Saturday was a major day for Asian boxing fans and it turned out to be a memorable one, with one Japanese youngster continuing his development towards being a star, a major surprise in the Philippines and a show in India.

Aichi, Japan
The action kicked off incredibly early with a major show from Japan that was headlined by a young fighter looking to make history.

That young fighter was fast rising star Kosei Tanaka (5-0, 2) who claimed the WBO Minimumweight title with a clear decision victory over Mexican Julian Yedras (24-2, 13). Tanaka, who beat Naoya Inoue's Japanese record for the fewest fights to win a world title, looked sensational at times, despite showing some defensive flaws. Interestingly it seems like we're now heading towards a unification bout between Tanaka and compatriot Katsunari Takayama.

In an unexpectedly competitive bout Yushi Tanaka (14-0-3, 9) was pushed all the way by the gutsy but limited Mako Matsuyama (7-9-2, 3). Tanaka claimed the majority decision but didn't look as good as he'd have hoped and it seems clear that he has a lot of developing to do before he thinks about fighting for domestic title, especially at Bantamweight.

Another unexpectedly competitive bout contest saw Shota Hayashi (25-5-1, 15) take a majority win over Yasuyuki Otagaki (5-4-3, 1). This was Otagaki's third straight loss but he's much better than his record illustrates and we'd not be shocked to see him continue to test good fighters. For Hayashi this performance was disappointing though it did extend his current unbeaten run to 11 fights.

The undercard of this show featured 4 other bouts, all of which went the distance.

One of the most competitive saw Yuta Ando (2-0) take a very slim decision over decision over Yoshiaki Inoue (2-5-1, 1) whilst another close bout saw Retsu Kosaka (2-0) over-come the debuting Ryosuke Matsutani (0-1). A clearer decision saw Jinya Ito (2-0) take a slight shock win over Tamaki Miwa (2-1, 1) whilst the debuting Kentaro Yoshida (1-0) took a very clear win over Takumi Koroki (0-3)

Baja California, Mexico
In Mexico we had another title fight as Milan Melindo (32-2, 12) took on IBF Light Flyweight champion Javier Mendoza (24-2-1, 19). Sadly for Melindo he was unable to over-come the hard hitting Mexican who took charge of the bout early on before headclashes forced the bout to the scorecards at the end of round 6. Melindo had been deducted points for low blows and certainly didn't make any friends with his performance, though he did show guts to fight back against a very aggressive Mendoza.

Sadly for Melindo this was his second loss in a world title bout and it may be a while before he gets another. As for Mendoza there is some very interesting match ups that he could be involved in, such as fights with Ryo Miyazaki or Rey Loreto.

Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
Filipino fans had an interesting show more local to home, but unfortunately results from the show haven't yet become fully available.

One result we do have was a real shock as Jason Canoy (24-5-2, 18) scored an exceptional opening round TKO against former WBA “interim” Super Flyweight champion Drian Francisco (27-3-1, 21). Francisco was dropped 3 times inside the first round.

Another result we have from this card was a 5th round TKO win for the unbeaten Romero Duno (6-0, 5) who saw off Arnel Acebuque (4-4, 4).

Dongducheon, South Korea
On a KBC sanctioned card in Korea fans got the chance to see a number of novices in action as part of the KBC's attempts to “Create a Champion”.

In the sole 6-rounder on the card Tae Kyung Um (2-5-2, 2) scored a 6th round TKO against Min Wook Lee (2-2), who suffered his second stoppage defeat. Interestingly this bout was Lee's second in the space of 2-weeks.

Another stoppage on this card saw Sung Il Lim (1-0, 1) begin his career with a 4th round TKO against Jin Suk Lee (0-1). A third bout that failed to go the distance saw Se Yul Yang (0-0-1) fighting to a technical draw with Gun Woo Gang (0-0-1).

One of the few bouts that went the distance saw Min Young Kim (1-0-1) extend his unbeaten run with a decision over I Hoon Jung (0-1). Another bout that went the distance saw Won Suk Lee (1-0-1) take a majority decision over Woo Min Kim (1-1).

???, South Korea
In a second South Korean show fans saw Ji Hyun Park (21-2, 6) take a 6th round TKO victory over Thailand's limited Yokfah Mor Krungthepthonburi (9-9). With this win Park claimed the WIBA title at 102lbs. From what we understand this show was held under the auspices of the the KBA.

New Dehli, India
Whilst there was a card in India we sadly don't have the results as of yet.

Texas, USA
In Texas we saw two Asian fighters suffering stoppage losses.

The first of those was Middleweight journeyman Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (11-21, 9) who suffered his 6th straight loss courtesy of a 5th round TKO defeat to Milorad Zizic (12-1, 6). Yusubov has now suffered a trio of successive stoppage losses and we do wonder how much longer he'll continue to fight.

The other man to come up short was Filipino veteran Juanito Rubillar (49-23-7, 24) who suffered a 4th round TKO to former world champion Joseph Agbeko (30-5, 23). Rubillar was fighting for the first time since August 2013, when he was stopped by Rey Vargas, and at 38 years old we hope this is the last time he'll be in the ring.

Connecticut, USA
Staying in the US there was also a loss for Timur Shailezov (17-10-1, 4) who was widely out-pointed by the unbeaten Nate Green (8-0, 2). Shailezov has now lost 8 of his last 9 bouts and it seems clear that he's becoming little more than a journeyman, however he did manage to take a few rounds from Green here.

Queensland, Australia
Another Asian losing on the road was Fernando Ocon (13-9-1, 5) who suffered a unanimous decision loss to Jason Cooper (14-2-1, 7) in a bout for the WBA Oceania Super Bantamweight title. Ocon has now gone 1-4-1 in his last 6 bouts.


(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This Saturday was certainly a busy day in Asian boxing with several notable cards taking place. For now we know we're missing some results though hope to have them added short. For now however we've got all the results we've managed to collect.

Cebu City, Philippines
The biggest card of the day, by some margin in regards to the Asian fight scene, was in the Philippines where ALA Promotions put on the 28th “Pinoy Pride” show. The show was full of names really was a great card for those lucky enough to catch it with an unexpected FOTY contender, the continued development of one of the best prospects in world boxing and a world title fight being 3 of the many notable stories on the card.

The first of the notable fights featured one of the more under-rated prospects in Asian boxing, Mark Magsayo (9-0, 7). Magsayo caught our attention last year on a “Pinoy Pride” card and impressed again today as he easily beat Korean youngster Moon-Sun Jung (2-4-3) in the second round of their clash. On paper, and in the ring, this was a mismatch however Jung had gone 10 rounds in a Korean national title fight just 2 months ago so the fact Magsayo stopped him so quickly was very impressive. We'll not pretend Magsayo is going to be fast tracked to a world title but we'd advise fans to keep an eye out for this talented youngster dubbed “Magnifico”.

Magsayo was far from the only Filipino to impress on this card and another man who impressed was the unknown Jomar Fajardo (14-5-2, 7) who really caught the attention of the fans and media in attendance as he put on a stirring performance to hold Francisco Rodriguez Jr (16-2-1, 11) to a split decision draw. Fajardo entered the bout as a massive under-dog whilst Rodriguez Jr was a unified world champion at Minimumweight and a man with an eye on fighting Donnie Nietes. Fajardo left the bout as man many now want to see against whilst Rodriguez Jr is man who has lost some lustre despite unifying the WBO and IBF Minimuweight titles this year.

Another fighter who thoroughly impressed was the unbeaten "Prince" Albert Pagara (22-0, 15) who defended his IBF Inter-Continental Super Bantamweight title with a punch perfect performance against the teak tough Mexican Raul Hirales (22-4-1, 11). Hirales's only contribution to this fight was his heart and toughness and for 12 rounds he was the recipient of head and clean shots by Pagara who seemed to be ready for much, much tougher assignments, in fact a world title bout in 2015 isn't out of the question for this wonderfully gifted young fighter who has superstar written all over him.

In the show's main event we again saw an impressive performance by the home fighter as WBO Light Flyweight world champion Donnie Nietes (34-1-4, 20) recorded the 5th defence of the title as he defeated Carlos Velarde (26-4-1, 14). Nietes started slowly and worked our what Velarde had to offer before moving through the gears in round 4 and 5 to eventually break down the Mexican challenger who retired on his stool at the end of round 7. We'll be honest the bout was disappointing given our expectations but there was no doubt about the better man despite the rather anti-climatic ending to the bout. Nietes now appears to have 2 clears options, he can either begin his pursuit of a title at Flyweight, as we suspect the original plan was, or he could fight Rodriguez Jr in 2015 to add another defence to his record. Either option would be interesting and we're looking forward to seeing what he does next.

Of course not all the Filipino fighters on the show were impressive and it's fair to say that the least impressive, at least in terms of result, was former WBO Minimumweight champion Merlito Sabillo (23-2-1, 12) who suffered his second stoppage defeat of the year. Sabillo was making his return to the ring following his first loss, a stoppage loss to the previously mentioned Rodriguez jr, and fought as if he had the need to make an impression on the fans. Sadly for Sabillo he was a bit too wild and was caught by a nasty counter by Indonesian visitor Faris Nenggo (8-7-3, 3) which left Sabillo with an ugly cut that eventually forced the end of the bout in round 4. It was a disappointing fight for the exciting Sabillo though it was a freak result in many ways and it's unlikely he'll ever suffer such a bad cut again.

Former world title contender AJ Banal (32-2-1, 22) recorded his 4th straight win as he over-came Thai visitor Maxsaisai Sithsaithong (15-6, 4) though left many wondering what was left for Banal. The talented and heavy handed fighter did what he needed to here to take a clear win but it's fair to say that many were hoping he's close the show against his Thai foe who came up short in an OPBF title fight earlier this year.

It's also fair to say that Milan Melindo (32-1, 12) failed to leave a great impression despite a clear win over Saul Juarez (22-4, 11) in an IBF Light Flyweight title eliminator. Melindo was the better fighter through out but failed to show the power he will need to win a world title at 108lbs. His skills are great, as shown again, but his lack of power really is going to be an issue every time he fights a top tier fighter.

Deagu, South Korea
As well as the action in the Philippines we also had titles on offer in South Korea where there were 2 national title fights on a small but yet interesting card as the Korean boxing scene continues to grow, despite what appears to be two clearly different factions action as a commission.

In a somewhat farcical Super Middleweight title bout fans saw Eun Chang Lee (8-4, 4) successfully defend his title with a 6th round TKO against the woefully undeserving Young Kyoon Lee (1-14-1). We're unsure how Lee qualified for a title fight given that he's not recorded a win in almost 6 years though thankfully his win-less streak continued here or it really would have been an embarrassment for the title to have been held by such an unqualified champion.

Thankfully the other title fight on this show was much more entertaining in the ring and interesting on paper as Ik Soo Han (7-3, 2) took on Jon Won Won (7-14-1, 3). The bout saw Han winning the previously vacant Korean Super Featherweight title with a 4th round knockout of Won though had to pull himself off the canvas earlier in the round in what made for an entertaining contest. Sadly for Won this was his 8th loss in a Korean title fight and comes some 30 months after being stopped in a Korean Lightweight title bout by IK Yang.

As well as the two title bouts we also had two female bouts. One of those was an 8 rounder that saw Hye Soo Park (4-7-1, 1) take a dominant decision over Thai visitor Dorkmaipah Kiatpompetch (0-4) in a contest that saw the Korean winning every round of the bout. The other female bout saw Hyun Sook Jun (3-1, 2) scoring a 4th round TKO over Pantip Sor Suwannaresort (0-3).

The rest of the undercard featured a featured a pair of 4 rounders. These saw Sung Hwan Kim (2-0-3) take a decision over the win-less Jin Soo Jung (0-5) in a bout scored 39-37 by all 3 judges whilst the debuting Jung Ho Jang (1-0, 1) took out Eun Jin Kim (0-1) in the 4th round of their bout.

Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
There were two shows in Thailand with one of them coming from Nakhon Nayok. This show was headlined by a WBC regional title fight that saw a controversial ending following a clear low blow by Petchchorhae Kokietgym (9-0, 6) in round 3 that sent Indonesia's Rizky Pratama (2-1) down in agony. The Indon fighter got to his feet but the bout was waved off to give the bout a genuine bizarre finish.

On the undercard we saw recent world title contender Terdsak Kokietgym (54-5-1, 34) score an easy win over the over-matched Hengka (0-1) who was taken out with a nasty body shot from the Thai veteran. Although the bout was a mismatch in favour of the talented Thai it did come just weeks after his hard, but very exciting, loss to Orlando Salido in Mexico.

A third bout on this card saw Petchnamchai KKP (2-0, 2) defeat the limited but brave Ricardo Sithsaithong (0-1) in 2 rounds. Sithsaithong tried to give it a go but was hurt and looked lost trying to defend himself until the referee mercifully stepped in.

Chonburi, Thailand
In Chonburi we had the other Thai show that was headlined by South Korean fighter Myung-goo Yuh (22-4-1, 17) who stopped Thailand's very own Mongkol Charoen (25-4, 8) in the 6th round of their scheduled 10 rounder. On the undercard Gurlal Redbluegym 1-0, 1) scored a 4th round win over Watchasin Mukarsa (0-1) whilst Kuldeep Redbluegym (1-0) stopped Rachatapon Tongplia (0-1), sadly we've not come across any footage of these bouts.

Gauteng, South Africa
In South Africa we sadly saw two Russian fighters suffer defeat, albeit in very different fashion.

In a very disappointing performance Denis Grachev (13-5-1, 8) suffered his 4th straight loss, and his 5th in 6 bouts, as he retired on his stool against the unbeaten Thomas Oosthuizen (23-0-2, 14). The bout, for the WBC International Light Heavyweight title, was poor from the beginning though Grachev never once found his form in the bout before running out of steam and being given a bit of a hiding. The retirement in his stool wasn't what was Grachev would have wanted but it does effectively end his hopes of ever landing a world title fight.

In a more controversial contest the previously unbeaten Roman Belaev (14-1, 10) suffered an 11th round technical decision loss to Ali Funeka (36-4-3, 29) in a bout for the IBO Welterweight title. The information on this one is scarce though two cards read 105-104 in favour of the home fighter whilst a third card read 109-100 and we suspect the bout was much closer than that final card.

Tokyo, Japan
Unfortunately we were very slow to get the Japanese results from the day however here they are, a couple of days late.

In the main event Keita Nakano (12-9-3, 3) managed to force a 6th round stoppage against the chinny Takaaki Ishikawa (10-6, 5) in what was scheduled to go 8. This was Ishikawa's 6th stoppage defeat and some need to wonder if he would be better off retiring now, especially given that he has been stopped in 3 of his last 4.

The chief support bout was a 6 rounder that saw Ryuto Araya (7-2-1, 1) scoring his first stoppage victory as he took out Tsubasa Mochizuki (6-5, 2) with less than 30 seconds remaining.

From the 7 bouts scheduled to go 4 rounds we saw another trio of stoppages. The fastest of those came in 98 seconds as debutant Jinya Miyagi (1-0, 1) blew away fellow novice Sho Sekine (0-1). It took Takahiko Suzuki (5-2, 4) most of round 3 to see off Yuji Awata (3-3, 2) whilst Shota Irie (1-1, 1) needed 30 seconds of the final round to defeat Shuhei Hamano (0-2).

In bouts that went the distance we saw 3 very competitive matches. The closest of those saw Toshizane Kinoda (4-1, 1) take a majority decision over Wataru Yokoyama (1-3, 1) in a very close bout. The action was similarly close in Huzuki Saso's (3-1) win over Yuki Uchida (2-2) and in Tasuku Nakagawa's (2-1) win over Yuta Onishi (2-3, 2). The only clear decision winner was Rei Ochiai (3-3-4) who clearly beat Mio Mizokami (4-8-2, 2)

It seems that, in recent weeks, it's been Japanese boxing that has been getting all the headlines. This past Saturday however our main interest was in Filipino fighters with the Philippines hosting two separate shows, both in Metro Manilla.

Metro Manila, Philippines
The bigger of the two Filipino cards was "Pinoy Pride XXV" a show otherwise known as Nietes Vs Fuentes II. With the name of the show coming from the main event which saw Donnie Nietes (33-1-4, 19) dominate Mexico Moises Fuentes (19-2-1, 10).

We had, foolishly, written off Nietes going in to this bout but he looked sensational as he out boxed a fundementally one dimensional Fuentes. The Mexican, who we felt beat Fuentes in their first bout, was tagged from the outside, neutralised up close and eventually stopped in the 9th round by a man who seemed to be wanting to make a statement that he was one of the divisional elite. Unfortunately however it seems unlikely Nietes will get a unification bout though it was said that he'd like a fight with either Juan Francisco Estrada or Roman Gonzalez, we'd love either of those fights.

Although the main event was a clear and dominant victory for the Filipino fighter the support bouts were much, much closer. The closest saw a below par Milan Melindo (31-1, 12) struggle past a game Martin Tecuapetla (11-6-2, 8). Tecuapetla did enter as the #5 ranked Light Flyweight, according to the WBA, but this was still a very poor effort from Melindo who was lucky to escape with a majority decision.

Things were also close for Rey Bautista (35-3, 25) who defeated Sergio Villanueva (26-4-2, 13) in a competitive bout. Bautista, fighting for the first in over a year, was given a very tough time by Villanueva as ring rust showed it's self on the Filipino but victory and decision will do the popular "Boom Boom" the world of good and hopefully help him "fall back in love" with boxing.

Down the card we got to see a number of promising prospects in action. The most impressive of those was Mark Bernaldez (13-0, 9) who forced a first round retirement of the experienced Marvin Tampus (27-19-2, 18). Bernaldez was expected to win but no one expected this one to be over so early and with such an impressive victory, on paper at least, Bernaldez will almost certainly be receiving more attention.

Another prospect who scored an early stoppage was Filipino based Cuban Reymi Castellano Aleye (5-0, 2) who stopped Warren Mambuanag (6-5-2, 3) in 5 rounds of a scheduled 6 rounder. The Cuban has been helping Nonito Donaire prepare for his upcoming bout with Simpiwe Vetyeka and looks to have improved himself from that time in the gym with the "Filipino Flash".

One of the other, very highly regarded prospects on this card was Mark Magsayo (6-0, 4) who was taken the 6 round distance by tough Korean Hyuk-Tak Joo (1-2). Hyuk-Tak Joo was one of two Koreans on the card with Sung-Tak Joo (5-0-3, 1), we believe Hyuk's brother, fighting to a draw with Joseph Von Minoza (14-6-1, 6).


The one other bout on this show saw the stoppage streak of JK Elorde (4-0, 3) come to an end as the debuting Jeffrey Garcia (0-1) saw out the 4 round schedule.

Metro Manila, Philippines
Whilst much of the attention was focussed on the Pinoy Pride card at the SM Mall of Asia Arena there was also a second Filipino show, held at the Olivarez Stadium. This show lacked the world class feel of the other show but still managed to give us title action as we had a trio of international bouts with titles on the line.

In the main event of the show the WBO Oriental Bantamweight champion Alie Laurel (12-3, 8) successfully defended his title with an opening round blow out over the horribly over-matched Mike Espanosa (12-7-1, 7). From what we understand Espanosa was a late replacement for unbeaten Indonesian Defry Palulu unfortunately robbing us of what would have been an excellent match up.


Although the main event was an all-Filipino battle the other two title bouts saw Filipino's fighting Japanese opponents in two regional title bouts. In an expected result fans saw Tosho Makoto Aoki (17-12-2, 14) claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Lightweight title with a stoppage victory over limited Filipino Jonel Alibio (16-18-5, 8). Although Aoki did what was expected of him we've got to admit we were a little shocked by the fact Argie Toquero (7-3-1, 5) scored a 9th round TKO over former world title challenger Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-3-2-1, 4). This victory for Toquero saw him claiming the WBC Asian Boxing Council Bantamweight title.

Another stoppage came on the undercard the brilliantly named Warlight Dapidran (2-0, 1) stopped the debuting Juanito Paredes (0-1) in the second round of a scheduled 4 rounder. In the other 4 rounders Riku Kanou (1-1-1) fought to a draw with the debuting Vecinte Montecino (0-0-1) and Kenta Ide (1-1) defeated Jason Catalin (0-2).


Frenkendorf, Switzerland
In Switzerland there was also a little bit of Japanese action as Swiss based Japanese female fighter Aniya Seki (24-2-2, 2) recorded an opening round stoppage over the massively over-matched Alexandra Gorog (5-15-1, 1). Seki is a talented fighter and bouts like that are unnecessary for her, especially when you consider she really should be competing with some of the best in the world.

(Image thanks to ALA Gym)