Saturday was a major day for Asian boxing fans and it turned out to be a memorable one, with one Japanese youngster continuing his development towards being a star, a major surprise in the Philippines and a show in India. Aichi, Japan The action kicked off incredibly early with a major show from Japan that was headlined by a young fighter looking to make history. That young fighter was fast rising star Kosei Tanaka (5-0, 2) who claimed the WBO Minimumweight title with a clear decision victory over Mexican Julian Yedras (24-2, 13). Tanaka, who beat Naoya Inoue's Japanese record for the fewest fights to win a world title, looked sensational at times, despite showing some defensive flaws. Interestingly it seems like we're now heading towards a unification bout between Tanaka and compatriot Katsunari Takayama. In an unexpectedly competitive bout Yushi Tanaka (14-0-3, 9) was pushed all the way by the gutsy but limited Mako Matsuyama (7-9-2, 3). Tanaka claimed the majority decision but didn't look as good as he'd have hoped and it seems clear that he has a lot of developing to do before he thinks about fighting for domestic title, especially at Bantamweight. Another unexpectedly competitive bout contest saw Shota Hayashi (25-5-1, 15) take a majority win over Yasuyuki Otagaki (5-4-3, 1). This was Otagaki's third straight loss but he's much better than his record illustrates and we'd not be shocked to see him continue to test good fighters. For Hayashi this performance was disappointing though it did extend his current unbeaten run to 11 fights. The undercard of this show featured 4 other bouts, all of which went the distance. One of the most competitive saw Yuta Ando (2-0) take a very slim decision over decision over Yoshiaki Inoue (2-5-1, 1) whilst another close bout saw Retsu Kosaka (2-0) over-come the debuting Ryosuke Matsutani (0-1). A clearer decision saw Jinya Ito (2-0) take a slight shock win over Tamaki Miwa (2-1, 1) whilst the debuting Kentaro Yoshida (1-0) took a very clear win over Takumi Koroki (0-3) Baja California, Mexico In Mexico we had another title fight as Milan Melindo (32-2, 12) took on IBF Light Flyweight champion Javier Mendoza (24-2-1, 19). Sadly for Melindo he was unable to over-come the hard hitting Mexican who took charge of the bout early on before headclashes forced the bout to the scorecards at the end of round 6. Melindo had been deducted points for low blows and certainly didn't make any friends with his performance, though he did show guts to fight back against a very aggressive Mendoza. Sadly for Melindo this was his second loss in a world title bout and it may be a while before he gets another. As for Mendoza there is some very interesting match ups that he could be involved in, such as fights with Ryo Miyazaki or Rey Loreto. Cotabato del Sur, Philippines Filipino fans had an interesting show more local to home, but unfortunately results from the show haven't yet become fully available. One result we do have was a real shock as Jason Canoy (24-5-2, 18) scored an exceptional opening round TKO against former WBA “interim” Super Flyweight champion Drian Francisco (27-3-1, 21). Francisco was dropped 3 times inside the first round. Another result we have from this card was a 5th round TKO win for the unbeaten Romero Duno (6-0, 5) who saw off Arnel Acebuque (4-4, 4). Dongducheon, South Korea On a KBC sanctioned card in Korea fans got the chance to see a number of novices in action as part of the KBC's attempts to “Create a Champion”. In the sole 6-rounder on the card Tae Kyung Um (2-5-2, 2) scored a 6th round TKO against Min Wook Lee (2-2), who suffered his second stoppage defeat. Interestingly this bout was Lee's second in the space of 2-weeks. Another stoppage on this card saw Sung Il Lim (1-0, 1) begin his career with a 4th round TKO against Jin Suk Lee (0-1). A third bout that failed to go the distance saw Se Yul Yang (0-0-1) fighting to a technical draw with Gun Woo Gang (0-0-1). One of the few bouts that went the distance saw Min Young Kim (1-0-1) extend his unbeaten run with a decision over I Hoon Jung (0-1). Another bout that went the distance saw Won Suk Lee (1-0-1) take a majority decision over Woo Min Kim (1-1). ???, South Korea In a second South Korean show fans saw Ji Hyun Park (21-2, 6) take a 6th round TKO victory over Thailand's limited Yokfah Mor Krungthepthonburi (9-9). With this win Park claimed the WIBA title at 102lbs. From what we understand this show was held under the auspices of the the KBA. New Dehli, India Whilst there was a card in India we sadly don't have the results as of yet. Texas, USA In Texas we saw two Asian fighters suffering stoppage losses. The first of those was Middleweight journeyman Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (11-21, 9) who suffered his 6th straight loss courtesy of a 5th round TKO defeat to Milorad Zizic (12-1, 6). Yusubov has now suffered a trio of successive stoppage losses and we do wonder how much longer he'll continue to fight. The other man to come up short was Filipino veteran Juanito Rubillar (49-23-7, 24) who suffered a 4th round TKO to former world champion Joseph Agbeko (30-5, 23). Rubillar was fighting for the first time since August 2013, when he was stopped by Rey Vargas, and at 38 years old we hope this is the last time he'll be in the ring. Connecticut, USA Staying in the US there was also a loss for Timur Shailezov (17-10-1, 4) who was widely out-pointed by the unbeaten Nate Green (8-0, 2). Shailezov has now lost 8 of his last 9 bouts and it seems clear that he's becoming little more than a journeyman, however he did manage to take a few rounds from Green here. Queensland, Australia Another Asian losing on the road was Fernando Ocon (13-9-1, 5) who suffered a unanimous decision loss to Jason Cooper (14-2-1, 7) in a bout for the WBA Oceania Super Bantamweight title. Ocon has now gone 1-4-1 in his last 6 bouts. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Whether you're a fighter, a promoter, a manager, a journalist or a fan you just need accept that sometimes you need to take a leap of faith and believe in your views in the hope they will pay off down the road. Sometimes you're wrong, heaven knows we are on a regular basis. Sometimes however you're right and and you can be the one who says "told you so". With that in mind, we'd just like to say "told you so" about one young man who planted his name in the record books today and fast tracked himself a world title shot whilst living up to the high expectations we had of him. Tokyo, Japan The man we're talking about in that slightly over-indulgent introduction is the newly crowned OPBF Minimumweight champion Kosei Tanaka (4-0, 2) who scored a sensational victory over the previously unbeaten Ryuji Hara (18-1, 10) to claim the OPBF title and supplant himself into the top 10 Minimumweight's on the planet, if not the top 5. Tanaka, fighting in his first title fight as a professional, fought in a relatively see-saw battle through 8 rounds before exploding in rounds 9 and 10 to see off Hara who needed saving by the referee. As an isolated incident the stoppage was questionable but Hara had been all over the place in round 9 as Tanaka started to let his lightning quick hands go with nastier intentions. When he turned professional we raved about Tanaka, now we hope that others will see the magic that this youngster has in his hands. To claim an OPBF title in just his 4th fight is sensational, it's a Japanese national record. To do it against fighter like Hara however is something else. Were it not for Naoya Inoue we would honestly be describing Tanaka as a once in a generation fighter, he really is that good. For those wanting to watch this, which really should be everyone, the full fight video is here. Of course the Tanaka/Hara bout wasn't the only bout of the day and prior to it fans saw 6 other bouts at the Korakuen Hall. These began with a pair of 4 round bouts which both finished early. The shorter of the two saw Kabreen Yuya (1-1-1, 1) record his first win with a 2nd round TKO against the debuting Hiroki Saito (0-1) the other went a round longer as the unbeaten Ryoji Suzuki (2-0, 1) scored his first stoppage by taking out Satoru Takubo (1-3). The sole 6 rounder also ended early as the light hitting Kenichi Miyazaki (7-1-1, 2) forced a 3rd round stoppage of Hideaki Yamaji (4-7, 2). The bulk of the support contests were 8 rounders, in fact there was a trio of them. Sadly from that trio only one turned out to be competitive, though it was a bout that everyone already knew was going to be close. We knew it was going to be a good one as it was the rubber match between Spice Matsushita (13-8, 2) and Junpei Hara (14-6-2, 9). The two men had already shared 2 very close bouts in 2012 but this turned out to be even close with Matsushita taking a split decision one cards that really could have gone either way. We know some fans aren't fans of re-runs but we suspect you could have these two in the ring 100 times and there would never be a clear winner due to how well matched they are. The most one-sided of the 8 rounders saw the heavy handed Yoshimichi Matsumoto (7-1, 6) wipe out Thailand's Phanthong Por Panya (0-1) late in the bouts second round The remaining bout went 5 rounds as former Japanese Featherweight title challenger Toru Suzuki (24-4, 8) ended a 2 fight losing run by stopping the over-matched Yuta Matsuda (9-11-2, 4). The win effectively keeps Suzuki's career alive though we do doubt he'll go on to achieve much more than he has done already and this win likely does little more than covers over the cracks of his recent form. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Sunday saw a host of Japanese action with various shows, lots of fights and some significant results. Aichi, Japan The most notable of the bouts were fought at the International Conference Centre in Nagaoya, Aichi. The show, a small card promoted by Hatanaka wasn't one with many major bouts but it was headlined by arguably the most promising prospect in world boxing, Kosei Tanaka (3-0, 1). Tanaka showed off his skills in impressive fashion by blowing away Filipino Crison Omayao (16-8-2, 4) inside a round to record his first stoppage victory. The fight was an explosive one from Tanaka who proved he had power as well as speed and skills and after the fight he announced that he wanted to target the OPBF title. Although some would suggest it's too soon for Tanaka to be targeting an experienced foe like Ryuji Hara we dare say that Tanaka would stop Hara on the back of what we've seen of both men. Notably Hara is world ranked by all 4 world title organsisations and a win over him would move Tanaka on to the verges of a world title fight. The other notable result from this show was that the heavy handed Shota Hayashi (23-5-1, 15) managed to wipe out Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (8-4, 3) in 6 rounds. This was Takabayashi's firsts stoppage loss and was Hayashi 5th successive stoppage victory as he took another step towards a Japanese title fight. Whilst the main fights ended in stoppages the shows other 4 bouts all went the distance. These 4 bouts included 2 draws with Yushi Fujita (6-5-3) fighting to a 6 round draw with Noriyoshi Taki (4-5, 1) and Yoshikazu Tanabe (0-0-2) fighting to a 4 round draw with Kabereen Yuya (0-1-1). Thankfully the other fights did end with winners and losers. One of those bouts saw Daiki Ichikawa (2-0, 1) narrowly over-coming Atsushi Takahashi (2-6, 2) whilst Kazuyuki Sato (1-3) defeated the debuting Koki Konno (0-1) via a majority decision over 4 rounds. Aichi, Japan A second Aichi show took place at the Aioi Hall. This show featured 8 bouts in total, including a title bout, though was over-shadowed massively by the other Aichi card. The aforementioned title bout saw Thailand's Petchsuriya Singwancha (11-8, 5) successfully defend his WBC Youth Light Middleweight title with a very narrow majority decision victory over Ryosuke Maruki (7-3-1, 5). The bout was very competitive but the Thai did do enough to over-come the fancied Japanese fighter who has now lost back to back fights. Despite Petchsuriya having an average looking record he has won his last 6 and completely turned his record around. Whilst the main event was a small shock there was other shocks on the card, notably in the shows 8 rounders. The biggest surprise saw Yuya Okazaki (10-7-1, 3) over-come the highly fancied Daiki Koide (21-7-2, 9). For Koide this is a stunning loss and although it was close, scored 77-76 on all 3 cards, it is a big hit towards his dreams of winning a national title. In a second of the 8 rounders Atsushi Hosogai (7-8) managed to over-come Yuta Horiike (9-3-3, 2) who has now suffered back to back losses following a 10 round decision defeat at the hands of Roli Gasca in his previous bout. The remaining 8 rounder saw Yuta Yasumoto (10-11-4, 7) score a 5th round TKO over Kazuki Fukakura (7-7-2, 3). Although Yasumoto isn't great he is better than his record indicates and can upset decent fighters on his day. On the under-card there were 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds all of which went the distance. These included a majority draw between the debuting Masahiro Imada (0-0-1) and the win-less Naonori Fukaya (0-3-1) as well as The other bouts saw Ryuya Kusakabe (1-1) take a decision over Shuntaro Ouchi (1-1) with a close decision, Shin Tomita (1-0-1) also took a close decision to claim his first win as he over-came the debuting Tomohiro Shimokata (0-1). The remaining bout was also close saw Tadayuki Suwa (1-0) claiming debut victory over Hiroyuki Miyagi (0-1). Osaka, Japan In the Abeno Ward Centre we had two separate shows. The first of those shows as a West Rookie of the Year show that featured 10 Rookie of the Year qualifying contests. At Light Flyweight Michitaka Muto (3-0-1) defeated Masaki Kimura (2-1, 1) in a meeting of unbeaten fighters. Another all unbeaten clash saw Shun Kosaka (7-0) over-come novice Ryo Ishida (1-1, 1) in a Flyweight bout. A second Flyweight bout saw Takahiko Nakajima (4-4-1) out-point Takuya Sugiyama (3-3) in a close split decision. At Super Flyweight Masayoshi Hashizume (4-0, 2) defeated the previously unbeaten Kenji Kihisa (2-1, 1) with a clear decision. At Bantamweight however things were competitive as Takaaki Kitagawa (4-2, 2) over-came Go Mitaka (2-4-2) in a narrow contest. In the Super Bantamweight division we saw one of the few stoppages on the show as the hard hitting Kohei Iwai (4-2-1, 4) blasted out Takuya Yamamoto (3-3, 2) in 3 rounds. In a second Super Bantamweight bout we saw an inconclusive finish as Shohei Kawashima (6-0-2, 1) and Fumiya Imafuji (4-0-2, 1) clashed heads, resulting in a 2nd round technical decision. The show also saw a trio of opening round blow outs. These included a 136 second victory for Toru Kageyama (5-5-1, 4) who blew out Hiroaki Iwakura (2-1, 2), a 179 second victory for the wonderfully named Chocoboy Oizumi (3-2-2, 2) who beat Shoji Fukumoto (3-5, 1) and a 127 second victory for Shota Yamamoto (4-1, 3) who wiped out Shoshui Kitajima (0-3). The second show in the same venue was a Kazama Promotions who that featured a further 10 bouts, including 8 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. In the main event of the Kazama show fans saw Atsushi Aburada (9-6, 5) taking an 8 round decision over Junya Nishikawa (7-5-2, 2). In the co-feature 6 rounder Junki Oura (5-5, 1) shocked the big punching Daiya Shimazu (5-2, 4). Of the 8 bouts over the 4 round distance 3 failed to go the distance. These included a 110 second blow out in a female bout between Terumi Nuki (4-0, 2) and Kana Fukuda (2-1). In another bout Takeru Kamikubo (4-0, 2) extended his winning run with a 2nd round blow out over Namnun Saksiri (0-1). The third stoppage saw Daiju Oeki (2-1, 2) defeating Naoki Okamura (1-1) in the 4th round. In a Bantamweight bout Ryo Nishikawa (1-1) claimed his first win with a decision over Shinichi Yokozato (0-3), at Super Bantamweight Yu Konomura (2-2-1) defeated Shota Taguchi (0-1), at Featherweight Noriyuki Imamura (2-2) levelled off his record with a win over Ryuji Hayashi (1-3). The most impressive of the 4 rounders however was a very solid victory for Kensei Hirano (3-0, 1) who dominated Masaki Hirai (4-11-3, 2). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Sunday might not be a big day for boxing in the west but this past Sunday was a notable one for Japanese boxing fans who had the chance to see two interesting cards in their country. Aichi, Japan The most notable show of the day was in the International Conference Hall where Hatanaka Promotions put on one of their "SoulBox" shows. The card was headlined by one of the real gems of Japanese boxing, Kosei Tanaka (2-0). Tanaka, dubbed "Knockout Dream Boy", is regarded as not just one of the best young fighters in Japan but world wide and he showed his belief in himself by out pointing world ranked Filipino Ronelle Ferreras (13-7-2, 5) in a scintillating 8 round performance. Although Ferreras came in to the bout the WBA #12 ranked Minimumweight he was unable to ever test Tanaka who was too quick, too skilled and too tough. That's not to say that Ferreras had no success, he did land plenty of body shots, but Tanaka took it all in his stride in an excellent showing that saw him beating his second successive world ranked foe. Right now it seems almost certain that Tanaka will be looking to fight for either a national or OPBF title in his third professional bout and few would doubt his ability to win such a belt later this year. Although Kosei Tanaka is being compared to both Kazuto Ioka and Naoya Inoue the actually comparisons are surprisingly not far out and whilst he may not have the power of those two men he certainly has a similar level of ability. Whilst Kosei was the main event he wasn't actually in a title fight, that was instead the honour that befell the chief support bout which saw the unbeaten Yushi Tanaka (12-0-3, 8) successfully defended his WBC Youth Bantamweight title. Yushi Tanaka, defending his belt for the second time, managed to stop Indonesian challenger John Bajawa (12-6, 6) in round 8. On paper Bajawa was a good test, in reality however the bout was a mismatch considering that a young Ryo Matsumoto stopped Bajawa inside a round just a few fights back. The other notable result from this card that we have at the moment saw the ranked Shota Hayashi (22-5-1, 14) scoring a second round KO over the over-matched Zuri Kannan (15-6-3, 4). The fight, with an official time of 3:07 of round 2, was Kannan's 4th stoppage loss and his third stoppageloss in just 4 fights. Lower down the card Yusuke Nakagawa (6-3-1, 3) scored a second round victory over Masayuki Watanabe Iyonokami (11-8, 4) who was stopped for just the second time in his career whilst Hiroki Yajima (1-4, 1) also scored a second round KO over Yosuke Kato (0-2). The only other bout on the card saw Kazuaki Okada (3-1, 2) out pointing Toshikatsu Nishio (2-2, 1) over 4 rounds. Fukuoka, Japan A second Japanese show took place at the Kyuden Gym in Fukuoka City. This one was headlined by world ranked female action as Yuko Kuroki (9-4-1, 5) stopped the over-matched Aisah Alico (5-3, 4) in just 3 rounds. Kuroki, a former world title challenger, seems likely to be moving back in to world class and another world title fight either this year or next would be likely is she can string together another win or two. Kuroki wasn't the only female to win as Ayaka Sato (1-1, 1) scored a 72 second stoppage over the debuting Sayuri Koto (0-1). The second most notable bout on this card saw the experienced Yosuke Kirima (18-4-2, 13) stopping the debuting Kularob Sor Sompong (0-1) in just 2 rounds. This bout was one of a number of mismatches between Japanese fighters and Thai novices which also saw Aiki Koto (6-1-1, 4) stopping Namphol Sithsaithong (4-7, 4) in a round and also saw Takumi Sakae (8-0, 5) stopping the debuting Slot Sithsaithong (0-1). The stoppages continued through out the card and some of the shows opening bouts also saw early finishes as Yuya Kondo (1-0, 1) scored a 3rd round debut victory over Yu Nomiyama (0-1) whilst Yukinori Yamaguchi (2-0, 1) stopped Rikiya Takekawa (0-1) in the 4th round of their bout. Only 2 bouts on the show actually went the distance. One of these saw Koki Ono (7-2, 4) taking a 6 round unanimous decision over Takayuki Teraji (4-7-1, 3) whilst the debuting Hiroki Goto (1-0) scored a majority decision over Takeshi Oishi (0-2). (Photo courtesy of http://boxingnews.jp and shows Kosei Tanaka landing a right hand on Ronelle Ferreras) |
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