Tokyo, Japan
This past Tuesday saw a major show form Japan. Sadly only two of the results from the show weren't immediately available so we had to wait until the full details from the card were released.

The main event of the card was a WBC Bantamweight title fight that saw long term champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (24-0-2, 17) narrowly retain his title with a controversial split decision win against Panama's slippery Anselmo Moreno (35-4-1, 12). The bout, the toughest of Yamanaka's career, saw him needing to dig very deep to turn around the fight, winning the championship rounds to bring home the decision. Although he got the win many have questions Yamanaka's abilities in the wake of the bout whilst others have called for a rematch. The one thing that is clear is that Yamanaka should be relieved to have gotten past Moreno.

In the chief support bout fans at the venue had the chance to see the hard hitting Kenichi Ogawa (16-1, 14) over-come world ranked Colombian Deivi Julio Bassa (17-1, 10). Ogawa extended his current winning run to 8 fights, all inside the distance, and now seems to be focussing on a title fight with either OPBF champion Masayuki Ito or Japanese champion Rikki Naito, both of which would be fantastic match ups.

The rest of this card, which was actually what has been holding up our results for the day, feature only a single 6 rounder. This saw Isao Aoyama (7-3-1, 1) take a decision victory over Tomoyuki Kaneko (7-6-1, 4). Sadly another 6 rounder that had been scheduled for this card, featuring Spice Matsushita (14-8, 2) was cancelled at very late notice.

The card opened with a majority decision draw between Naoko Akagi (2-6-3, 1) and Takeshi Ishiwatari (1-1-1, 1). Another of the opening bouts saw Kenji Ishii (4-5-1, 3) take a razor thin, 38-37 on all 3 cards, decision win over Shoma Sekina (2-3-2).

Two other 4 rounders, which we believe took place after the main event, saw Naoki Sakata (1-0, 1) begin his career with a 2nd round TKO win against Takayuki Takino (0-2) whilst Daisuke Sudo (3-3-2) fought to a draw with Akihiro Hikichi (3-6-4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This post Saturday was a hectic one for Asian fight fans who seemed to have action everywhere they looked.

Tokyo, Japan
For Asian fight fans the most notable show of the day was in Tokyo where two former world champions were in action.

The most notable of those former world champions was former WBC Flyweight champion Toshiyuki Igarashi (21-2-1, 11) who took a very hard earned win over talented Filipino Renerio Arizala (12-2-1, 5). Igarashi was forced to work incredibly hard for this win, despite the fact Arizala took on the bout on just 3 weeks notice. Sadly for Igarashi the win seemed to prove that he was miles away from being at world level as a Super Flyweight and it seems clear he shouldn't be looking at a world title bout any time soon.

The other former world champion was former WBA Super Bantamweight champion Akifumi Shimoda (29-4-2, 12) who out pointed former Japanese Featherweight title challenger Gosuke Seki (16-2-2, 3). For Shimoda this was his first fight in 16 months, following his spectacular KO loss to Marvin Sonsona, and whilst it was a win it's hard to imagine him ever mixing at the top level again.

In the chief supporting bout fans saw the heavy handed Kenichi Ogawa (15-1, 13) score a 6th round KO against Raymond Sermona (17-6-5, 8). Sadly for Sermona this was a second successive stoppage loss and it's hard to see where he goes. As for Ogawa he's now in the mix for a domestic title fight at Super Featherweight.

Another big puncher in action was Yuichi Yokoyama (15-3, 13) who was surprisingly taken the 8 round distance by Genki Horiuchi (5-2-3, 3). Another 8 round bout saw Musashi Suzuki (11-3, 4) take a technical decision over Hideyuki Watanabe (8-7-3, 6), in a bout that was taken the the cards in the 7th round.

On the under-card the unbeaten Teppei Kayanuma (4-0, 2) extended his winning record with a decision win over Kanehiro Nakagawa (2-2, 2) whilst the hard hitting Masato Niikima (3-0, 3) continued his perfect start with a 3rd round KO against Fumihiro Ijima (4-3).

Surabaya, Indonesia
In Indonesia fans had a treat as two of the best local fighters were in action.

Of the two notable Indonesian fighters in action it was Daud Yordan (34-3-0-1, 24) who stood out as he took a very hard earned victory over the tough Maxwell Awuku (40-3-1, 26). Yordan, a former world title challenger, was pushed all the way by his foe from Ghana but a did just enough to convince the judges hat he deserved the decision. With the win Yordan claimed the WBO Africa Lightweight title, some how, and added that belt to his WBO interim Asia Pacific Lightweight belt.

The other Indonesian in action was the heavy handed Defry Palulu (12-1, 11) who easily saw off Kaenpetch Manonprungroj (4-4, 2) in the 3rd round. This was Kaenpetch's third stoppage loss and his third straight defeat.

Cebu, Philippines
In Cebu fans saw the unbeaten Arjan Canillas (11-0-2, 9) continue his unbeaten run as he scored a 5th round KO against former world title challenger Balweg Bangoyan (19-10, 8). Sadly for Bangoyan he is a long way removed from the fighter who once challenged Toshiaki Nishioka for the WBC Super Bantamweight title.

Macao, Macao
Fight fans in the growing Asian hub of Macau also got a show. This wasn't as big or as interesting as the Bob Arum shows in the area but did feature some title action and some interesting fighters.

In the only 12 round bout fans saw Filipino hopeful Michael Enriquez (11-3-1, 7) score a 5th round TKO against Indonesian Oscar Raknafa (12-10, 5), who's career has totally fallen apart since his loss to Heri Amol back in July 2013. This was Enriquez's first bout since he was involved in a war with Rex Tso earlier this year and it's fair to say that he's going to be a fun fighter to follow.

In a bout at Super Middleweight fans saw China's Liu Yu (0-2) fail to claim the IBF Youth title as he was stopped in the 9th round by Andrey Kalyuzhnyy (8-1, 6). We're not sure how the IBF sanctioned Yu to fight for the belt considering his record.

Another title bout saw Filipino veteran Jujeath Nagaowa (13-15-1, 8) claim the WIBA International Light Flyweight title with a decision over Luo Yu Jie (3-7, 1).

In an interesting 6 rounder Estoni Autida (8-3, 3) took a decision over Wang Xinghua (11-11-1). Technically this bout was a “majority” decision but with two judges scoring it 59-55 to Autida it's hard to believe this was really a close bout.

In an all debutant bout Wang Jian Zheng (1-0, 1) took a 5th round TKO win against Sagidolla Muhamethali (0-1), in a bout scheduled for 6. Another all debutant match up saw Ye Rong Cheng (1-0) take a well fought 4 round decision against Anthony Waldon (0-1). One other debutant who picked up a loss was Li Le Shan (0-1) who was narrowly out pointed by Gabriel Royo (11-12-2, 8).

Gauteng, South Africa
South African fans got one of the highlights of the weekend as Kazakh prospect Roman Zhailauov (15-0, 9) scored a highlight reel KO against Luyanda Jako (9-10-2, 4). Zhailauov is tipped by some as the future of Kazakh boxing and his KO here showed just how under-rated his power is. Frightening KO and a genuine highlight of he weekend.

California, USA
The most notable Asian fighter in action in the US was former world champion Marvin Sonsona (20-1-1, 15) who narrowly over-came the under-rated Jonathan Arrellano (15-6-2, 3). On paper this looked like a mismatch but Arrellano gave his all and may well feel unlucky not to have had a draw, at the very least.

New York, USA
In New York fans saw Chinese Heavyweight hopeful Zhang Zhilei (4-0, 2) continue his perfect record as he dominated Glenn Thomas (1-4). The scorecards, all of which read 40-33, summed up just how one-sided the bout was. Zhilei, who may have been disappointed not to have scored the stoppage, now needs to take a step up in class rather than wasting time fighting at this level.

Virginia, USA
In Virginia fans saw Uzbek born prospect Zarifbek Nishanbaev (2-0, 2) score his second early victory as he saw off Norman Allen (6-15, 3) in the 3rd round of their bout.


(Image courtesy of boxingews.jp)

It's been something like 5 weeks since the year began but it seems, at least, that boxing is starting to come alive in Asia. That was highlighted this past Saturday with a pair of notable shows.

Davao del Sur, Philippines
The most significant of the two shows was in the Philippines as ALA put on their first big show of the year which featured several notable fighters involved with the biggest Filipino promoter.

One of those major Filipino fighters was the world ranked Arthur Villanueva (27-0, 14) who put on a showcase performance against former WBO Flyweight champion Julio Cesar Miranda (28-12-2, 29). Villanueva had been less than impressive in his previous two bouts but really shone here as he almost shut out the very dangerous Miranda of 10 rounds. Given that Villanueva has struggled recently it could well be that he felt the pressure was on to perform here and that he knew a potential world title fight was on the line coming into this bout.

Another fighter who performed was Light Welterweight hopeful Jason Pagara (35-2, 22) who decimated Mexican for Cesar Chavez (24-8, 12) in just 2 rounds. Chavez was bounced off the canvas several times before being stopped at the 1:56 mark of the second round. For Pagara this was the statement performance he needed to move towards his own big fight.

The remaining headline bout from this show was a bit more disappointing as Super Bantamweight hopeful Genesis Servania (26-0, 11) took a wide but unspectacular decision win over Juan Luis Hernandez (17-4-1, 9), who seemed happier to survive than try to win. The crowd seemed to be disappointed by the end of this but know that Servania can produce so much better than they saw in this bout.

As well as the trio of main bouts that card also featured several very exciting prospects on the under-card. The most notable of those was Featherweight hopeful Mark Magsayo (10-0, 8) who stopped Thailand's Sukkasaem Kietyongyuth (13-4, 8) in 5 rounds. This was an especially notable result considering it took the world ranked Ik Yang 8 rounds to stop Sukkasem late last year.

Another unbeaten prospect scoring an early win was Arjan Canillas (10-0-2, 8) who blew away Stevi Ongen Ferdinandus (15-8-1, 8) in 4 rounds whilst Brian Lobetania (10-0-3, 8) took less than 2 rounds to see off Armando Yee (2-7-3, 1).

Just a couple of bouts on this under card went the distance. One of those saw the heavy handed Vic Saludar (9-1, 7) going the distance for the second time as he took an 8 round decision over Lester John Pronco (9-9-1, 6). The other saw Arnold Garde (4-3-2, 1) drop Rafael Sueno (3-2, 3) en route to a 6 round decision win.

Tokyo, Japan
Whilst the Philippines had contenders in action Japan had a former Linear champion in action, albeit one who is really rebuilding his career after a serious injury.

That former world champion was former WBC and linear Flyweight champion Toshiyuki Igarashi (20-2-1, 11) who is now campaigning at Super Flyweight. Igarashi struggled somewhat in his bout as he over-came under-rated Efrain Perez (17-6, 12), who also gave Mark Anthony Geraldo a tough bout recently, with a 10th round technical decision. Igarashi was fighting for just the second time following major surgery and seem to be a long way from title contention still.

In the chief support bout we saw a genuine upset as Yuto Shimizu (9-2-2, 3) scored a very unexpected stoppage win over the usually tough Takehiro Shimokawara (19-10-3, 6). Shimokawara retired at the end of the 7th round with a cut eye and looked to be on his way to another round of hurt had he continued here. Shimizu's win was his 6th in a row and we'd not be shocked to see him in the running for a title bout of some type later this year.

Another stoppage in a key support bout saw Kenichi Ogawa (14-1, 12) score a 1-punch KO against Kazuya Nakano (8-4, 7) in the 3rd round of their bout. The referee waved this one off as Nakano was down without counting.

In a competitive 6 rounder Heisuke Ono (6-2-2, 5) took a majority decision over Tatsuya Mukai (5-4-2, 1). The cards here were a bit all over the place with one judge having the bout level whilst another had it a shut out.

The only other decision on this card came in one of 3 all debutant bouts as Akira Tsutsumi (1-0) narrowly beat Takuma Izumi (0-1).

The remaining 4 bouts on this card all ended early with the longest lasting just a round and a half. That saw the unbeaten Ryota Toyoshima (1-0-1, 1) score his first win as he stopped Makoto Takahashi (1-8-1, 1) at 1:28 of round 2. The quickest of the remaining bouts lasted just 52 seconds as Ryo Matsubara (2-1, 2) blew away Yugo Ueda (3-2, 2). The other opening round blows out saw Hayate Kaji (1-0, 1) see off Tomonari Ohira (0-1) whilst Daiki Funayama (1-0, 1) stopped Seiji Nakazawa (0-1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)