Tokyo, Japan
In Tokyo Japanese fans had a bit of a treat with with some matched bouts, at least on paper, and some big name fighters.

In one of the two main events fans saw former world champion Akifumi Shimoda (30-4-2, 13) beat Filipino Jerry Nardo (21-7, 11) in 5 rounds. This was one of Shimoda's best performances and he looked sharp from the opening bell. Whilst it's hard to see him winning another world title we really couldn't fault his performance.

The other main bout was a total mismatch and saw Yoshihiro Kamegai (26-3-1, 23) make very light work of Nelson Gulpe (8-6, 3) with a 3rd round KO. This bout was a mismatch, there's no two ways about it, however it was Kamegai's return to Japan after 3 bouts in the US.

On of the better matched bouts saw Kenya Yamashita (8-1, 5) score a 6th round TKO win against Musashi Suzuki (11-4, 4). Coming into this one Suzuki was ranked by the JBC and Yamashita had lost his previous bout, so this result will shake up the domestic rankings.

Another bout that looked good on paper saw Junki Sasaki (14-3, 5) take a shut out win against Yuki Ozawa (10-5, 2). This one looked good on paper but proved to be one-sided.

Another 8 rounder on this card saw the promising Masaru Sueyoshi (10-1, 6) take a clear win over Roman Canto (10-8-2, 5), with Filipino visitor Canto doing enough to survive but failing to win a round.

On the under-card Ryota Toyoshima (3-1-1, 2) defeated Kazumichi Ishizawa (3-6, 1) with a near shut out over 4 rounds whilst the debuting Yamato Hata (1-0,1) stopped Thailand's Muangpol NP Boxing Gym (0-1) in the second round.

Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
In the main event fans saw the talented Paipharob Kokietgym (31-0, 24) continue staying active with a 2nd round win against out-matched Filipino Jopher Marayan (7-8-2, 3) in a bout that saw Paipharob retain his PABA Light Flyweight title.

Also on this card fans saw former world champion Kompayak Porpramook (54-5, 38) continue his career with a 4th round TKO win over Indonesian journeyman Ichal Tobida (12-17, 8). Although not the fighter he once was Kompayak still has far too much for fighters like Tobida.

Also on this card fans saw the unbeaten Manachai Banchamek (8-0-1, 6) extend his perfect record with a decision win against Boonmieng Laos PDR (0-1).

California, USA
In the US fans saw popular Filipino Mercito Gesta (29-1-2-1, 16) claim a narrow run over Miguel Angel Mendoza (22-7-2, 21). Gesta was dropped early in the fight and was said to have been fortunate to get the decision here.

New South Wales, Australia
In Australia fans had a chance to see a number of Thai's in action, sadly however it wasn't a good day for them.

The most notable of those Thai's was former world champion Denkaosan Kaovichit (63-6-1, 26) who was stopped in 5 rounds by the fast rising TJ Doheny (13-0, 9), who has seemingly shown that he's heading to bigger and better things than a PABA title, one of which he defended here.

Another was Mongkolchai Lookmuangkanch (12-5, 7) who was stopped by another former world champion, Vic Darchinyan (41-8-1, 30) in just 2 rounds. Despite the fact Darchinyan was 39 this always seemed like a serious mismatch.

Another man who picked up a loss was Denkamon Pakdee Gym (22-7, 13) who was stopped by Olympian Cameron Hammond (14-0, 8). Interestingly this result was originally reported wrong in what would have been a huge upset.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Friday was a busy day with Asian's in action around the globe along with a couple of Asian shows.

Tokyo, Japan
For us the most significant of the two Asian cards came from Japan where fans saw an OPBF title fight, a couple of world ranked fighters and some interesting action.

The main event was the aforementioned OPBF title bout which saw Lightweight champion Masayoshi Nakatani (11-0, 6) retain his title with a 5th round TKO win against Kazuya Murata (11-5, 5). This was Nakatani's 4th defense of the title and saw him get back to scoring stoppages after 4 straight distance bouts. The talented Ioka gym fighter took control early in the bout with his jab and movement and began to turn up the heat in round 4. At the end of round 5 the bout was stopped follow a doctor's inspection of the challenger who stopped the contest with Murata suffering a suspect eye injury.

In the chief support bout fans saw world ranked Super Bantamweight Shun Kubo (8-0, 6) make very light-work of Thailand's Jakarachlek Sor Wankaew (0-5). Kubo, who we had heard good things off through most of 2014, looked brilliant though the bout lasted just 54 seconds and it was hard to get a real read on just how good the Shinsei gym fighter really is.

Another world ranked fighter on this card was young Minimumweight hopeful Reiya Konishi (9-0, 4) who claimed a clear decision win over Naoya Haruguchi (7-6, 2). Konishi, who claimed the 2015 Rookie of the Year crown at 105lbs, showed some really nice touches in his work but he's a long, long, way from thinking about challenging for world honours. Saying that however he showed enough to suggest that he will be ready in 2016 for a Japanese title fight and we were genuinely impressed by his left hook to the body.

Konishi wasn't the only 2014 Rookie of the Year winner in action as Super Bantamweight winner Shohei Kawashima (11-0-2, 3) also picked up a victory. The relatively light hitting Kawashima managed to see off the limited Tatsuya Miyamoto (11-13-1, 7) in the 6th round following a lovely burst of shots. Although certainly not a puncher we do like Kawashima's combinations and he does look like a fighter who is going to grow in to his man strength in the coming years. Really one to keep an eye on.

In another bout at Super Bantamweight fans saw Yuta Uetani (17-5-1, 9) put in an impressive performance against the limited Serichai Nonpitayakom (0-2). On paper this was a mismatch but it was hard not to be impressed by Uetani's body punching, which put the Thai down for the count in roudn 2. Uetani might not be a top class fighter but he's going to be a handful for many fighters in and around the domestic level.

Another Japanese fighter to see off a Thai foe was Yasunori Kishigami (10-2-1, 6), who scored a 7th round KO against the win-less Kraithong Mansongkhram (0-3). Kraithong had made it to round 70 though was blasted with a vicious body shot in the opening seconds of the round. The Thai beat the count but was in no state to continue. Re-watching the shot it's amazing Kraithong didn't throw up on impact.

Bangkok, Thailand
The other card from Asia came from Thailand and was televised on Channel 7. The card was, for all intents, supposed to feature a couple of bouts that were warm up bouts for world ranked Thai's. Unfortunate for one of them the bout turned out to be less of a warm up and more of a nightmare.

One of those world ranked fighters was Paipharob Kokietgym (30-0, 23), who defended the WBO Oriental Light Flyweight title with an easy blow out win against Fanther Ndahiuw (7-4-1, 3). Ndahiuw, who had never been stopped, lasted just 105 seconds here as Paipharob kept up his hunt for a world title fight.

The other world ranked fighter was former challenger Pigmy Kokietgym (57-8-2, 23) who was surprisingly stopped in the 11th round by unheralded Filipino Jaysever Abcede (10-3, 6). The bout, for the WBO Oriental Minimumweight title was supposed to be a warm up for Pigmy before a showdown with Japan's sensational Kosei Tanaka. Instead it turned out to be a coming out party for 20 year old Abcede who finished the bout with a wonderful right hook in round 11. Whilst this is probably the end for Pigmy it's fair to say that Abcede may be worth keeping a serious eye on going forward.

On the under-card fans saw two unbeaten prospects extend their unbeaten runs. One of those men was the exciting Manachai Banchamek (7-0-1, 6), who stopped Singdech Laos PDR (0-1) in the 2nd round. The bout was a mismatch and although Singdech showed some heart he was battered by the aggressive and exciting Manachai.

The other prospect was Petchmanee Kokietgym (9-0, 4) who also picked up a 2nd round TKO as he beat Taosaifah Laos PDR (0-1). This was another mismatch in favour of the unbeaten man who showed touches of class, though was always far too good for Taosaifah.

South Africa
Another major shock involving a Filipino fighter occurred in South Africa where Rene Dacquel (15-5-1, 5) claimed the IBO International Super Flyweight title. The under-rated Dacquel scored two knockdowns on route to a split decision over local fighter Thembelani Nxoshe (13-6-1, 3). Coming into this one Dacque was 3-2-1 though this win will act as a major boost in

New South Wales, Australia
On a JNI promoted card in New South Wales fans saw two Asian fighters come up short.

One of those was Thailand's Paitoon Jaikom (5-16, 2) who was widely out pointed by the unbeaten Ahmed Dib (16-0, 9). Although the bout was scheduled for just 6 rounds one judge had Dib winning by 9 points, 60-51. Sadly for the Thai this defeat ends a 2 fight winning run.

The other Asian being beaten here was Aussie based Filipino veteran Aswin Cabuy (15-53-4, 7), who was shut out over 4 rounds by the unbeaten David Toussaint (6-0, 4).

New South Wales, Australia
A separate card in New South Wales saw Thai veteran Plaisakda Singwancha (38-22, 32) suffer an opening round TKO loss to Kariz Kariuki (26-11-2, 20).

District of Colombia, USA
In the US fans saw unbeaten Kazakh hopeful Shyngyskhan Tazhibay (2-0, 2) continue his perfect start with a 2nd round TKO win against the debuting Coleman Phelps (0-1). Tazhibay has been tipped as “one to watch” in some quarters though we must confess that his competition so far has told us very little about his ability or his true promise.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Friday was an eventful day in Asian boxing even if it wasn't a headline grabbing day.

Thailand
The most notable action was in Thailand.

Unbeaten Thai Petchchorhae Kokietgym (12-0, 7) was given an unexpectedly good work out by Indonesian journeyman Domi Neneokeba (11-24-1, 7). The result was never in doubt but the Thai had to work for his win in a bout that really saw the unbeaten man being forced to work hard for his win. The Indonesian, who is a regular fighter in Thailand suffered his 24th straight loss though made it clear why he gets invited back to Thailand so often, where he is now 0-15

In the main event Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (32-7-1, 15) successfully defended his WBO Asia Super Flyweight title as he forced over Tommy Seran (24-4, 15) to retire from the bout during the 5th round.

A third bout of note on this card saw Petch Kokietgym (20-1, 3) take a decision over the limited Daiboy Sajiro (3-8-2). On paper this was farcical, even for Thailand, though Petch was fighting fro the first time since October 2013 and probably felt the need to shake off some ring rust. Interestingly this was the second time these two faced each other.

Another bout saw Manachai Banchamek (4-0-1, 3) take a 4th round KO against Boonpon Rachawongsi (0-1-1). This was the second meeting between these two in the space of just a few weeks, with the first ending in a draw. This time Manachai wasn't going to waste time getting rounds and set off with the intention of getting the stoppage, that eventually came.

New South Wales, Australia
In Australia it wasn't a great day for Asian fighters.

In the main event the once touted Filipino Marco Demecillo (20-4-1, 15) came up short against unbeaten Australian TJ Doheny (11-0, 7) in a bout for the PABA Super Bantamweight “super” title. Demecillo, who was once 18-0-1 has now lost 4 of his last 6, with this being the second successive decision defeat following a slightly shocking defeat last time out to compatriot Monico Laurente.

Another Asian to pick up a decision loss here was Thailand's Komkit Chanawong (0-2), who dropped a 6 round decision to Darragh Foley (5-0, 3) in about fought just above the Lightweight limit.

Thankfully Australian based Chinese fighter Zhang Yong (4-4-1, 1) managed to stop it being a clean sweep as he defeated win-less Australian Ehsan Shakero (0-5) with a 4 round decision.

Tokyo, Japan
In Japan we had some East Japan Rookie of the Year bouts. Originally there was 13 bouts scheduled for the show though due to pull outs fans “only” had 11 bouts, with them taking place from Light Flyweight to Welterweight. As with all Rookie of the Year qualifying bouts these were all scheduled for 4 rounds.

At Light Flyweight it was Takuya Kihashi (2-2, 1) who scored a win as he narrowly over-came the previously unbeaten Kazunori Yorimasa (1-1, 1).

In the Flyweight division fans has a couple of bouts. One of those saw Jun Ishimoto (5-3, 2) blow away Shunya Nagaoka (2-3, 1) in just 84 seconds. The other saw Norris Yano (4-1-1) take a very competitive decision against Gen Kawasaki (2-2, 2).

At Super Bantamweight fans had a couple of stoppages. The quickest of those saw Masayoshi Yamasaki (2-1-1, 1) blow away Ryuichi Kakuni (3-4-2, 1) in just 62 seconds. The other saw Shun Wakabayashi (4-1, 1) stop Daigo Yamamoto (2-2-1, 1) in the 4th round.

At Featherweight Shogo Sakai (4-2-1, 3) scored his first decision win as he defeated Yu Takegaki (4-4-1, 1) with a razor thin unanimous decision, scored 39-38 by all 3 of the judges.

In the Super Featherweight division fans had three bouts. One of those was, on paper, the stand out bout of the show between unbeaten men as Genki Ishikawa (4-0, 2) over-came Hideaki Takagi (2-1) with a surprisingly 1-sided decision. Another bout ended in the most spectacular fashion as Tatsuro Jin (4-2, 2) scored a sensational KO again Taiga Suzuki. The remaining bout saw the inexperienced Yui Oikawa (2-0) take a comfortable decision over Teppei Tsukamoto (3-6, 1).

The Welterweight division has two bouts. One of those saw the unbeaten Toshiro Tarumi (3-0-3, 2) extend his undefeated streak as he out pointed Kazuhiro Baba (2-3-1, 1) whilst the other ended in 71 seconds with Hiroki Ashizawa (3-1, 3) blowing away Teruhisa Komori (1-2)

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Friday saw a number of Asian's in action with some of them being men on the very of possible world title fights.

Nonthanburi, Thailand
The only Asian show of the day came from Thailand where Channel 7 televised a number of fights featuring a variety of promising and established talent. Sadly the show also seems to have been only partially included in the boxrec.com database.

The most notable fighter on the card was the highly tanked Paipharob Kokietgym (28-0, 21) who scored a 3rd round TKO over Filipino foe Lionel Legada (12-8-1, 5). Legada had shown something in the opening round but was being broken down as the fight progressed and Paipharob went through the gears. Unfortunately for Legada that resulted in him taking some monstrous shots in the 3rd that forced the referee to call a halt. For Paipharob this was a defense of the WBO Oriental Light Flyweight title and he'll continue to eye up a potential world title bout later in the year.

Another semi-notable name on this show was South Korea's Myung-goo Yuh (25-4-1, 20) who completely destroyed Filipino Joan Imperial (11-6-6, 6) in just 2 rounds. Yuh, defending the interim WBO Asia Pacific title at 108lbs, was aggressive from the off and seemed to land body shots at will on Imperial who was down a number of times before the referee finally called a halt to the bout.

Sadly some of the the results aren't on boxrec at the time of writing. One of those saw the unbeaten Norasing Kokietgym (14-0-1, 10) scoring a decision win over an unknown opponent, believed to be a Filipino. Another of the unlisted results saw the unbeaten Manachai Banchamek (2-0, 2) beat down a very stubborn and tough opponent who is again unknown at the time of writing. Manachai was in control from the opening round though his opponent showed real grit and determination to last as long as he did in what was a real “ass whooping” for the better part of 4 rounds.

Other bouts on this show saw Thai based Indian Gurlal Redbluegym (4-0, 4) score an opening round blow out over Natsaran Suksomsri (0-1) whilst female fighter Naome Tacda (3-0, 3) blew out Orawan Kiengkaew (0-1), also in the opening round

*Note-Norasing's opponent is now listed on boxrec as Chapito Rivera (0-1)

New South Wales, Australian
In New South Wales fans got the chance to see title action as Filipino fighter Rey Las Pinas (19-10-5, 11) attempted to claim the IBO Oceania Featherweight title and score a major win over the world ranked Joel Brunker (28-1, 16). Sadly for Pinas it wasn't to be his day and he was destroyed in just 2 rounds by the exciting Brunker, who was fighting for the first time since he was stopped himself by Lee Selby.

Western Australia, Australia
Aussies had the chance to see more Asian fighters in action as a number of Asian fighters were in action in Perth. Sadly they again were on the losing end.

The quickest to be defeated was Indonesian journeyman Anshori Anhar Pitulay (8-15-2, 6), who was stopped in a round by the once beaten Nathaniel May (9-1, 5). Whilst Pitulay was stopped quickly he wasn't the only Asian stopped early doors and Filipino fighter Aswin Cabuy (14-51-4, 7) didn't last much longer in his bout with the unbeaten Wes Capper (9-0, 7).

Things were slightly better for Thailand's Pramool Boonpok (1-11-1) who lasted until the 4th round against Jamie Weetch (4-2, 3). Pramool was one of two Thai's on this show and his compatriot, Angor Onesongchaigym (7-2, 4) was also stopped in the 4th round as Louisa Hawton (4-0, 2) notched her most notable win. Impressively Hawson's victory over Angor took 5 rounds less than Momo Koseki did last year and a bout between Hawton and Koseki may become something interesting down the line.