This past Saturday was a busy day in the world of boxing with fights all over the place involving some wonderfully talented fighters.

Nevada, USA
On a Golden Boy Promotions show in Nevada we had two Asian fighters in action and both had lost there most recent bout.

The first in action was OPBF Welterweight champion Yoshihiro Kamegai (25-2-1, 22). Kamegai was fighting for the first time since his all action loss to Robert Guerrero in June and managed to make very light work of the over matched Oscar Godoy (13-4, 6). Godoy was down several times before eventually being stopped by Kamegai who is now 2-2-1 (2) in the US. Kamegai was watched by fellow Teiken fighters Takashi Miura and Shinsuke Yamanaka who were in attendance for the contest.

The other Asian fighter was former WBA Light Heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10) who stopped Bobby Thomas Jr (14-3-1, 9). Shumenov was fighting as a fully blown Cruiserweight for the first time and although he is ranked #2 by the WBA it's hard to see him winning a world title at his new weight.

Nevada, USA
On a Top Rank promoted show, also in the US, we had two Russian's in action.

The first of those was Denis Shaifkov (35-1-1, 19) who over-came the heavy handed Miguel Angel Mendoza (21-5-2, 21) in an entertaining contest. The fight was shown on Toprank.tv and seemed to be about keeping Shafikov busy ahead of a possible world title fight in early 2015.

The other Russian was former amateur standout Matt Korobov (24-1, 14) who was stopped in 6 rounds by Irishman Andy Lee (34-2, 24). The bout, for the WBO Middleweight title, was one of the worst of the weekend with a very slow start, consisting of 4 rounds of the two men failing to engage. When the two did start to come to blows at the start of round 6 they hurt each other with Korobov failing to recover before Lee wailed away and forced referee Kenny Bayless to step in and stop the previously unbeaten Korobov.

Nuevo León, Mexico
In Mexico fans had the opportunity to see former IBF Light Flyweight champion John Riel Casimero (21-2, 13) in action, albeit not for long. Casimero, fighting in an IBF Flyweight eliminator, destroyed Armando Santos (14-4-1, 8) in just 2 rounds. Santos was dropped in the opening round by a huge left hand before being dismantled at the start of round 2 by the Filipino road warrior who will now be looking for an opportunity to become a 2-weight world champion.

Osaka, Japan
In Osaka fans got the chance to see a small card which was headlined by Satoru Sugita (9-2-1, 6) who scored a 5th round TKO against Akira Shono (7-7-2, 4) with a devastating flurry of shots.

In the chief support bout fans saw a decision win for the light hitting Il Che (7-8-4, 1) who easily over-came Tomonori Ota (6-5, 4). Che used excellent movement and was a run away winner in a bout that was surprisingly 1-sided given the records of the two men involved.

The other notable supporting bout saw the light hitting Tatsunori Fukunaga (5-5, 2) score just his 2nd stoppage win in 10 bouts as he over-came the debuting Anucha Sor Soda (0-1) from Thailand.

The 6 under-card bouts here were all 4 rounders and many were close, in fact only 1 of the under-card bouts failed to go the distance as Maya Uegaki (1-0, 1) began her career with a 2nd round KO of fellow debutant Shizuka Nakamura (0-1).

The closest of the under-card contests saw Masaru Hasegawa (0-2-1) fighting to a draw with Kewpie Tsubawa (0-1-1) though there nearly a second draw as Takashi Okura (3-3, 1) take a majority decision over the win-less Daiki Haraguchi (0-8). Ryo Ishida (2-1, 1) narrowly escaped with a win as he over-came Shota Oka (1-1) with a razor thin decision and Koji Nakamura (4-6) took a close one over Ryuto Araya (2-7-1, 2). The only clear cut decision here saw the unbeaten Takuya Uehara (3-0, 1) clearly beat Thai visitor San Saknarong (0-1).

Metro Manila, Philipines
Filipino fans got a rather interesting domestic card from Metro Manila which featured several interesting contests.

The most interesting of those was one of two GAB title fights on the card. This one in particular saw Benezer Alolod (16-5-5, 5) narrowly over-come Renren Tesorio (13-6-3, 4) to retain the GAB Light Flyweight title. Alolod scored the win with a split decision but it could easily have gone the other way.

The other title fight on this show left nothing to chance as Dan Nazareno Jr (21-12, 17) showed off his power and retained his GAB Welterweight title with an opening round blow out against Dennis Padua (9-10-2, 4) in what always looked like a mismatch.

Both of the chief support contests ended in the 9th round. The most entertaining of those was a knock-down filled Super Bantamweight bout that saw Danilo Gabisay (6-3, 4) stopping the Angelito Merin (7-5-3, 1). Merin was down 4 times as Gabisay battered his light hitting foe. In the other support bout Ernesto Saulong (16-1-1, 6) stopped Jimmy Aducal (8-4-2, 6) dropping Aducal prior to the stoppage.

Lower down the card Toto Landero (4-0-1, 1) narrowly kept his unbeaten record intact with a narrow majority decision win over Jeven Villavite (3-3-3, 1). We had a minor upset as Julius Bala (4-2, 1) dominated Arnil Caoctoy (5-3, 2) en route to scoring a 2nd round TKO. We also saw a female contest as former world title challenger Jessebelle Pagaduan (7-1, 4) took a clear decision over the debuting Florivic Montero (0-1)

Eastern Cape, South Africa
Staying with Filipino's it's fair to say one of them won't be happy in the run up to Christmas. That will be Michael Dasmarinas (18-2, 11) who will have felt the judges gave a gift to South African Lwandile Sityatha (18-3-1, 7). The Filipino went to Sityatha's homeland in an attempt to claim the IBO Super Flyweight title but was “beat” by split decision with score cards that were all over the place.

On the same card Marbon Bodiongan (11-2-2, 9) came up short against Xolani Mcotheli (11-1, 8) in a bout scored a clear win for the South African fighter, who won the IBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title. From what we're been told this was a near shut out by the South African fighter.

Kiev, Ukraine
In Ukraine fans saw unbeaten Kazakh Roman Zhailauov (13-0, 8) continue on his winning ways with a stay busy bout against the win-less Artem Komar (0-3). We like Zhailauov but cannot understand why 2014 has been such a write off for such a young and talented boxer who could have achieved so much more this year.

Victoria, Australia
In Australia fans saw Thailand's Terdkiat Siththeppitak (1-9) suffer his 9th straight loss as he was out pointed by the debuting Kayne Pettifer (1-0) in a 4 round contest.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp and Sumio Yamada)

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)

In regards to action in Asia this past Saturday was dreadful with not a single card, that we're aware of taking place at all. Thankfully though a sprinkling of Asian fighters were in action across the rest of the world with some mixed results.

Washington DC, USA
The highest profile bout of the day in regards to Asian fighters was sadly the most disappointing as Beibut Shumenov (14-2, 9) was beaten by American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2-2, 32). The fight, a Light Heavyweight unification bout, lacked real drama and Shumenov was unusually tame as he fell into Hopkins's trap of fighting a slow fight. Despite being 49 Hopkins proved once again that he is a real genius in the ring and whether you like him or not he's a sure fire first ballot Hall of Fame entrant when ever he decides to hang up his gloves.

Florida, USA
On a separate US card fans got to see the highly touted, and now world ranked, Russian Middleweight Matt Korobov (23-0, 14) score a stay busy win over the completely over-matched Emil Gonzalez (11-8-1, 8). The only thing Gonzalez had for himself going into this fight was the fact he hadn't been stopped in 19 previous contests though at the end of round 6 he was retired from the contest giving Korobov his first victory of the year.

Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
Surprisingly we had two Asian fighters in action in Tanzania. 

The more surprising of the two bout on this show saw Iranian novice Sajjad Mehrabi (1-0-2) core a very unexpected draw with Francis Cheka (30-8-2, 16). Cheka, who has been in with some genuine world class fighters, was expected to score an easy win though this draw for the 28 year old Mehrabi is certainly a great result and shows that there is perhaps some talent in Iran even if it is still an untapped country for boxing.

The other other Asian on this card was also a man willing to play spoiler. This time it was Thailand's Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (13-2, 8), a former PABA Super Bantamweight champion, who did the job as he scored an opening round TKO victory over the more experienced Francis Miyeyusho (37-11-2, 23). Miyeyusho was down twice before the referee stopped the contest and gave him his 10th stoppage loss in 50 bouts.

(Picture, of Sukkasem Kietyongyuth, courtesy of boxrec.com)