This past Saturday was an insanely busy day for Asian boxing fans with more fights than you can shake a stick at....

Pattaya, Thailand
Fans in Thailand had televised action featuring a pair of former world title challengers and a very interesting all debutant bout.

One of those former title challengers was 3-time title contender Sod Kokietgym (64-3-1, 28) who was fighting for the first time since his opening round defeat to Guillermo Rigondeaux in Macau. Sod may have been blown away by the Cuban Jackal but he was successful today as he over-came the previously unbeaten Jaoquim Mahe (8-1, 4) of France. Mahe, also known as Joaquim Redbluegym, saw a run of 2 wins in Thailand come to an end with this loss.

The other former world title challenger was Samartlek Kokietgym (18-5, 5) who fought for the first time since he was stopped by Naoya Inoue in a WBC Light Flyweight title fight. Samartlek, like Sod, was facing an unbeaten visitor though managed to inflict his opponents first defeat as he out pointed Filipino Richie Behec (2-1-1, 1).

In an excellent all debutant bout Mai Lookboonmee (1-0) took a decision over Sorn Sakwaroon (0-1). Sadly for Sorn he was one of 3 debutants to suffer a defeat on this show. Another debutant who came up short was Lekkla Sor Petchwandee (0-1) who was beaten by Sayu Sor Kulawong (2-0) over 6 rounds.

The only stoppage on the card was scored by Filipino visitor Joan Imperial (11-5-6, 6) who recorded his second win in Thailand this year as he took an opening round TKO against Chaiyaphon Nupphon (0-1).

Davao del Sur, Philippines
Although there was action in Thailand much of the day's Asian action was in the Philippines as the country hosted two separate shows. On paper the best of those was n Davao del Sur on a card featuring a number of notable names.

One of those notable names was the unbeaten Adones Cabalquinto (19-0, 12) who made very light work of the horribly over-matched Denkamon Pakdee Gym (12-4, 5). Cabalquinto claimed the IBF Australasian title at 140lbs as he stopped Denkamon early in round 3.

Another of the notable fighters in action was the exciting Aston Palicte (16-1, 14) who needed just 131 seconds to dispose of Jomyuthlek Sor Narongchai (12-3, 5) and claim the IBF Youth Super Flyweight title. This was the 5th successive opening round blow out by “Mighty”, who had previously blown away the tough Gerpaul Valero, and we suspect he'll continue to impress with wins like this.

Marlon Tapales (27-2, 10) was another notable name on this show and he too scored an early win as he stopped Jecker Buhawe (16-11-1, 10) in the 2nd round. This was Tapales's 6th straight win since he was narrowly beaten in Mexico by David Sanchez and we'd not be shocked to see Tapales eyeing up a big fight at some point this year.

Yet another notable fighter on this card to score an early win was Drian Francisco (27-2-1, 21) who stopped compatriot Jason Egara (21-12, 10) in the 8th round to record his third successive win since he was beaten by American Chris Avalos last July.

It wasn't all notable names on the card, nor was it all expected results and in a notable upset fans saw Ronerex Dalut (9-15-2, 2) shock the previously unbeaten Marvilou Aballe (5-1, 2) by split decision over 8 rounds. Sadly this was the only real shock result.

A fighter who managed to keep his unbeaten record by decision on this card was Jay-ar Inson (7-0, 4) who out pointed Gabby Siempo (5-6-1, 1) over 8 rounds. Another unbeaten fighter to pick up a win in a scheduled 8 rounder was Rimar Metuda (5-0, 1) who stopped veteran Philip Parcon (26-20-3, 8) in the 2nd round of their bout. The only other 8 round bout saw the once beaten Orlie Silvestre (4-1-1, 3) force a retirement of Ryan Ralozo (8-14-2, 2) after 4 rounds.

In the sole 6 rounder Gerald Paclar (2-1, 1) out pointed the previously unbeaten Rene Mark Cuarto (3-1, 1) in what was a minor upset. The card began with a trio of 4 rounders. These included an all debutant affair that saw Ronnie Badonado (1-0, 1) stop Baltazar Susas (0-1) in the second round of their contest, in what was the only early conclusion on this part of the card. In a contest between win-less fighters we saw Jose Aballe (1-1) take a decision against the still win-less Sammy Caballero (0-2) and in a very competitive bout Aries Buenavidez (2-0) took a majority decision over Jayson Sanchez (0-3).

Metro Manila, Philippines
The other Filipino show took places in Metro Manila and, like the other card featured a few interesting names.

The most well known of the fighters on this show was former world title challenger Ardin Diale (27-9-3, 14) who made very light work of Rommy Wassar (11-18-7, 5). Wassar, who missed weight by 6lbs, lasted just 30 seconds with Diale who made a genuine statement with the speed of this win.

Diale wasn't the only fighter to blow away an opponent in less a minute as the monstrously hard hitting Richard Claveras (12-0-2, 12) blasted away Demsi Manufoe (9-4, 6) in 37 seconds to retain the WBC Asian Boxing Coubncil Light Flyweight title. Hopefully we'll see Claveras step up again next time out.

Another excellent fighter to blow an over-matched foe on this show was the excellent Michael Dasmarinas (19-2, 12) who took care of Aroel Romasasa (11-8, 5) inside a minute courtesy of a body shot. Another man to score a win with a body show was Rene Dacquel (13-4-1, 5) who took 7 rounds to see off the light punching Menard Abila (5-3-4, 1).

One of the most competitive contests saw Eric Panza (7-3-1, 1) climb up from an opening round knockdown to take a split decision over Jeson Berwela (4-19, 2) in an 8 round bout. Another close 8 rounder saw Warren Mambuanag (7-5-2, 3) upset Aljhon Osabel (9-3, 5), also with an 8 round split decision.

The sole 6 rounder on this card saw the unbeaten Fighting Heno (3-0-3) level off his peculiar record as he over-came Rommel Berwela (2-3-2) with a clear decision.

In a bizzare debut, scheduled for 4 rounds, Jestoni Caballes (1-0, 1) was decked twice in the opening round before stopping Roberto Mendano (0-3) due to a cut in the second round. . In the other 4 rounder Brando Bokingkito (1-2, 1) claimed his first win with a 3rd round TKO against the win-less Kenneth Lacdang (0-3).

Chiapas, Mexico
In Mexico we saw a rematch between unheralded Filipino Jomar Farjardo (14-6-2, 7) and former unified Minimumweight champion Francisco Rodriguez Jr (17-2-1, 11). The two men, who fought to a draw last year, began as they finished their first fight, with a very competitive opening round. Sadly for Fajardo that was his only real success as Rodriguez finally figured him out and dominated the proceeding 9 rounds to take a very wide decision

New South Wales, Australia
In Australia fans saw a pair of Asian fighters though unfortunately both came up short.

The most disappointing of those was Erick Diaz Siregar (16-21-4, 4) of Indonesian. Siregar was brought in to be blown away and that's exactly what happened with Billel Dib (16-1, 7) stopping him inside a round. This was Siregar's third success blow out defeat and he is now without a win since September 2012 and has only one win since November 2010.

The other man who came up show was Filipino Rodynie Rafol (12-6-2, 5) who gave a good effort but was clearly second best to the unbeaten George Kamboso Jr (7-0, 3). Sadly for Rafol this loss ended a 2 fight winning run and he is now 0-3 in fights outside of his native Philippines.

On a busy Saturday in the boxing world there was more fights of note than we usually. Amongst the action was a trio of Filipino shows .

Nebraska, USA
The key fight, for us, on Saturday night was in the US as unbeaten Middleweights collided. This bout saw the talented but frustrating Russian Matt Korobov (24-0, 14) out point Venezuelan prospect Jose Uzcategui (22-1, 18). Korobov managed to drop Uzcategui twice in round 7 but failed to finish him in what was essentially another performance that did Korobov little favours in regards to fans who seemed to view him worse after the win than they did before he got in the ring.


Davao del Sur, Philippines
The most well known name in action amongst those Filipino shows was former WBC Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (37-13-5, 27) who made relatively light work of Tanzanian visitor Ichal Tobida (10-12, 8). Tobida, who had travelled to Davao del Sur from his homeland, tried to give Jaro a fight but in the end the tough and heavy handed Filipino managed to stop Tobida in the 5th round to capture the Asian Boxing Federation Super Flyweight title.

Jaro's bout wasn't the only one involving a title as the unbeaten Adones Cabalquinto (16-0, 9) retained his GAB Light Welterweight title with a stoppage against the over-matched Giovani Rota (7-7, 4). This was the 6th stoppage loss for Rota and suggests that he wasn't really suitable opponent for Cabalquinto who was, not too long ago, linked to an OPBF title fight. Hopefully Cabalquinto will drop the GAB title sooner rather than later and focus on fighting for the OPBF belt with fights against the likes of Ja Ik Goo, Shinya Iwabuchi, Min Wook Kim and Hiroki Okada all out there for him.

The rest of the results on this card are scarce though one of the bouts saw Genesis Libranza (3-0, 2) stopping Jessie Suacasa (2-3, 1) to maintain his unbeaten run whilst in another bout the debuting Renemark Cuarto (1-0) took a 4 round decision victory over Rodante Suacasa (1-7-2, 1).

We're hoping to get the rest of the results from this show over the next day or two.

Lanao del Norte, Philippines
Whilst Jaro was the biggest Filipino name in action he was far from the only notable one and in Metro Manilla fans got to see the very promising Marlon Tapales (26-2, 9) defeat the limited but determined Fadhili Majiha (15-4-4, 7). Tapales dropped Majiha once in the bout as he retained his WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight title and moved one fight closer to a WBO title show down.

Tapales was the main attraction on this show and in fairness many of the other fighters on the card were somewhat unknown outside of the Philippines. These included the hard hitting Jenny Boy Buca (8-1, 8) who stopped Raymond Dayham (5-2, 4) in the 8th round of a scheduled 10 rounder. The only other 10 rounder saw Edward Mansito (10-1-2, 5) taking a decision over over Alvin Makiling (10-10-3, 3).

In the only 8 rounder on the show Belmar Plaza (3-1-3, 1) took an 8 round unanimous decision over fellow novice Jaysever Abcede (3-3, 1). 

All 6 of the other under-card bouts also went the distance. These included only one close contest as Jonathan Francisco (6-3, 2) took a split decision over Jonas Sultan (4-2, 2) in a 6 rounder. Another of the 6 rounders saw Jhon Rey de Asis (5-1, 3) taking a decision over the experienced Michael Bastasa (6-14-3) whilst the the unbeaten Dexter Alimento (3-0, 1) managed to out point Kim Dangan (2-3, 1). The most notable of the 6 rounders however was the that of promising debutant Bryan Capampangan (1-0) who over-came Michael Acevido (2-6-1, 1).

Capampangan wasn't the only debutant and in a 4 rounder Jaylord Montesa (1-0) defeated Eric Mansira (1-14, 1) whilst in the other 4 rounder Reynold Valencia (3-7-1, 1) over-came Joy Joy Formentera (2-2).

Metro Manila, Philippines
The third Filipino show was in Metro Manila and was headlined by the world ranked Renan Trongco (15-4, 9) who made very light work of Jopher Marayan (6-5-2, 2) who was stopped in the second round of a bout that really was a mismatch.

Whilst Trongco is potentially a rising star in the Philippines he wasn't the most well known fight on the show, that was former WBC Super Flyweight title challenger Silvester Lopez (22-7-2, 16) who managed to take out domestic journeyman Arjet Caballes (6-31-5, 3) in the second of a scheduled 6 rounder. 

As with the card in Lanao del Norte much of the card was 6 rounders, in fact 8 of the 13 bouts were 6 rounders, including the aforementioned Lopez fight. Amongst the others was an opening round victory for the promising Cris Paulino (14-1, 4) who took out Lowell Saguisa (7-16, 3) in double quick fashion, 4th round TKO for Jon Jon Estrada (4-1-1, 3) who stopped Valeriano Gabriel (2-6) and another 4th round TKO for Junjie Lauza (5-10-1, 2) who stopped Zoren Pama (5-11-3, 2).

Another of the 6 rounders which failed to go the scheduled saw Eric Panza (5-2-1, 1) defeat Joel Lagusan (3-10, 1) via a technical decision. 

In bouts that did go the 6 round distance fans saw Dennis Tubieron (18-3-1, 8) surprisingly struggle to over-come Rey Ramos (6-6-2, 3) in a bout that very surprisingly finished in a split decision. Another decision saw the unbeaten Jonathan Dela Cruz (4-0, 1) defeat Danny Manosa (2-3-2, 1) whilst Bryan Macamay (9-2-2, 5) defeated Menard Zaragosa (6-18-1, 4).

In 4 rounders Mark Baribar (1-0-1) fought to a draw with the debuting Vic Magdayao (0-0-1), the unbeaten Cris Ganoza (3-0) took a decision over Roberto Mendano (0-1), whilst Anthony Villanueva (1-0, 1) stopped the win-less Alberto Pentecostes (0-3) in the second round whilst the debutant Alvin Medura (1-0, 1) took out Oscar Lim (0-1) inside a round.

Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic
We'll go full circle here and whilst we started this with an unbeaten Russian, Korobov, we will also end it with an unbeaten Russian, this time Fedor Chudinov (11-0, 9) who dominated the previously unbeaten Andy Perez (19-1, 18). Perez was down in rounds 1,2 and 3 before finally being stopped by the rampaging Chudinov who, on this performance, looks a more exciting talent than Korobov. 

(Image, of Korobov, courtesy of toprank)

When Chris John lost to Simpiwe Vetyeka we were expecting Indonesian boxing to be on it's last legs. This past Saturday however proved that the sport is alive, even if it is just at a low level. We all know that it could take a long time for the country to develop their next star but this weekend seemed like it was the first step towards finding the next Indonesian boxing icon.

Jakarta, Indonesia
Whilst the card in Jakarta, Indonesia, was only a small one with just 6 total bouts it was one that caught out eye with several interesting results coming from it.

The highest profile result was a small upset with Gaspar Ampolo (2-21-2, 1) scoring his first win in over 8 years. Ampolo, who had gone 0-17-2 in his last 19 bouts, managed to out point Madit Sada (5-13-15, 1). Sada, whilst not a great fighter himself, had mixed in great company and it was expected that his high level of experience would help him over come Ampolo, instead however it seems that Sada is a man who may be looking at calling it a day on his career.

Whilst Ampolo/Sada was the biggest profile bout of the card it was far from the only one taking place.

One of the others on the show saw Johnny Purba (1-0, 1) making a debut to remember as he stopped Marius Mabel (1-2). On paper this looked a decent meeting but Mabel had been inactive since 2009 and Purba's victory probably said just as much about Mabel's ringrust as anything else.

Purba was one of 6 debutants in action and one of just 2 to record as stoppage. He was joined by Adrian Owfen (1-0, 1) who took his victory in an all debutant contest against Ocol Speed (0-1). 

Speed and Purba were joined by Azril Wenda (1-0) as fighters who won on their debut. Wenda mamanged to take a split decision in his contest defeating Simon Tadeus (0-1) who was yet another debuting fighter.  Another debuting fighter in action was Eben Selmetan (0-1) who was beaten, via a majority decision, by novice Silem Serang (1-1).

The only other bout in Indonesia saw Vincent Olin (2-3-1, 2) stopping the previously unbeaten Mohammed Harun (1-0-1).

Tashkent, Uzbekistan
As well as the action in Jakarta there was also fights in the Uzbekistan capital city of Tashkent. 

The main event of this show saw Sherzod Husanov (19-0-1, 8), pictured, in action. Husanov, whose only set back came in a very controversial draw in Russia to Timur Nergadze, managed to record his 6th straight victory as he out pointed Carlos Adan Jerez (38-17-3, 18).

With this victory Husanov claimed the previously vacant IBF International Light Middleweight title and may well find himself rewarded with an IBF ranking when the organisation next do their updates.

Husanov's bout was one of 7 contests on this card, though was easily the stand out contests in terms of what the bout means on the wider boxing world.

To open the show we had a 4 rounder which saw the debuting Farruh Faiziev (1-0) score a solid victory over Mohir Yuldashev (3-2). This was swiftly followed by more under-card action including a bout for novice professional Uktamjon Rahmonov (2-0) who managed to over-come the much more experienced James Onyango (16-9-1, 14). Although Onyango had the edge in experience he was no match for Rahmonov, who reached the quarter finals in the 2012 Olympics. We'd really advise fans to keep his name in their memory for the future.

Although Rahmonov failed to score a stoppage several other bouts did fail to go the distance. These included Isroil Qurbonov's (8-8-1, 3) bout with Abror Oripov (4-4-2, 1), which saw Ourbonov stopping his rival in 4 rounds, Aik Shakhnazaryan's (10-0, 3) contest with George Owano (11-10-1, 2), which saw Owano stopped in 2, and the very exciting looking contest between Ravshan Hudaynazarov (17-0, 13) and Mustafa Katende (9-1, 7) which saw Hudaynazarov scoring a 4th round TKO.

The only only other bout on the show saw Bahyt Abdurahimov (11-8, 5) getting upset by the less experienced Ruslan Berchuk (8-2, 4) over the 8 round distance.

Davao del Sur, Philippines
Over in the Philippines we had more Asian action, some of which featured the very recognisable name of Pacquiao.

The main event here saw Marlon Tapales (24-2, 10) defeating Indonesian Galih Susanto (7-3, 1) in what looks to have been a bit of a mismatch. Susanto was a late replacement for Tapales though he never really had much of a chance to win the contest against the very talented, and world ranked, Tapales. 

In the co-feature we had a much more competitive contest as Rey Las Pinas (18-8-5, 11) twice picked himself off the canvas to score a draw with Jhon Gemino (10-2-1, 4). The bout, at it's core, proved that Pinas was nothing great and doesn't have much in terms of a chin despite having only been stopped twice.

We had expected the unbeaten "Golden Boy" Jack Tepora to be on the card. Unfortunately it seems Tepora was pulled out prior to the contest, though in it's place we got an absolute thriller as Edward Mansito (9-1-2, 5) narrowly beat Kenny Demecillo (6-2-1, 3). We had expected Tepora to take care of Mansito but instead we got a genuinely special bout with Demecillo being dropped twice, Mansito being dropped once and looking out of it before mounting a remarkable comeback. Brilliant contest!

The only other result bout from this card that we have featured Pacquiao. No, not Manny Pacquiao but his nephew Joneil Dapidran Pacquiao (3-0, 1) who swiftly took care of Jhofel Camo-Camo (4-6, 2) to extend his winning record and record his first stoppage. We're not sure on how much actual potential there is with Pacquiao but with his name and uncle it's fair to say that he will be getting extra attention and will be under additional scrutiny.