This past Saturday was an incredibly busy day in Asian boxing

New York, USA
It was in New York that we had the two highest profile bouts of the day to feature Asian fighters.

The first of those saw saw Filipino-American Brian Viloria (36-5-0-2, 22) put in a brave showing against the sensational Roman Gonzalez (44-0, 38). Viloria, who was attempting to claim the WBC Flyweight title, came out looking for the upset and did have plenty of success of his own, including hurting Gonzalez with a hard body shot in round 9. Sadly for Viloria that body was his last success of note before the referee saved him as Gonzalez went on the offensive.

Following the Viloria/Gonzalez bout we then saw Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31) add the IBF belt to his collection of titles as he stopped Canadian fighter David Lemieux (34-3, 31) in the 8th round of a very 1-sided bout. Golovkin showed his boxing ability early on, breaking down Lemieux with just his jab for the first few rounds before picking up the pace and eventually forcing the referee to stop a damaged Lemieux.

California, USA
Another major show from the US saw ALA make their US debut and take some of their best fighters to American soil for the first time.

The main event here saw talented WBO Light Flyweight champion Donnie Nietes (37-1-4, 21) take a clear win over the limited, but very tough, Juan Alejo (21-4, 13). Alejo was on the receiving end of a beating but never once looked like quitting as he repeatedly fought back, albeit with mixed success against the Filipino.

Another fighter who impressed was the much touted Albert Pagara (25-0, 18) who claimed the WBO Youth Intercontinental Super Bantamweight title with a 6th round KO win against former world title challenger William Gonzalez (27-6, 23). The Nicaraguan was stopped for just the third time in his career and it seems clear that Pagara is preparing himself for a world title fight in the not so distant future.

Another youngster who shined was Mark Magsayo (12-0, 10) who saw off Yardley Suarez (13-1, 8) in the early stages of their fight, whilst retaining the IBF Youth Featherweight title. On paper this one looked competitive but was totally one sided in favour of the brilliant Filipino prospect.

Another quick blow out saw Jason Pagara (37-2, 23) easily over-come Santos Benavides (25-8-2, 19) in the 2nd round as he moved a step closer to a potential world title fight of his own.

One other bout on this show saw Filipino-American Bruno Escalante (14-1-1, 6) take a 6 round decision win over Nestor Ramos (6-3-1, 2).

Massachusetts, USA
Yet more US action came from Massachusetts where a couple of promising Chinese fighters both scored wins.

One of those winners was touted Lightweight hopeful Wang Zhimin (5-0, 2) who scored a 6 round win over the experienced Guillermo Sanchez (15-17-1, 6). This was the second time that Zhimin has gone 6 rounds and it's likely than an 8 rounder bout will in the not so distant future.

The other was Meng Fanlong (4-0, 2) who scored a quick blow out win against the debuting Devonte Hopkins (0-1). This bout lasted less than a round with the Chinese fighter being too good, too strong and too talented

Gifu, Japan
In Gifu Japanese fans had a small profile show headlined by one of their most promising prospects in the lower weights.

That prospect was Genki Hanai (5-0, 4) who scored a 2nd round TKO win against Junya Nishikawa (7-7-2, 2). Following the win Hanai's team hinted that he would be fighting for a title next time out.

In the chief support bout Reiko Sugiyama (6-5-3, 4) scored a 6th round TKO win against Takuya Yamamoto (6-4, 3).

The under-card for this show, which featured 6 bouts, were all scheduled for 4 rounds. Of those two failed to go the distance. They saw Masaki Sasaki (1-0, 1) take an opening round KO win against Hidemitsu Yokoyama (0-1) whilst Yuto Nakamura (2-1, 2) took a 4th round TKO over Michitaka Umemoto (1-2, 1).

The most competitive bout of the show saw Tom Hamaguchi (3-3) take a majority decision over Seiya Kaga (1-1). Another competitive fight saw Takayoshi Mizoguchi (1-1) take a competitive win over Kiyoshi Nakamura (2-3, 1). Mizoguchi was one of 3 fighters to pick up their first win. Another was Kizuki Yamazaki (1-1), who beat Takashi Kagamihara (2-3) whilst Takayuki Sakai (1-0-1) claimed a win over Shohei Iwamoto (0-3-1).

Ishikawa, Japan
Another Japanese show took place in Ishikawa.

This card featured a genuine upset as Yudai Tamagawa (8-6-1, 2) claimed a split decision win over once touted Filipino Mark Gil Melligen (21-6-1, 12) For Melligen, who fought for an OPBF title earlier this year, this was a second successive set back and it's hard to see where he goes now.

The Tamagawa/Melligen bout was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds. Another saw Yudai Arai (7-3-3, 3) scored a wide decision win over Yukiya Hanabusa (8-3-2, 2), in a fight that looked good on paper, whilst the other saw boxing nomad Omrri Bolivar (3-0, 1) defeat Xinghua Wang (11-13-1). Bolivar, from Venezuela, has fought in China and Japan in recent weeks and seems likely to continue his interesting career on the road.

In a 6 rounder Hurricane Futa (20-5-1, 11) blow away Ik Soo Han (7-5, 2) inside a round whilst Mika Iwakawa (4-3-1, 1) out pointed Aiko Yamagishi (4-3-1, 2) in a female bout, also over 6.

Another female bout saw Asami Jinnari (3-1, 1) score a 3rd round TKO win over win-less Thai Petchluksor Sor Praithong (0-3), in a bout scheduled for 4 rounds. The only other 4 rounder was a narrow win for Yohei Fukui (3-0, 1), who defeated Dong Yang (1-5).

Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Staying with Japanese fighters there was a win for foreign based Japanese fighter Aniya Seki (29-3-2, 4) who defeated the heavy handed but crude Carolina Schroeder (8-2, 7) by a clear decision in a but for a couple of lowly recognised female world titles.

Suzhou, China
There was also action in China with a small card in Suzhou.

In the main event Shunkai Xia (5-0, 2) claimed the WBO China National Cruiserweight title with an 8 round decision against Samoan fighter Falani Tavu'i (4-2, 1). We're not sure how a Somoan, making a Chinese debut, was allowed to fight for a China national title though it certainly seems like Xia is missing details from his record, that could mean bouts or just small inaccuracies.

In another 8 round contest fans saw teenager Jian Wang (1-0) take a decision win over Zhan Gupo Sun (0-1-1). The win, a clear one for the 19 year old Wang, was an impressive debut but it will be interesting to see how far he can go.

The card also featured a couple of 6 round bouts. One of those saw 17 yeard old Light Heavyweight Fei Hu Wang (1-0) claim a clear win against Yu Qu (0-1). The other was a very wide win for Wen feng Ge (1-0) who took a 60-52 win, across the board, against, Xu Gao Yan (0-1)

In a female 4 rounder YuanYuan Zhao (1-0) took a 4 round decision win over Ling Wang (0-1).

(Image courtesy of GBP)

Metro Manila, Philippines
The only show today came from the Philippines where Johnny Elorde Promotions put on a small, 6 fight show featuring 4 title bouts along side the Flash Elorde awards. The card wasn't a headline grabbing one with world title bouts but it was a significant one with bouts ranging from prospect bouts to an OPBF title bout and regional title contests.

The show kicked off with one of the prospects in action as the talented Joe Noynay (8-0, 2) continued his unbeaten run and scored a 3rd round TKO against journeyman Jovill Marayan (8-20-3, 3). The 19 year old Noynay dropped Marayan with a body shot and Marayan did get back to his feet the referee made the wise decision to stop the bout. Sadly for Marayan this was his 8th straight loss , dating back almost 2 years, and his 3rd successive stoppage loss.

The second bout saw the fantastic Giemel Magramo (13-0, 10) completely dismantle the over-matched Jayar Estremos (10-10, 4) who was blown away in the 2nd round. Magramo, who we really like, looked sensational and finished the bout in style as he recorded his 7th straight stoppage. Aged 20 Magramo has an excellent future ahead of him and we really can't wait to see him step up a level and move beyond the low level Filipino domestic bouts.

Talking about the Filipino domestic scene the third bout was actually a Filipino title bout which saw veteran fighter Monico Laurente (25-12, 6) retain his GAB Bantamweight tittle with a clear decision win over the once promising Marco Demecillo (20-3-1, 16) who is quickly finding his career hitting the bricks. The champion, defending the belt for the 3rd time, seemed to know too much and be too good for Demecillo, despite being cut from a headclash early in the bout. This was Demecillo's 3rd loss in 5 bouts and the 18-0-1 (14) start to his career has really crumbled in recent bouts.

The second title bout was one of two WBO Asia Pacific title bouts and saw Juan Miguel Elorde (18-1, 9) take a clear decision against limited Thailand's Tabthong Tor Buamas (14-3, 12) to claim the Super Bantamweight belt. Elorde was simply too good, too fast and too accurate for the Thai who was completely out classed from the first round to the last. Tabthong did well to see out the distance but was never in the fight.

A second WBO Asia Pacific title bout saw Juan Martin Elorde (17-1-1, 7) retain the Super Featherweight belt with a narrow win over Japan's Hirotsugu Yamamoto (16-11-2, 2). The Japanese fighter went in as a massive under-dog and early on it seemed like he was set to be blown away after Elorde dropped him in round 2. Surprisingly however Yamamoto battled back hard over the following 10 rounds and almost did enough to upset Elorde. Although talented Elorde does need a lot more work before moving on to the next level.

In the main event we saw another title bout as Vinvin Rufino (37-16-3, 16) claimed the OPBF Featherweight title with an 8th round technical decision win against Mark Gil Melligen (21-5-1, 12). Melligen was down twice early in the bout though managed to fight back well until a headclash saw us going to the cards at the end of round 8. Melligen's fight back had some how convinced one judge to score it even, at 75-75, though the other two judges both had Rufino as the clear, and rightful, winner. Whilst this is clearly a set back for Melligen it was third time lucky for Rufino who had lost in 2 previous OPBF title bouts.

This past Sunday wasn't one of the busiest days in Asian boxing but it was an interesting one.

Yeoju, South Korea
The standing of professional boxing in South Korea appears to be more confusing than ever right now. It wasn't long ago that the KBC announced they were rebranding their organisation as the KBF with the intention of reinvigorating boxing in Korea. On paper it sounded like a dream come true and a chance to have new investment and new eyes looking over the sport in a country that has given us the likes of Jung-Koo Chang and Myung-Woo Yuh. Sadly it appears that the situation has just become more confusing than ever.

That's because the boxing record website Boxrec.com appear to be recognising fights that the KBF (formerly KBC) don't make any mention of on their site whilst boxrec seem to be indicating they were fought under the sanction of the KBC, an organisation that no longer exists. We're sure there is a simple explanation but for now we are confused.

As for the bouts there was a number of title bouts in a show that actually would have worked as a great beginning to the KBF. 

One of those title bouts saw a new Light Middleweight champion crowned as Ki-Joon Gang (6-3, 3) clearly over-came Joon-Yong Lee (4-2-3, 2) in a clear decision. The bout, again according to boxrec, was Ganag's first bout in 2 years following a loss in a Korean Middleweight title fight whilst for Lee this was his second bout of the year.

In a Lightweight title fight In-Kyoo Lee (3-2, 1) out pointed Moon-Sun Jung (2-3-3) to become a newly crowned champion. If boxrec are right this title has been stripped from, or vacated by, Boon-Joon Suk who last defended the title last November. Interestingly this was the second meeting between Lee and Jung this year and with the win Lee managed to avenge a majority decision loss from April.

The most intriguing of the title bouts however was at Light Welterweight where debutant Myung-Soo Sun (1-0) took a very, very narrow win over the previously unbeaten Jae-Ho Kim (4-1). Whilst we'll admit we aren't too sure what titles these are that were being fought for we will feel very disappointed that the really exciting Ja Ik Goo wasn't able to defend his title, Goo was one of, if not the, most exciting man in Korean boxing at the start of the year and if he's given up his title and retired, as some have suggested, then Korean boxing has lost a future star.

On the undercard there 8 non-title bouts. These included 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds. The first saw Do-Yum Kim (2-3-1) narrowly out point Young-Jin Kim (2-2, 1) with a split decision whilst the other ended in a 2nd round technical decision as Ma-Roo Jun (2-2-1) and Je-Ni Ma (4-1-3, 3) has their bout curtailed early.

In 4 rounders Fans saw Joo-Young Kwon (1-0) take a victory over Joon-young Yoon (0-1) in one of 3 all debutant affairs. In a Heavyweight bout Hyun-Soo Kim (1-0) over-came a 40lb weight disadvantage to defeat Jung-Yil Lee (0-1), a third all debutant bout was won by Jae-Man Kim (1-0) who defeat Yoo-Jin Jung (0-1). other 4 rounders Sung-Min Jo (0-0-1) held Sung-Hwan Kim (1-0-3) to a split draw, Joo-Pyung Kim (1-0) scored a debut win with a majority decision over Hyun-Ho Nam (0-0-2) and Dong-Woo Jang (1-0) defeated the previously perfect Jong-Hyuk Yoon (1-1).

Toyama, Japan
We also had action in Japan where two Filipino born fighters each had success with relatively straight forward wins over limited Thai foes. 

One of those Filipino based Japanese fighters was Jonathan Baat (27-5-3, 13) who scored a 5th round TKO over Artid Sor Worapin (0-1). The win was an expected one from the experienced Filipino who will now be off to Mexico to fight against the talented Rodrigo Guerrero in a battle for a WBC international Silver title with that bout arranged for October 25th.

The other Filipino in action was Mark Gil Melligen (20-4-1, 11) who made extremely light work of Kan Wor Surapin (0-1) who lasted just just 176 seconds. This major mismatch doesn't appear to have served much of a purpose though it is nice to see fighters staying active and this was Melligen's third bout in just over 5 months.

In the only 6 rounder on the show fans saw Yukiya Hanabusa (6-2-2, 1) score his first stoppage as he took out Thammarat Ratsam (0-2) in the second round. 

The under-card consisted of 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds, all of which went the distance. They saw two males bouts as Katsuteru Yoshifusa (2-0) defeated debutant Tatsuhiro Toguchi (0-1) via a clear decision and Yohei Fukui (1-0) take a hard fought unanimous decision over Keigo Serizawa (0-1) as well as two female bouts which saw Miki Matsumoto (2-0) over come the win-less Ozora Hikaru (0-3) and Asami Jinnari (1-0) score a debut win over Wachiraya Chammankit (0-1), both of these ending in unanimous decisions.

A busy Saturday saw fights all over the place with many of them having titles on the line from various levels.

New York, USA
For many fight fans the biggest fight involving an Asian was in the US as Filipino youngster Marvin Sonsona (19-1-1, 15) avenged his sole loss by out pointing Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (23-4-1, 19) in a less than stellar bout that saw holding as much as punching. Sonsona looked the much better fighter and did score a knockdown in the opening round but by the end of the bout it had become to watch with very little real quality landed by either man in the final few rounds. It wasn't a great fight but it was a fight that saw Sonsona expunging his sole loss.

Tokyo, Japan
The only card in Japan was a Teiken promoted show at the Korakuen Hall. The show, a very interesting on on paper, not only featured a title fight in the main even but several other bouts of not with prospects and hopefuls all in action.

The aforementioned main event saw Japanese Light Flyweight champion Yu Kimura (14-2-1, 2) defend his title for the first time as he put on an excellent showing against the much taller Yuki Chinen (14-2, 7). Chinen, who towered over Kimura, looked competitive early on though as the bout went into the second half it was totally taken over by the more skilled Kimura who got the well deserved decision and seemed to really be getting to Chinen in the final rounds.

Whilst Kimura/Chinen was the main event fight it wasn't the only one of major not on the show and the chief support bout was one of the other interesting bouts. This contest saw Kenichi Ogawa (12-1, 10) continue his development as he took out Filipino visitor Gabriel Royo (9-10-2, 8) in 4 rounds. This was the 4th straight victory for Ogawa since his lone defeat and whilst he's not ready to be thinking about fights above the domestic level he is showing real promise and by developing that promise there is every chance he could move on to the OPBF level in the coming years.

Masanobu Nakazawa (15-1-1, 5) taking a well earned decision over the "better than his record indicated" Kosuke Iwashita (14-17-2, 8) in a very good Light Welterweight bout. Ranked #4 in Japan Nakazawa will likely be targeting a national title fight later this year or very early next year. We'd not favour him against the current champion, Hiroki Okada, but he would likely be as competitive with the champion as almost anyone else in the country. 

Another of the support bouts saw the Japanese ranked Hiroyuki Otsuka (7-2, 6) stop Thai visitor Thaminkhao Sor Tharnthip (3-10-1, 2) in just 2 rounds. This was a mismatch though one that we can't complain about following very close back-to-back defeats for Otsuka who likely needed a confident boosting win.

The only other bout scheduled for 8 went the distance as Junki Sasaki (12-2, 5) took a clear decision over the tough but limited Kohei Maruoka (7-7-1, 1) who has suffered just a sole stoppage defeat.

On the undercard we had 2 Rookie bouts as Takunari Yokoyama (4-0, 2) out pointed Ryo Matsubara (1-0, 1) in a bout made at Flyweight and Ryuya Kaji (3-0, 2) took a 3rd round KO over Naoaki Kumagai (2-2, 2) in a Super Bantamweight contest. From what we under-stand these were both Rookie of the Year contests.

Kunming, China
It wasn't just in Japan that we had title action as championship bouts were spread across Asia, including in China as Zovi Boxing put on their latest show.

This card began with 4 undercard bouts, each scheduled for 4 rounds. These saw Wang Yi Ming (2-2, 2) taking a 2nd round TKO over the debuting Indian Promod (0-1). Ming was the only fighter on the under-card here to score a stoppage. The other bouts saw Xian Wei Qian (4-3-1) over-come the debuting Xu Que (0-1), Xu Chan (3-0) maintaining his unbeaten record with a victory over Neeraj Goyat (1-2-2) and, in a female bout, Saroj (1-1) took a split decision over Li Yun Ting (1-6, 1).

The chief support was the first of 2 title fights and saw Chinese Welterweight Yang Xing Xin (8-3-2, 5) claim the WBC Youth Welterweight title with a 10 round decision over Nelson Gulpe (8-2, 3). Xin, at just 21, could be part of a new wave of Chinese fighters to keep an eye on and although his record may not be anything great we are excited to see how he develops.

In the main event fans saw Filipino Mark Gil Melligen (19-4-1, 10) force a stoppage of Thailand's Petchsamuthr Duanaaymukdahan (8-3, 1) in the 4th round to claim the WBO Oriental Featherweight title. On paper this looks like a very impressive victory for Melligen though Petchsamuthr really killed himself to try and make 126lbs, a weight he wasn't even close to making. The attempt to make weight appears to have totally taken all the strength from the Thai.

Metro Manila, Philippines
The title action also spread to the Philippines where the hard hitting and fun to watch Warlito Parrenas (20-6, 18) stopped Indonesia's Junior Bajawa (!4-3, 7) in 7 rounds to claim the WBO Oriental Super Flyweight title. Parrenas, also known as WARS Katsumata, became the first man to stop Bajawa who had previously been the distance in losses to Omari Kimweri and Richard Pumicpic.

Unfortunately we were very late to get the rest of the results from this card but, thankfully, we have them now.

The unbeaten and hard hitting Richard Claveras (8-0, 2) continued his unbeaten run and claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an opening round blow out against Thailand's limited Namphol Sithsaithong (6-8, 6). This was Namphol's 3rd loss away from Thailand and his second in the Philippines following a previous loss in the country to Jonathan Taconing.

In another title fight on this show Edison Berwela (13-28-7, 3) upset Rey Juntilla (17-5-3, 10) in a bout that was dirty and incident packed. The victory for Berwela saw him claiming the LuzProBA Super Bantamweight title via a majority decision that saw both men suffering from the effects of head clashes very early on.
In a female title bout on this show Momoko Kanda (6-6-2) took a shut out victory over Nongnun Mor Krungthepthonburi (2-2) to claim the WBC Asian Council Continental female Minimumweight title. This was one of two female bouts with the other being an all debutant affair won by Naome Tacda (1-0, 1) who stopped Ana Pitae (0-1) in 66 seconds.

The under-card featured 3 other bouts, other than the aforementioned all debutant female contest. These saw the one beaten Philip Luis Cuerdo (4-1, 1) defeat Mark Macabales (2-3) in a clear cut 6 round decision, Pablito Canada (3-4-1, 1) pulling himself off the canvas in the opening round to out point Mark Postrano (2-2, 1) and Jay Ar Diama (1-3-4) taking his maiden victory by shutting out Ronie Gaton (0-2), this win was well over-due for Diama who has a very misleading record.

Bangkok, Thailand
Amazingly even Thailand got in on the days activity with two female bouts from Bangkok. The most notable of these saw former female world title challenger Angor Onesongchaigym (6-1, 3) bounce back from her sole loss, a decision loss to Momo Koseki, and defeat her over-matched compatriot Nongfah Por Preechagym (0-1).

The other contest saw Anrey Onesongchaigym (6-1-1, 3) stop novice foe Irada Sithsornram (0-3) in 3 rounds to continue her development.


Queensland, Australia
In Australia we had yet more title action, unfortunately however it was a bit of a hard to explain title. 

The title bout saw Australia's Josh King (17-3, 8) successfully defend his WBO Oriental Lightweight title with a clear decision over Japan's Koichi Ito (9-3-2, 8). We're not sure how King qualified for an Oriental title though we're a little disappointed that Ito couldn't actually take the belt back to the Orient.

Ito wasn't the only Asian on this card as his Japanese compatriot Kazuyuki Fukuyama (9-5, 2) was also beaten. Fukuyama was dropped 3 times in a clear decision loss to Les Sherrington (34-3, 19). Although he was dropped thrice it was impressive to see Fukuyama actually make it to the end of the 8 round bout. Sadly however Filipino Aswin Cabuy (14-47-4, 7) couldn't even last 2 rounds in his fight against the promising Kolby Johnston (2-0, 2).

(Image, from Kimura/Chinen, is courtesy of boxingnews.jp)