Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans had the chance to see the latest Dangan show, Dangan 136, which wasn't the best card on paper though did feature a title bout and several other contests of note.

The main event was that aforementioned title bout and it saw the IBF world ranked Middleweight Akio Shibata (26-8-1, 12) successfully retain his Japanese and OPBF titles. The talented Watanbe gym fighter looked in fine form as her forced a doctor's stoppage of Yasuyuki Akiyama (10-5-1, 8), who's face was a mess when the bout was finally halted in round 8. The talented Shibata, who is best known for losing to a debuting Ryota Murata in 2013, is now on a 5 fight winning streak, with 3 successive stoppages. He'll be hoping to continue that run later this year when he should be facing Koki Tyson Maebara in the next defense of his titles.

On paper the most well matched bout was a Super Featherweight contest between Tsuyoshi Tojo (12-13-5, 2) and Masaki Saito (12-10-5, 3). These two fought to a 4 round technical draw last Novemeber and today they fought to another draw with the judges scoring the bout a split draw over 8 rounds. Maybe it's just us, but how about a trilogy ins search of a winner next time out guys?

Another 8 rounder on this card saw former Japanese champion Masaaki Serie (26-8, 10) score a very one-sided decision win over Filipino visitor Roman Canto (10-7-2, 5). Serie had lost his last 2, and 3 of his last 4, but looked sharp against Canto, who is now 0-3 in Japan.

This card featured a trio of 6 rounders. One of those ended in a minor upset as Reiya Abe (9-2, 4) out pointed the previously unbeaten Ryo Hino (5-1-1, 2). The scored for this one were all in favour of Abe but were all over the place with one judge having it 58-57 whilst another had it 60-55. Thankfully all the judges got the right winner even if the cards didn't really match up with each other.

Another of the 6 rounders saw Takahiro Araki (7-4, 3) take a technical decision over Ryosuke Suzuki (4-4) whilst the other saw Yutaka Motoyoshi (5-8, 4) take his first decision win in a very one sided victory against Hitoshi Ando (4-10-1, 3).

In 4 rounders fans saw the unbeaten Jin Miura (5-0, 1) extend his run with a decision over Shun Wakabayashi (4-2, 1) whilst the debuting Yuni Takada (1-0) out pointed Kohei Oshima (0-1) in an all debutant contest.

Ifugao, Philippines
Sadly we don't have all the results from a small Filipino show in Ifugao, though we do know that 19 year debutant Robles Gamboc (1-0, 1) blew away the win-less Maurito Placios Jr (0-5) inside a round.

Queensland, Australia
There was also two bout of note in Australia as two Aussie based Thai's were in action.

One of the bouts ended in a shock with Paitoon Jaikom (5-15, 2) claiming a surprise decision win over Cyrus Peri (4-2-1, 2). This was Jaikom's 4th win in 6 bouts following a 1-12 start to his professional career, and amazingly comes just a week after he beat debutant Jakob Daureen.

A significantly less surprising result was the loss for Arnon Yucareon (0-11-1), who was out pointed by Matt Burgoyne (3-0, 2). Although Arnon lost he will have earned some credit for being the first man to go the distance with Burgoyne, who had won his first 2 bouts with opening round KO's

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Thursday saw shows in both Japan and the Philippines and there was plenty of notable action.

Tokyo, Japan
The biggest of the two shows came from Tokyo where we had a bit of everything, from prospects looking to emerge through the ranks to veterans looking to win titles and continue their careers.

We'll start with that title bout which saw the 37 year Filipino fighter Dennis Laurente (49-5-5, 30) claim the OPBF Light Middleweight title with a 6th round TKO of Japan's 37 year old Tadashi Yuba (46-10-2, 33). Yuba, a former 5-weight Japanese champion, looked his age here as Laurente stormed inside and broke him up before knocking him down where the referee stopped the bout. For Yuba this could be the end whilst Laurente has become a 2-weight OPBF champion winning this belt 13 years after winning the OPBF Lightweight title.

In a Heavyweight clash fans saw Japanese champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (11-1, 6) widely out point Frenchman David Radeff (5-9-2, 2). Fujimoto did a number on Radeff but couldn't quite finish off the Frenchman who was returning to Japan following a previous loss to Nobuhiro Ishida and it now seems likely that we will see a much talked about rematch between Ishida and Fujimoto.

In a highly competitive contest former Japanese title challenger Kinshiro Usui (22-4, 10) beat form Japanese champion Masaaki Serie (25-8, 10) with a split decision. For Usui it was a great win given he has been out of the ring for over 3 years though unfortunately for Serie t continues his downward spiral which has now seen him losing 3 of his last 4 and retirement does look likely for him given his current down turn.

In an interesting 8 rounder at Flyweight fans saw Yuta Matsuo (7-1-1, 4) take a hard fought decision over Yota Hori (12-3-2, 7). Another 8 rounder at Flyweight saw Katsunori Nagamine (10-0, 6) continue his unbeaten run by clearly defeating Ryuto Oho (6-2-1, 2). The promising Nagamine had been inactive for over a year coming into this bout though still had no problems building on his 9 fight winning streak.

In the opening bout on the show fans saw Yoshia Tome (1-1-1) score his first win as he took a narrow victory over Shunya Saito (0-1-1).

Iloilo, Philippines
In the Philippines got their own show though it was at a much lower level than the card in Japan.

In the main event here fans saw Juren Labordo (14-2, 9) score a 7th round TKO against compatriot Jaymart Toyco (14-7, 10) whilst in the co-feature the unbeaten Arjan Canillas (9-0-2, 7) scored a 3rd round TKO over Roy Sumugat (9-11-1, 3).

In the sole 6 rounder Geo Santisima (4-2, 3) scored an opening round KO against John Rey Melligen (3-3, 2).

On the undercard we saw a trio of fighters remain unbeaten. One of those was Virgel Vitor (2-0, 1) who took a decision over the win-less Jimboy Rosales (0-2), another of those was Melvin Jerusalem (3-0, 2) who stopped the debuting Jomar Ceneta (0-1) in the second round, the other bout saw Gerard Suico (2-0, 2) score an opening round KO over Ronald Ombing (0-1)

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

It's fair to say this past Friday lacked activity in a big way. There was very little to comment about or be excited about. Saturday however was the complete opposite with more notable bouts than some weeks have had so far this year. In fact we had 4 world title fights, 2 former world title challengers and numerous contenders, pretenders and prospects.

New Jersey, USA
The most notable bout of the weekend for us was in New Jersey as WBO Light Heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (24-0-1, 23) successfully retained his world title with a 2nd round TKO over the previously unbeaten Blake Caparello (19-1-1, 6). Kovalev was officially knocked down in the opening round, after having hsi foot stopped on by southpaw Caparello, though managed to get up with no issues to then beat up the Australian challenger. Poor Caparello was almost snapped in half by a body shot early in round 2 and was dropped twice more in the round forcing the referee to wave the bout off.

Following the bout Kovalev was interviewed ringside along with Bernard Hopkins and now the two are set to fight in November in a huge unification bout at 175lbs.

On the same card in New Jersey another Russian was victorious as Dmitry Mikhaylenko (17-0, 6) dominated Sechew Powell (26-6, 15) in a 1-sided Light Middleweight bout. The only issue with this contest was the lack of power that Mikhaylenko had which allowed the bout to go the 8 round distance.

Nevada, USA
Staying in the US, and staying on the theme of Russian's, it wasn't a good night for the previously unbeaten Anton Novikov (29-1-0-1, 10) who was widely out pointed by Jessie Vargas (25-0, 9) in a WBA Light Welterweight title fight. For all intents and purposes this was a thoroughly competitive bout which neither guy dominated and neither guy was really ever hurt though some how the "3 wise men at ringside" managed to see the bout a clear win for Vargas. The result in favour of Vargas was no surprise but the cards, which made the bout seem thoroughly one-sided, were revolting and really need to see the judges looked at.

Sadly on the same card referee Vic Drakulich made headlines by disqualifying Argentinian Diego Chaves in an act that is likely to help disguise just how disgustingly bad the judging was here. We're not sure why but it does seem like this was a bad night for official, in fact actually it was a bad weekend for officials when we look at some of the scorecards from the UK from Friday night.

Tokyo, Japan
It wasn't just Russian men in world title fights this past Saturday and in Japan we had a pair of female world title fights.

The first of those saw the long standing WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (19-2-1, 6) secure her national record setting 14th title defence as she stopped British title challenger Denise Castle (2-1, 2) in 8 rounds. We had expected this bout to be competitive, given that Castle was a former Muay Thai champion, but it ended up being thoroughly 1-sided with Koseki winning the first 7 rounds before forcing a referee's stoppage in round 8. This defence sees Koseki over-taking Yoko Gushiken for the most successive title defences by a Japanese fighter.

On the same card IBF female Light Flyweight champion Naoko Shibata (13-3, 4) proved she was still improving as a fighter as she stopped Mexican veteran Ana Arrazola (20-10-2, 13) in 9 rounds. As with Koseki's bout this one was completely 1-sided before the stoppage though surprisingly this was the first stoppage loss suffered by Arrazola in 32 fights suggesting that Shibata isn't as feather fisted as we had all imagine.

As well as the world title bouts this show also featured 5 other bouts on the under-card. The most important of which was an 8 round majority draw between Ryuji Yokoyama (11-1-1, 3) and Ken Achiwa (9-11-3, 3). Interestingly one judge had Achiwa as a relatively clear winner, 77-74, whilst the others both had the bout 76-76. The Yokoyama/Achiwa draw was one of 3 draws on this card with Daishi Nagata (0-0-1) fighting to a 6 round draw with Takeshi Inoue (0-0-1) and Ryusuke Arai (0-2-1) fighting to a 4 round draw with Shunya Saito (0-0-1).

Thankfully the other two under-card bouts did see winners crowned. In a 6 rounder we saw Takashi Sakamoto (5-3, 1) out point Kyohei Tsunashima (4-4, 3) whilst in a 4 round the debuting Shunsuke Nakamura (1-0) took a very narrow decision over Handsome Mizukami (0-1) in an all debutant affair.

Tokyo, Japan
A second show in Japan featured two former world title challengers in action and despite being a "lesser" show on paper was just as interesting as the double world title show.

The show began with a number of 4 rounders including yet another draw as Satoru Todaka (2-1-1, 1) failed to over-come Rei Ochiai (2-3-4). Another of the 4 rounders saw Tasuku Nakagawa (1-0, 1) claim his first victory as he over-came Sho Nagata (1-1, 1) in a 4 round decision. Another man who took a 4 round decision was Kazuma Ishiura (3-3, 1) who defeated Kenta Taguchi (2-6-1). Only one of the 4 rounders failed to reach the final bell and that due to Takahiko Suzuki (4-1, 3) stopping Bejita Ishikawa (2-7-2, 1) with 81 seconds of the bout left to go.

In the only 6 rounder on the card we saw a blow out as the hotly tipped Koki Koshikawa (2-0, 1) blasted out Yujiro Nakamura (4-8-1, 2) in just 122 seconds. Koshikawa appears to be very talented and if he continues to notch up solid victories it's only a matter of time before he will find himself in the title mix at 140lbs.

The sole 8 rounder on the show also featured an early conclusion as Yota Hori (12-2-2, 7) saw off Musashi Suzuki (10-3, 4) late in the final round.

On paper the best bout on the show was the co-feature which saw former OPBF Super Flyweight champion Ryo Akaho (24-1-2, 16) out point former Japanese Super Bantamweight champion Masaaki Serie (25-7, 10). The bout had a lot of promise though sadly it never really came alive as one would have hoped with Serie being able to keep the bout at a frustratingly slow pace whilst Akaho managed to land the more telling blows.

The main event was saw former WBA Super Featherweight world title challenger Daiki Kaneko (21-3-3, 14) stop the out matched Cirilo Espino (19-14-3, 12) in 4 rounds due to a cut. Prior to the stoppage Espino had been dropped and looked out classed. Kaneko may well be the best fighter at 130lbs without a title though we're hoping to see him in a title bout by the end of the year.

Cebu, Philippines
As well as the two shows in Japan there were also two shows in the Philippines. At the moment we only have the results from one of these shows, the one Cebu.

The undercard on this show saw Prex Cabilla (1-2) score his first victory as he defeated the still win-less Honorato Boc (0-2) with a 4 round decision. In another 4 rounder Elias Joaquino (1-0-1, 1) got off the mark with a 3rd round KO over Garry Rojo (1-8). Another of the undercard bouts, a 6 rounder, saw Carlo Demecillo (3-2, 1) out point journeyman Marlou Talili (5-10, 2).

The car also featured a pair of 8 rounders. These saw Kenny Demecillo (7-2-1, 4) stopping the limited Rogen Flores (13-24-5, 6) in the 6th round and the unbeaten Joey Canoy (6-0-1, 3) over-coming the tough Junior Salvador (5-19-3) in a clear 8 round decision, a decision made wider by the fact Salvador has a point deducted in round 4 for low blows.

Canoy wasn't the only unbeaten fighter to extend his winning run as Neil John Tabanao (8-0, 6) over-came Jhon Gemino (10-3-1, 4) in a 10 round decision victory. This was the best win so far for Tabanao and it's clear that he can step up following this win. Tabanao's win was followed by a victory for a very impressive stoppage victory for Ardie Boyose (11-0-1, 8) who stopped Richard Betos (20-9-1, 7) in just 2 rounds. What made this win all the more impressive was the fact that it was just the second time Betos had been stopped in 30 fights!

Quintana Roo, Mexico
Staying on the theme of Filipino's there was also one in action in Mexico and one who gave a surprisingly stirring effort. That was Adones Aguelo (21-10-2, 13) who came up short against Mexico's Sergio Thompson (30-3, 26) but gave a very solid effort and one that proved he belonged in there with world class Super Featherweights, despite the loss.

California, USA
Again staying with Filipino there was also one in action in the US. This time it was the hard hitting Drian Francisco (25-2-1, 20) who took home a stoppage victory over Colombian journeyman Manuel de los Reyes Herrera (21-14-1, 15).

(Image courtesy of Sumio Yamada)

This past Saturday may have been all about "The Moment" in terms of boxing but there was other, lower profile action in Asia.

Cebu, Philippines
The card we were looking forward to the most was in the Philippines. The show had promised a world title fight, a handful of top Filipino prospects and was expected to be a show to look forward to. Instead what we got was a disappointment. We still got the prospects but the world title fight was effectively taken from us after the the champion was stripped of their title.

The man who was stripped was the now former IBF Light Flyweight champion John Riel Casimero (20-2, 12), who was stripped of his title for weighing more than 5lbs over the Light Flyweight limit. That weight advantage wasn't needed by Casimero and the class difference was quickly shown as he swiftly dispatched the hapless Mauricio Fuentes (16-3, 10) who was dropped 3 times inside a round. Although Fuentes was "able" to win the title in theory he really shouldn't have been given this opportunity and the fight really was a farce from the second it was announced to the second it was stopped.

Whilst the "world title fight" was a farce we did get some interesting prospect action. Amongst the prospects in action was the very highly touted Harmonito Dela Torre (13-0, 8) who managed to score a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Gadwin Tubigon (10-9-2, 5). Dela Torre's win saw him claim the lightly regarded vacant World Boxing Federation International Super Featherweight title. 

Another of the prospects in action was former amateur stand out Jack Tepora (10-0, 6) who scored a 10th round stoppage over Jo-as Apericio (11-12, 8) to claim the World Boxing Federation International Super Bantamweight title.  Tepora, dubbed "The Golden Boy", claimed his first title with this victory and seems set to move up a level or two in the next year.

The same Filipino show had yet more title action as Rey Labao (26-5, 17) defended his Lightweight title with a 5th round TKO over Rodel Wenceslao (7-8-1, 2) in what was a mismatch, whilst Jessie Cris Rosales (14-0-1, 5) claimed the WBO Asia Pacific Youth Featherweight title with a hard fought 10 round victory over Anthony Sabalde (8-4, 4).

Lower down the card, in 8 round bouts, Jessie Espina (7-1, 3) out pointed the debuting Philip Jun Pronco (0-1) whilst Joey Canoy (5-0-1, 3) out pointed Mark Anthony Florida (8-5, 7).

In the only 6 rounder Jaybie Haya (3-1-1, 2) out pointed the previously unbeaten Carlo Demecillo (2-1, 1). Whilst over the 4 round distance Junuel Lacar (4-1-1, 2) wiped out Honorato Boc (0-1) inside a minute and the previously win-less Eduardo Joaquino (1-1) upset the previously unbeaten Ronnie Tanallon (3-1, 1).

Davao Del Sur, Philippines
On a second Filipino show we saw the return to the ring of the very talented highly promising Jerwin Ancajas (20-1-1, 12) who made very light work of Thai opponent Petchwanchai Sor Visetkit (14-7, 6), scoring an opening round stoppage. This was Ancajas's second stoppage this year over Thai opponents and it seems time that he was stepped up a level. There is little point in such a talented fighter running up a series of these type of wins when he could well be fighting his way to a world title fight.

Tokyo, Japan
Whilst the action in the Philippines stole the day in regards to the Asian fight scene there was two shows in Japan. One of those was in Tokyo as we got "Dangan 100".

This show began with a female bout that saw Chie Higano (2-0) over-come the debuting Sayaka Aoki (0-1) in a clear decision over 4 rounds. The female bout was one of three 4 rounders with the others both seeing swift stoppages. The swiftest of those stoppages came inside a round as the debuting Ryu Ueda (1-0, 1) scored an 83 second victory over Taisho Sugano (0-2), the other stoppage came part way through the second round as Hisao Narita (5-1, 3) stopped Naoya Kaneko (3-2, 3).

The only 6 rounder on "Dangan 100" saw the debut of the very highly touted former amateur stand out Kenya Noguchi (1-0) who out pointed Hideharu Takahashi (6-10, 2), Noguchi is a teenager we've been told is "an outstanding talent" and we'd advise fight fans to follow him intently.

Following the under-card we than had a foursome of feature bouts. None of them featured world class fighters but all 4 were interesting contests on paper.

The first of those bouts saw Johnreil Maligro (11-0, 8) out point the unbeaten Tatsuya Yanagi (10-1, 4) in a genuinely excellent match up. Maligro, known as Jun Sakura, got easily the most impressive victory of his career and the 19 year old really does have the potential to go on and win titles if he continues to develop like he seems to be.

Following Maligro's fantastic victory we then saw former Japanese title challenger Ryuta Otsuka (14-6-2, 4) score a stoppage over Yosuke Fujihara (14-3, 4). For Otsuka this was his first stoppage in well over 2 years whilst it was Fujihara's second successive stoppage loss.

In the chief support bout fans got to see former Japanese Super Bantamweight champion Masaaki Serie (25-6, 10) out point Filipino visitor Michael Escobia (10-7-1, 2) in what turned out to be an very hard fought and competitive match up. Although not an old fighter in terms of years, the 31 year old does look like an older fighter and perhaps needs a break from the ring.

A former opponent of Serie was also in action on the card, that was Rikiya Fukuhara (29-7-1, 21). Fukuhara, a hard hitter, made light work of Filipino fighter Jaderes Padua (9-4-1, 6) scoring an opening round KO. After the fight Fukuhara called out Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono. We can't help but think that Hosono would stop Fukuhara, as he did in a previous meeting between the two men, but it'll certainly be fun.

Osaka, Japan
A second show in Japan was headlined by Hiroshige Osawa (25-3-4, 14) stopping the game Kosuke Saka (8-3, 5). Saka fought well but was stopped due to a nasty injury. Osawa, a former OPBF champion, is really rebuilding his career after a year long suspension by the JBC for taking part in an unsanctioned contest in South Korea.

(Picture, courtesy of Celes Boxing Gym, is of Noguchi)

This past Wednesday saw just a single Asian show with it taking place in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo. This show, "Dangan 90", featured 9 fights in total though it was just 1 of them that really stood out, the main event, in terms of attention and name value.

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

The show,the final "Dangan" card of the year saw a meeting of former Japanese champions Super Bantamweight champions as Rikiya Fukuhara (28-7-1, 20) managed to out point Masaaki Serie (24-6, 10). Fukuhara forced the pace early and was on the offensive as he took an early lead. Although Serie tried to come back in to the bout it was too little too late and none of the judges felt he had done quite enough, though the score of 76-75 did suggest that he was closer to winning than he really was. For Fukuhara this is a key win and one that could keep him in the hunt for another title fight somewhere in 2014 though retirement does loom for the veteran who turned 35 today.

One of the chief support bouts was an explosive encounter as Kengo Nagashima (13-10-2, 12) scored a 5th round stoppage over Tatsuya Miyazaki (8-5-1, 8). The bout always seemed likely to finish inside the distance with both men having chilling power and it was that power of Nagashima's that was used to the better effect. For Nagashima this is a great turn around for his career. He had lost 4 fights inside 10 months between 2011-2012 though has now won 3 of his last 4 and his career seems to be on the right tracks. For Miyazaki this is a 4th loss in 7.

The biggest shock on the card came in the other chief support bout as Tomoyuki Omura (8-3, 3) was upset by Yasuhiro Okawa (11-11-3, 3). Although this was Omura's first bout over the 8 round distance it was still hugely disappointing with him losing very clearly on the score cards.

The sole 6 rounder on the card surprisingly ended in a draw with Junpei Sakagami (4-2-3, 3) fighting to a split draw with Takumi Koyama (7-2-1, 5). The scoring was a bit all over the place with one jusdge going 58-57 to Sakagami, another going 59-56 to Koyama before the third judge's card of 57-57 lead us to the draw.

The undercard was primarily formed from 5 bouts sheduled for the 4 round distance. These saw 3 contests going the distance. in those 3 distance bouts all were close as Haruka Itakura (3-0) took a split decision over Masaya Kohama (1-2-1), Tatsuro Jin (2-0, 1) took a majority decision over Kosuke Higuchi (1-1, 1) whilst Daisuke Uchikawa (0-1-1) fought to a draw with the debuting Manabu Yamaguchi (0-0-1).

The other 2 bouts went just 5 rounds between them. These saw the debuting Kenya Yamashita (1-0, 1) stopping Kazuma Fukino (0-2) in the 3rd round whilst Shogo Dairakuin (2-0, 1)  finished off Satoshi Hongo (1-1) part way through round 2.