decision win for Shuma Nakazato (3-0, 2) who impressed en route to out pointing Hiromichi Kurokawa (4-3-1, 1) and a 4th round TKO win for Fumiaki Sueyoshi (2-0, 2), who stopped Takafumi Uryu (0-2). Interestingly Nakazato is the son of former OPBF champion, Shigeru Nakazato, who was a multi-time world title challenger.

Ulsan, South Korea
The only show outside of Japan came from South Korea where fans had televised action under the KBF banner. The show featured a couple of televised international bouts and a number of others bouts, though only one of the bouts on the show has been included on the boxrec.com database.

The one bout that is on boxrec is an IBF Asia Super Bantamweight title fight that saw defending champion Ye Joon Kim (12-1-2, 6) retain his title with a 7th round retirement of Japan's Yoshihiro Utsumi (12-7-3, 7), who suffered his first stoppage loss. The talented Korean was in fine form to defend his belt for the first time though now needs to look towards making a mark on the world stage.

Another international bout on this show saw Sa Myung Noh (8-2-1, 1) take a narrow decision win over Filipino fighter Jaymart Toyco (15-8, 11) in a very hotly contested 8 round bout that could easily have gone Toyco's way.

Frustratingly there was one other televised bout on the show, though we're unsure who was involved. The bout was a 6 round that saw a now 6-1-1 (1) fighter taken the unbeaten record a fighter now 5-1 (1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Sunday wasn't a great day for boxing in Asia. There was two shows in Japan but neither really consisted of anything substantial, in stead they were mostly mismatches and neither will be remembered for anything great happening on them, unfortunately.

Hyogo, Japanese
One of those two shows came from Hyogo where fans had the chance to see a small but notable show with a former world title contender and a former multi-time Japanese title contender. The show however lacked in terms of competitive action.

The main event saw Teiru Kinoshita (21-1-1, 5) easily defeat Thai visitor Nongbeer Sor Bangkru (0-6) in the 4th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. Kinoshita is a former Japanese Super Flyweight champion though is best known for coming up short against talented South African Zolani Tete last year in an IBF world title bout. Since that loss he has scored back-to-back stoppages and seems to be intent on fighting for a world title again, somewhere down the line.

In another mismatch at the top of the card fans saw Kazuya Murata (11-4, 5) easily get rid of Rangrot Saknarong (0-1) in round 3. This was Murata's 6th straight win and it seems like it's time for him to step up the competition. Strangely he's failed to really build on the success of his 2013 victory over Futoshi Usami, who fought for an OPBF title at the end of last year.

An other mismatch saw former Japanese and OPBF title challenger Kenichi Horikawa (28-13-1, 5) over-come compatriot Munehito Kijima (6-7-1) in the 4th round. The 35 year old Horikawa has been in with a who's who of Asian boxing though has never managed to “win the big”. Despite losses to Ryuji Hara, Yu Kimura, Akira Yaegashi and Florante Condes he's always given his all and we wouldn't be shocked to see him get one more big fight before his career is over.

On the undercard we had another early finish as Hiroyuki Takahara (2-0, 1) easily over-came Kyohei Okutani (4-3, 3) in the second round. We did however have some competitive action on this part of the card with the debuting Kosuke Nakamura (1-0) narrowly out pointing Toshio Tamura (1-2, 1) whilst Ryoki Hirai (4-3-1, 1) widely out pointed Shota Fujii (1-11), who has now lost 8 straight.

Okinawa, Japan
The other Japanese show came from Okinawa where we against mismatches at the top of the card with people capable of winning title fighting against mismatches Thai opposition.

In one of the main bouts we saw former OPBF Super Featherweight title hope Masatoshi Kotani (16-2, 12) easily see off Non Sithsaithong (12-8, 7). The Thai began his career 11-3 though has now gone 1-5 in his last 6 with with stoppage loses becoming a frequent thing for the 20 year old. We hope Kotani faces stiffer competition next time out and we also hope that if Non is to continue his career he takes on some safer fights before he ends up being badly hurt.

Another mismatch saw former Japanese Super Flyweight title challenger Go Onaga (24-2-2, 17) see off the horrible matched Saengkeng Saknarong (0-2) in 3 rounds. After the fight Onaga suggested he'd be willing to travel for a world title fight, hinting that perhaps a deal is done with IBF champion Zolani Tete.

A third bout scheduled for 8 saw Japanese based Filipino Dado Cabintoy (15-4-2, 8) score a 3rd round TKO against Prayoot Saknarong (0-3). This was Cabintoy's 5th straight win though those numbers look less impressive when you consider this was the third win-less for in that run and and his last 6 wins have come against foes with a combined record of 9-21-1.

The only competitive bout on the card was the sole 6 rounder which saw Yusuke Iju (6-4-2, 3) battle to a majority draw with Yoshiki Kawamura (4-6-2, 3). Two of the judges had this a draw, with scores of 57-57 and 58-58, whilst the dissenting judge had Kawamura a wide winner with a card of 59-55.

The under-card bouts all ended in stoppages and in fact the 4 bouts went just a combined 11 rounds. The shortest of those lasted just 33 seconds as Nobuhiro Oshiro (2-0-1, 2) blew away Hiroki Arimura (0-1) to extend his unbeaten run to 3. It took less than a round for Taiyo Inoue (3-1, 2) to dispose of Kaiki Oshiro (0-2) in another bout that proved to be a mismatch. A competitive match up on paper saw Shuhei Nishino (1-2, 1) score his first career win as he stopped Kento Iha (0-2) in round 3 of their bout whilst debutant Hikaru Kawae (1-0, 1) scored a 4th round TKO win over Hirokazu Nakasone (1-4, 1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Some days in boxing are important with out making international headlines and that's exactly what happened this past Sunday with several notable bouts, only one of which would have made a dent on the international boxing circuit.

Grozny, Russia
The one major bout that we had a turgid Heavyweight affair as an out of shape Ruslan Chagaev (33-2-1, 20) fought a lackadaisical Fres Oquendo (37-8, 24). Chagaev managed to claim a victory in the end, taking a majority decision, but not with out some cheer leading from the Chechen president who offered words of encouragement toe Chagaev between rounds. Unfortunately not only was the bout an awful contest in terms of a spectacle but it was made even worse by the fact it was dressed up as a world title fight and now, as a result , Chagaev is a 2-time Heavyweight world champion.

On paper this should be a great result for Asian boxing, after all the Uzbek born Chagaev is now a 2-time Heavyweight champion from Asia, but in all honesty it's yet more proof of the mess the Heavyweight division sits in.

Whilst Chagaev was less than impressive there were some good wins for several unbeaten fighters on the show. They included Viskhan Murzabekov (9-0, 4) who managed to take a solid 10 round victory over Igor Faniyan (14-9-2, 7) to claim the WBC Youth Intercontinental Welterweight title. Murzabekov, dubbed "Little Tyson" looked like an interesting prospect with his victory but there is still a lot to work on.

Another unbeaten prospect on this show was Apti Davtaev (7-0, 7) who scored a sensationally quick blow out against Oleksandr Nesterenko (9-3, 4), needing just 12 seconds to score the win. A third unbeaten man in action here was Movsur Yusupov (7-0, 3) who took a 6 round decision over the more experienced Aliaksandr Sushchyts (16-3-1, 9).

In other bouts of note for ourselves Arbi Madaev (5-1-1, 2) managed to take a 5th round TKO over Chupaki Chipindi (13-7, 8) whilst Apti Ustarkhanov (6-1-2, 1) beat the win-less Gor Akopyan (0-5) in a 6 rounder.

Osaka, Japan
Whilst the results in Grozny may have received some international attention the results from Japan probably didn't despite filling 3 shows of fights.

The most notable bout on those shows took place in Osaka as former title challenger Kenichi Horikawa (26-13-1, 4) over-came fellow Japanese ranked fighter Naoki Matsumoto (9-8-2, 2) in an 8 round majority decision. The bout may not decide the next Japanese Minimumweight title challenger but Horikawa will certainly be hoping to get another chance at the title following this victory.

On the same show there was also two very interesting bouts involving unbeaten Japanese prospects. One of those saw the hard hitting Ryuto Kyoguchi (12-0-1, 9) taking out Kenta Takahashi (10-8-3, 3) in the 5th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. The other saw Tatsuya Ikemizu (11-0, 4) defeating recent Japanese Bantamweight title challenger Satoshi Niwa (15-18-3, 2) in a very competitive 8 rounder. We did expect Niwa to give Ikemizu a tough test and although the veteran came up short he used his experience to great effect to really push Ikemizu.

Lower down the card fans saw an upset as Tomonori Ota (6-4, 4) stopped Shoya Kawashimo (6-3, 1) in 4 rounds and Kosei Toyoda (2-1-1, 1) over-came the limited Kenji Nakayoshi (2-3, 1) in a 4 round decision.

Fukuoka, Japan
On a second show in Japan fans got to see 8 bouts in Fukuoka. The main event of this show saw  the experienced Yosuke Kirima (19-4-2, 13) defeat the previously unbeaten Takahito Osaka (6-1-2, 4) via an 8 round majority decision. It was competitive though Kirima managed to come out on top by relying on his extra experience.

It wasn't all bad news for unbeaten fighters and Takumi Sakae (9-0, 5) extended his winning run with an 8 round unanimous decision over Indonesian visitor Boy Tanto (6-15, 9). Sakae went 8 rounds for the first time though we tend to feel he needs more bouts at this level before he steps up to thinking about title action.

In a female bout Satomi Nishimura (7-1, 1) took an 8 round victory over Thailand's win-less Saosukhothai Por Preechagym (0-2). The bout did feature some competitive rounds though was a clear victory for Nishimura on the cards as she bounced back from her sole loss, a stoppage to Saemi Hanagata more than a year a go.

Oddly a good chunk of this card resulted in draws, in fact 3 of the 8 bouts saw no winner rendered. These draws included a 6 round unanimous draw for the experienced Yoshihiko Matsuo (17-5-6, 3) who fought a very even bout with Tatsuya Miyamoto (10-12-1, 6). In 4 rounders J Soul Maeda (1-1-2, 1) fought to a split draw with Bejita Ishikawa (2-6-2, 1) whilst the unbeaten Kotaro Ishibashi (2-0-1, 2) fought to a draw with Tsunehiko Aitoku (1-2-1).

In the opening 4 rounders of the show Satoshi Yamamichi (3-3, 3) wiped out Hikaru Nagamine (0-2) at the end of the second round and Yusuke Yamanouchi (5-1-1, 2) took a decision over Kazuyuki Hirayama (4-3-1, 3).

Aichi, Japan
The third Japanese show as at the Aioi Hall in Aichi. 

This show had a surprisingly competitive main event which saw Yuji Shimizu (16-8-1, 1) narrowly out point Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (1-4) in an 8 round split decision. On paper it was a mismatch with Yamaguchi ending a 7 year break from the ring though it turned out being incredibly tight with Shimizu being pushed all the way.

In another surprisingly competitive contest Shinji Takayama (22-3, 11) narrowly over-came Shota Okuda (4-2, 2) in a 6 rounder. In all honesty much of the card was competitive with many of the 4 rounders on the card being nip and tuck. These included a draw between Reiko Sugiyama (3-4-3, 2) and the unbeaten Takuya Mizuno (2-0-1, 2) and another draw in a bout between Akihisa Buma (1-0-1, 1) and Kyosuke Takaoka (2-3-1, 1).

Another of the 4 rounders saw Daiki Yamamoto (1-0) winning a majority decision over fellow debutant Takashi Kagamihara (0-1) whilst Kenta Matsui (4-2, 1) took a split over Hiroki Yajima (1-5, 1).

Not all the bouts were competitive however and we saw 3 stoppages on the show. One of those saw the hard hitting Daisuke Hayakawa (7-2, 6) taking out the usually durable Kenta Sugimoto (6-7-1) in the 5th round of a scheduled 6 rounds and another saw Shuichi Ingaki (1-1, 1) blast out Tatsuya Shibayama (0-2) inside a round.  

The most notable stoppage however was scored by the promising Genki Hanai (2-0, 2) who made light work of Thailand's Fahrung Porsuwangym (0-1) with a second round KO. Although Hanai's opponent seems to be unproven Hanai himself has been in 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds and was a former amateur standout. From what we understand the plans are huge for this youngster and hopefully we'll see him in with a decent opponent sooner rather than later.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp was taken during the Horikawa bout)

It's not often that we get fights of note around the world but today was one such case with fights in Japan, the Philippines, Russia and Monaco.

Tokyo, Japan
The earliest action of the day was in Tokyo courtesy of a brilliant domestic card that was headlined by a national Light Flyweight title fight.

The aforementioned Japanese title fight saw Yu Kimura (13-2-1, 2) narrowly defeating Kenichi Horikawa (25-13-1, 4) in a split decision. The bout, Horikawa's 3rd national title fight, was one that could easily have gone either way and sadly for Horikawa it went against him just like his previous 2. Although Horikawa lost we'd love to see him getting one more chance, even if it's in a rematch with Kimura, because of how close he has been, not just in this attempt but in prior bouts to Ryuji Hara and Akira Yaegashi.

In the co-feature the well liked Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-6, 7) made light work of Indonesia's Zun Rindam (9-4-1, 4) stopping him early on. After the bout Ishimoto said he wanted to win titles this year and appeared to mention the OPBF title which is currently held by Shingo Wake which is a bout we'd love to see made as a world title eliminator.


Two of the three 8 rounders on the card went the distance with Masanobu Nakazawa (14-1-1, 5) out pointing Kazumasa Kobayashi (8-4-1, 5) the closest of the two bouts whilst Jun Hamana (9-1, 3) beat Kosuke Saka (8-2, 5) in what was, on paper, a very competitive looking contest. The third however was never going to complete the scheduled as Yuichi Yokoyama (13-2, 12) managed to force a retirement of Koichi Ito (9-2-2, 8) in what was, on paper, the least likely bout of the day to go the scheduled distanced.

In the opening bouts, both 4 rounders, Ryuya Kaji (1-0, 1) scored a debut win stopping Koichi Nagatsuka (3-2, 1) mid-way through round 2 whilst Regent Kusumoto (1-0) fought hard to claim a victory over Takahiro Yoneshige (0-1) in an all debutant contest.


Metro Manilla, Philippines
Whilst we'll admit that the Japanese card, above, and the Monaco card, below, were the two that had our interest there was also a notable card in Metro Manila with several title fights and a number of notable fighters.

The biggest fight on this show saw Dennis Laurente (47-5-5, 28) stopping the over-matched Thai Singdet Nonpitayakom (11-16-1, 8) in a successful defense of the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Middleweight title. The experienced Laurente sent Singdet down for the count with a devastating body shot.

Laurente was one of two men who retained his title asJuan Martin Elorde (15-1-1, 7), the grand son of Flash Elorde, retained his WBO Asia Pacific super Featherweight title courtesy of a disappointing technical draw with Chaiyong Sithsaithong (32-12-4, 24). The bout was unfortunately ended when Elorde was cut on the temple from a clash of heads.

The Elorde/Chaiyong fight wasn't the only one which ended early due to a clash of heads as Randy Braga (12-0-1, 2) also suffered a cut from a clash of heads as he took on Jonel Alibio (16-17-5, 8). As with the Elorde fight this was ended in the second round.

Braga wasn't the only man keeping his unbeaten record on this show as the talented Giemel Magramo (9-0, 6) scored a 3rd round KO over Rey Morano (8-39-1, 1), Jay Loto (7-0) took a hard fought decision over Dexter Dimaculangan (3-4-5, 1), JK Elorde (3-0, 3) stopped the debuting Juanito Paderes (0-1) and Roderick Flores (2-0-1, 1) narrowly kept his 0 with a draw against the win-less CJ De Tomas (0-1-1).

The other bouts on the show saw Diomel Diocos (2-1-2, 2) fighting to a draw with Fidel Cuyno (1-2-2), Robin Langres (1-0) scoring a debut victory over fellow debutant Raul Luba (0-1) and Wilbert Berondo (1-0) also took an all debutant victory over Jomar Manlangit (0-1).

Chelyabinsk, Russia
As well as the shows in Japan and the Philippines we also had a small one in Russia courtesy of Ural Boxing Promotions. The main contest here sa Murat Gassiev (15-0, 9) out pointing teak tough veteran Ismail Abdoul (51-28-2, 19) to claim the vacant IBF East/West Europe Cruiserweight title. Although Gassiev was taken 12 rounds, for the first time in his career, it's unlikely he expected anythign less with Abdoul being one of the toughest men in boxing.

In a Welterweight contest on this show Konstantin Ponomarev (23-0, 11) managed to over come Ramon de la Cruz Sena (16-10-2, 9), who we believe was a late replacement opponent.

The only other bout on this show saw Heavyweight hopeful Murad Khalidov (10-0, 5) take an easy stoppage over the very limited Sedrak Agagulyan (1-27-1) who had previously been stopped 16 times.

Monte Carlo, Monaco
The biggest show of the day in Monaco as we got the excellent "Monte Carlo Boxing Bonanza" and thankfully for us it included a number of fighters of major interest to ourselves.

In the shows first contest we had a bout of interest to us as Russian born-German based Welterweight Roman Belaev (13-0, 10) defeated the gutsy but out classed Dean Byrne (17-3-1, 6) and claimed the WBA Continental Welterweight title. The fight, the biggest of Belaev's career so far, really saw him shining as he beat up and broke down Byrne.

Whilst it was a good win for Belaev, who was impressive and looked very strong from the opening round to the final round, we will admit that there are faults to be picked with his performance. Firstly Belaev's lack of a jab could have been costly against a better opponent than Byrne, secondly he doesn't really seem willing to throw combinations too much and thirdly his understanding of distance is questionable. With those things said however he does look very promising and very entertaining.

Although Belaev was the more impressive man we do need to give a lot of credit to Byrne who proved to be very tough, very game and the fact he lasted the distance was genuinely shocking considering how many hard shots he took.

The second bout on the show was another one of interest to us as Filipino Rey Loreto (18-13, 10) took on South African Nkosinathi Joyi (24-3-0-1, 17) in a battle for the IBO Light Flyweight title and scored one of the biggest upsets of 2014.

The fight started competitively with Loreto showing not fear of the highly regarded Joyi. It seemed obvious that Loreto knew he belonged at this and wasn't there to be intimidated despite the reputation of Joyi who was once regarded as being on the fringes of the pound-for-pound lists. The confidence of Loreto was obvious again in the second round as he landed a number of solid counter punches, including one that seemed to rock Joyi on the bell.

Knowing he had hurt Joyi in round 2 Loreto jumped on his opponent to start round 3 and within a minute of the round he had dropped Joyi hard with one of the best shots he will ever land. Joyi, with his eyes closed, was out for the count and Loreto deservedly celebrated his second major win in a row having beaten Pornsawan Porpramook last time out

The key thing that needs saying about Loreto's win is "what an upset!"

The third bout on the show was a Cruiserweight contest that saw the very highly ranked Ilunga Makabu (16-1, 15) stopping the previously unbeaten Ruben Angel Mino (20-1, 20) in 2 rounds. It wasn't a bout with an Asian interest per se but it was still an interesting result that was worth mentioning, like wise the same could be said of Jarrod Fletcher's (18-1, 10) victory over Max Bursak (29-2-1, 12).

In the main event we saw Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26) successfully retain his WBA Middleweight title in an entertaining, though thoroughly one sided, bout with Ghana's tough Osumanu Adama (22-4, 16). Golvokin managed to drop Adama in rounds 1, 6 and 7 before the referee finally waved the bout off as Adama's knees buckled.

It wasn't the most impressive performance from Golovkin but it showed what he was about as he methodically broke down and beat up a game and brave opponent. At the end of the day however it was a mismatch with Adama having nothing to bother the Kazakh destroyer who took the challengers best shots and kept coming forward.

We're hoping that Golovkin gets a fight with a big name in the US in April, the rumour seems to be that he'll be facing James Kirkland next though from our view Daniel Geale would make for a much better contest. Whoever he fights it'll be a major day with the boxing world already in love with the man known as "Triple G".