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)

Tokyo, Japan
The “Dangan” series of shows really does provide Japanese boxing fans with a bit of everything. They do everything from shows packed with 4 rounders between novices to acting as launch pad for really sensational prospects. The best Dangan shows are well remembered for showcasing some of the best fighters on the Japanese domestic scene on that was the case this past Monday.

Like many shows the card began in relatively uninspiring fashion but ended with two real high high points in a co-main event.

The first of those main events saw the sensational Shohei Omori (14-0, 9) announce himself on the Bantamweight scene as he decimated defending Japanese Bantamweight champion Kentaro Masuda (21-7, 11) in just 3 rounds. Omori, challenging for his first title, started fast and dropped Masuda twice inside the opening round with the champion very lucky to see out the round. Masuda did a bit a bit better in the second round though in round 3 Omori managed to finish the show landing several solid looking left hands that forced the referee to save Masuda. This was the type of performance that captures the attention of fans and the fighters in the division and it now seems very clear that Omori is heading towards much bigger and better things than just a Japanese title.

The other main event saw the heavy handed Keita Obara (14-1, 13) defend his OPBF Light Welterweight title with a 6th round TKO victory over the brace but out gunned Yuya Okazaki (11-8-1, 4). We had this one pegged as a total mismatch though Okazaki did his best to prove us wrong and seemed to hurt Obara at one point. Despite the good effort from the challenger he was eventually stopped by the talented and heavy handed champion who made it clear that he had an extra gear when it was needed. It's now obvious that Obara is taking a lot out of himself by making Light Welterweight and a permanent move to 147lbs is certainly on the books.

Prior to the main event the fans had 4 under-card bouts, all scheduled for 8 rounds. The first of those saw Kyosuke Sawada (3-2, 2) score an opening round TKO against Thai visitor Kamraiyok Orwandavee (9-4, 3)*.

The second of the under-card bouts saw Yosuke Kawano (9-4-1, 4) force a 4th round TKO against Hiroyuki Sagehashi (7-8-2, 1). On paper this was a mismatch however Sagehashi had only been stopped once in his 16 previous bouts, this was however his third straight loss.

The third of the under-card bouts saw former OPBF Featherweight title challenger Ryo Takenaka (12-3-1, 6) over-come Junki Sasaki (13-3, 5) in an excellent and very competitive match up. Takenaka, who was stopped by Hisashi Amagasa last time out, did just enough to take the decision with cards of 77-76, twice, and 77-75 though we know that some of those in the venue felt Sasaki had done enough. A rematch between these two would certainly not be a bad idea though we suspect Takenaka has hopes of moving back into title fights instead.

The final of the under-card contests saw Japanese and OPBF ranked fighter Dai Iwai (17-3-1, 6) score a 5th round TKO, due to cuts, over the tough and experienced Noriyuki Ueno (17-13-5, 5). The promising Iwai is now coming into his own and has scored 8 straight wins though sadly this looks like the end for Ueno, who came up short in 4 title bouts earlier in his career.

For fans wanting to watch the main events on tape delay they will be aired this coming weekend on Fuji TV at 2:40AM Tokyo time.

Gauteng, South Africa
In South Africa fans saw Kazakhstan youngster Roman Zhailauov (14-0, 8) begin his allegiance with Golden Gloves. The 20 year old from Astana was scheduled to fight Luyanda Jako though Jako was pulled out at late notice and in the end Zhailauov ended up fighting Willis Baloyi (3-4-2, 1). Despite the change in opponent the youngster still picked up the win with a 6 round decision victory. From what we under-stand Rodney Berman, the man in charge of Golden Gloves, sees the Kazakh making his name at 140lbs in the near future.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)


*Boxrec list the Thai as making his debut, the Danganboxing website list his record as 9-3 (3) entering the bout. Due to how incomplete the records of Thai's are on boxrec we tend to feel that Dangan's record is more accurate.

Tokyo, Japan
On Monday Japanese fans got a real treat as they had an unexpected war and the chance to see one of the heaviest handed fighters in the country as well as 4 interesting under-card bouts.

The star bout was, with out a doubt, the main event which saw Japanese Bantamweight champion Kentaro Masuda (21-6, 11) enjoy a real fight with tough challenger Tatsuya Takahashi (18-6-3, 13). Takashi showed his technical limitations repeatedly though seems to possess one of the best chins in the sport as he repeatedly took huge shots from Masuda without blinking. Masuda ran out to a clear lead on the cards but in the later rounds Takahashi began to get the better of things with the champion looking ragged and tired in the final rounds and the challenger really came on strong. For Masuda, who won a clear but very hard fought decision, this was the second defense of his title, for Takahashi however he certainly made a lot of fans with his guts, courage and never say die attitude.

The chief support bout also saw a champion in action as OPBF Light Welterweight champion Keita Obara (13-1, 12) tested the waters at Welterweight and over-came Filipino Rodel Wenceslao (8-10-1, 2) in what was little more than a stay busy fight. Obara, pictured opposite, did as he pleased with the Filipino who was game but out muscled. The power of Obara took it's toll on the Filipino who was stopped due to cuts which appeared to be getting worse every time Obara landed on him.

As well as the top bouts there was also some genuine talent on the under-card. One of those bouts saw Dai Iwai (16-3-1, 5) fighting to a technical decision win over the heavy handed Takumi Koyama (9-3-1, 7). Another of the 8 rounds saw Yosuke Kawano (8-4-1, 3) taking a very narrow win over Minoru Matsuo (6-4, 3) in a split decision that could easily have gone the other way. The remaining 8 round bout saw the once beaten Hiroaki Teshigawara (9-1-1, 4) score a clear win over the light punching Gaku Aikawa (6-3-1, 1).

The only 6 round bout on the card saw Naoya Okamoto (8-4, 4) take a 5th round technical decision over Naoto Fujimoto (7-4-1, 4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
The only Asian show on Monday was at the Korakuen Hall as fans got the latest of the Dangan cards.

The show wasn't the most exciting on paper though it did have one stand out bout, a Japanese Bantamweight title contest between defending champion Kentaro Masuda (20-6, 11) and former world title challenger Konosuke Tomiyama (24-7-1, 8). We have expected the bout to be a competitive one, after all Tomiyama had given world class fighters like Nobuo Nashiro in 2009 and Genesis Servania in 2013 tough bouts, but what ended up happening was a total beat down by Masuda who made the first defence of his title in real style. From the opening minute Masuda looked in the mood to make a statement and that's what he did dropping Tomiyama 3 times in round 3 to force the referee to stop the bout.

Following the contest Masuda indicated that he'd like to challenge former foe Ryosuke Iwasa, the current OPBF Bantamweight champion. A rematch between the two would give Masuda a chance to avenge his 2012 loss to Iwasa and also give Iwasa a very good challenger for his belt. We're hoping Masuda gets his way here though we could understand if Iwasa decided to focus on a world title bout instead.

Prior to the main event we had a trio of interesting looking support bouts, each of which was scheduled for 8 rounds. These included a very goo win for the once beaten Yuta Matsuo (6-1-1, 4) who stopped the light punching Yusaku Ishikawa (4-5) in the 4th round. Another 4th round stoppage amongst the 8 rounders saw Takumi Koyama (9-2-1, 7) taking out Takahisa Nayuki (11-11, 2). The other 8 rounder almost made it to the final bell but Masaki Saito (11-10-3, 3) just managed to see off Yosuke Kawano (7-4-1, 3) with 40 seconds of the contest left.

The show's sole 6 rounder also came to an early conclusion as Naoto Fujimoto (7-3-1, 4) recorded a 5th round KO against Toru Kudo (4-3-2, 1).

Thankfully it wasn't all blow away's and some of the under-card did manage to go the distance including the shows opening contest between Kazuo Shimada (2-7-1, 1) and Daisuke Fukuyama (2-2-1, 2) which ended in a 4 round majority draw. This draw was immediately followed by a 4th round stoppage victory for Seita Shimamiya (1-1, 1) who over-came the debuting Nobuhiro Chikuda (0-1). The remaining 4 rounder from the undercard managed to complete the schedule as Tatsuji Kakumoto (4-5, 1) narrowly out pointed Muneyuki Kishii (3-4, 2) in a genuinely competitive contest.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Sunday was a crazy day in Japan with 5 separate shows run across the country. Unfortunately with so much action it has taken us a few days to get all the results together but here they are.

Osaka, Japan
The biggest show of the day was in the IMP Hall in Osaka as Green Tsuda put on a 10 bout show, headlined by a Japanese Bantamweight title fight.

This show began with 6 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. These 4 rounders included just 2 stoppages with the quickest of those being an first round retirement scored by the debuting Naotoshi Nakatani (1-0, 1) who saw his foe Takafumi Yamada (4-4, 1) pull out at the end of the opener. In the other stoppage bout scheduled for 4 rounds it didn't take much of round 2 for the unbeaten Yuki Nagashima (5-0, 2) to stop Hiroto Sugai (1-3, 1).

A third of the 4 rounders here failed to go the distance as the previously win-less Shosuke Jo (1-1) took a third technical decision over the debuting Kewpie Tsubasa (0-1).

In the other 4 rounders Shohei Kawashima (5-0-1, 1 nigh on shut out Hikaru Matsumine (3-1), the unbeaten Michitaka Muto (2-0-1) was given a great run for his money by fellow novice Hirohide Murakami (1-2) and Kazuma Fukuyama (3-2-2) struggled past Ryota Yada (3-3, 2).

The sole 6 rounder on this card lasted just 166 seconds as Tomonori Ota (5-4, 3) swiftly took care of Hisashi Kawanishi (4-6, 1).

In a pair of 8 rounder we saw very competitive action. The most competitive, on the score cards, saw Yoshihito Ishizaki (9-6-1, 4) take a split decision over Ryota Kihara (6-8-4, 5) whilst in the other bout Takayuki Okumoto (11-6-2, 5) took a hard fought victory over the previously perfect Yuki Yonaha (3-1, 3). We had feared, going in to Okumoto/Yonaha, that the novice's lack of decent level competition would bite him in the backside though he put up a valiant fight and we'd not complain at seeing him at this level again.

In the main event we got Japanese title action as Kentaro Masuda (19-6, 10) defeated Yu Kawaguchi (20-6, 9) via technical decision to claim the Japanese Bantamweight title. The belt, which had been vacated by Kohei Oba prior to his fight with Randy Caballero, now belongs in the the arms of Masuda who had previously failed in a Japanese title fight against the excellent Ryosuke Iwasa back in 2012.

Ishikawa, Japan
We got a second title bout on a card in Ishikawa which had a certain international feel to it with visitors from Thailand, the Philippines, China and South Korea.

The only all-Japanese bout on this card saw Katsuteru Yoshifusa (1-0) claim a 4 round decision over the previously undefeated Kazuyuki Tomita (2-1).

Following the all-Japanese bout we then had a trio of bouts pitting Chinese fighters against Japanese fighters, this 3 fight series ended at a very even 1-1-1. 

The Japanese win came in a female bout as the debuting Miki Matsumoto (1-0) out pointed China's poor Li Yun Ting (1-5, 1), who incidentally recorded her first distance fight. The Chinese win came as Xu Chan (2-0) over-came a 7lb weight disadvantage to defeat the debuting Kota Hamamoto (0-1). The series found no winner as Yukiya Hanabusa (5-2-2) was held to a 6 round majority draw by Xiang Jing (7-3-1, 1).

After the undercard bouts we then got down to real action with a pair of well regarded Filipino's in action. These saw bouts went 2-0 for the Filipino fighter with Marlon Tapales (25-2, 9) taking a 5th round technical decision over Japan's Hayato Kimura (21-6, 15) and Mark Gil Melligen (18-4-1, 9) stopped the previously unbeaten Thai Bualuang OnesongchaiGym (12-1, 4) midway through the 5th round.

The main event was the title bout as South Korean Ye-Joon Kim (8-1-2, 3) scored a 9th round TKO over Akihiro Matsumoto (12-5-1, 6) to claim the WBC Youth Super Bantamweight title.

An interesting side note to this card is despite there being 7 Japanese fighters on this show only 2 actually won.

Gifu, Japan
Although there were no titles on the line at the Industrial Hall in Gifu we did see some very notable debutant action. 

The show began with 3 nondescript bouts which began with Yuya Shimakura (2-0) who outpointed Shinnosuke Yonekawa (1-3) over 4 rounds before Reiko Sugiyama (3-5-2, 2) stopped Hajime Ikeda (4-4) in 2 rounds and Hajime Kawase (5-7-2) took a competitive 6 round victory over Yujiro Nakamura (4-7-1, 2).

It was after those undercard bouts that we got the debutant action. The second of the bouts involving debutants was an expected win for the very highly regarded former amateur stand out Genki Hanai (1-0, 1) who easily saw off fellow debutant Atiwit Munyapho (0-1) in 159 seconds. Hanai is seen as one of the potential stars of the future and made headlines in Japan when he announced his intention to turn professional.

Although Hanai's victory is a good one it really pales in significance to the upset we saw in the other bout featuring a debutant as Thailand's Saranyu Intakaew (1-0, 1) scored a 48 second blow out of Japan's very own Toshihiko Adachi (13-7, 6). Although Adachi isn't one of the best Light Welterweight's in Japan this has certainly been a result that could leave Intakaew as one to watch.

The main even on this show saw Futoshi Usami (12-1-1, 9) make light work of Akira Shono (7-6-2, 4) scoring a stoppage at the very end of round 2.

Osaka, Japan
A second show at the IMP Hall, though one with much less significance than the Japanese title bout spoken about above tough a lot more competitiveness, took place courtesy of Taiho Promotions.

This show featured 8 bouts and began with some extremely competitive bouts as Ryosuke Morioka (0-0-1) was held to a split decision draw with Daiki Miyayama (2-2-1, 1), a split decision was also seen when Keisuke Tabuchi (4-1-2, 3) narrowly took a win over Noboru Osato (2-2-2, 1). Another competitive contest saw Chocoboy Oizumi (2-2-2, 1) take a slim unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Naoki Taniwa (1-1, 1)  whilst another 3 rounder saw the stoppage run of Takuma Hayashi (4-0, 3) come to an end with majority decision over the tough Yukitaka Nishida (4-8-2, 1).

It wasn't just the 4 rounders that were well matched with both 6 rounders also being very narrow victories. These saw Takahito Osaka (6-0-2, 4) keep his unbeaten record with a razor thin unanimous decision over Hideo Mikan (6-6-1, 2) whilst Ken Osato (5-1, 3) only just beat Katsuhiko Kanno (8-8-7, 3) who is now win-less in 7.

Even the main bouts were competitive as So Takenaka (20-7-2, 8) was given a hard work out by Thai debutant Wanchana Wilaiphut (0-1) and Satoru Sugita (8-2-1, 5) could only take a split decision over the more experienced Ryota Kajiki (22-9, 14). This may not have been the headline card but in terms of value for money this genuinely great, competitive and the sort of well matched bout that will bring people back to boxing! Well done Taiho.

Hiroshima, Japan
The remaining show took place at the Green Arena in Hiroshima and featured 10 bouts in total. For those wanting to see quick finishes this was the show for them with 7 bouts finishing inside the distance.

Of the 3 bouts to go the distance one was the main event as Takashi Omae (12-3-5, 1) took a majority decision over Koji Itagaki (12-9-2, 5) in what turned out to be more competitive than we had expected. Another of the distance bouts saw the debuting Kazuya Okubo (1-0) taking a majority victory over the more experienced Teruyuki Kobashi (2-9-1, 1) whilst the other saw a shut out by Morihisa Iju (4-0, 3) who over-came Takuya Fujio (1-2-1) with ease.

The quickest of the 7 stoppages on the card came after just 2 minutes as Toshiki Yanari (2-0, 2) won a battle of unbeaten Minimumweights stopping Takahiro Morisaki (1-1, 1). The only other opening round KO saw the debuting Takahiro Maeda (1-0, 1) score a stoppage at 3:09 of the opening round as he took out Makoto Yoshimura (0-2).

The second round brought us 3 stoppages. The quickest of those saw Taiyo Inoue (1-1, 1) take out Garyu Takuma (1-5, 1) in just 63 seconds. Inoue's win was 8 seconds quicker than the one scored by Daigo Nakahiro (24-4-2, 10) over Thai novice Phetsaifar Lukmaelamperigym (0-3) which it's self was 9 seconds quicker than the one scored by Yuya Okazaki (9-7-1, 3), who took out another Thai novice in the form of Kittisak Sithsaithong (0-2).

Both of the remaining stoppages came in round 4 with exactly the same time recorded, 1:00. These saw Shisato Okuma (6-1-2, 5) score a KO over Ryusuke Hoashi (1-4, 1) whilst Taichi Yoshizato (1-1, 1) scored his first pro victory with a TKO over Junya Akitake (0-2).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)