Tokyo, Japan
This past Thursday in Japan fans at the Korakuen Hall got a treat as they saw a world title unification bout, a Japanese title bout, a world ranked contender and several promising prospects in a show that went somewhat under-the-radar.

The main event of the card was the Japanese title fight, which took place at Featherweight and saw former title challenger Satoshi Hosono (29-2-1, 20) narrowly retain his title with a majority decision win over the tough and very game Takuya Watanabe (26-6-1, 12). Watanabe came to win and through the first 5 rounds was more than holding his own however Hosono's pressure managed to see him come on strong in the latter rounds to just claim the victory.

In the other title fight fans saw the tough Momo Koseki (21-2-1, 7) over-come an opening round knockdown, and a bloodied nose, to unify her WBA Atomweight title with the WBC title held by rival foe Ayaka Miyao (20-6-1, 4). Miyao got off to a good start but Koseki showed her champions quality and claimed a narrow win. This was Koseki's 16th defense and finally saw her unifying titles to cement her legacy as the greatest Atomweight of all time.

The chief supporting bout saw the world ranked Ryo Matsumoto (16-0, 14) continue his unbeaten run as he scored a 5th round TKO win over the game and gutsy, but completely over-matched, Saensak Sithwarunee (1-5), who has now been stopped in a successive trio of bouts.

Ryo Matsumoto's bout was one of three scheduled to go 8 rounds. Another saw Lightweight puncher Yosimichi Matsumoto (9-1, 7) score a 4th round TKO win over Genki Maeda (2-1, 1), who tried to bite off too much too soon. The other saw Kenichi Miyazaki (10-1-1, 3) score a 4th round TKO win over Thai visitor Chaloemkiat Kiatprapat (0-1).

To open the card fans get a couple of 4 rounders. One of those saw Toru Kiyota (2-0, 2) score an 81 second victory over Akira Watanabe (2-5-1, 2) whilst the other resulted in a 3rd round TKO win for Naoki Koishi (4-2, 1) who beat Yuichi Kitayama (3-3-1, 3).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
This past Thursday there was two world title fights, and a bout involving a really interesting Japanese prospect. Unless you were a hardcore fan, or at the Korakuen Hall, there is a good chance you missed even knowing about them.

The most competitive of the female world title bouts came at Light Flyweight where female IBF champion Naoko Shibata (14-3, 4) narrowly over-came a spirited effort from Saemi Hanagata (9-6-2, 4) in what was a really difficult to score bout. Hanagata started fast and put Shibata under serious pressure from the early stages though it seemed the champion used her experiences to just do enough to retain her title with a majority decision. Unfortunately for Hanagata this was her second successive narrow defeat and she may be wondering what she needs to do to get the nod.

The other title bout had no controversy at all as WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (20-2-1, 7) saw off the horribly over-matched Aisah Alico (5-5, 4) in the second round. This was Koseki's 15th world title defense and she won't have had any easier in her illustrious career. Interestingly for a “non puncher” this was Koseki's 3rd straight stoppage and her 4th stoppage in 5 bouts.

In the chief support bout, at least on paper, fans saw Tatsuya Otsubo (7-6-1, 3) over-come Takashi Sakamoto (6-4, 1) in a clear 8 round decision win.

Although a 6 round preliminary bout we were really interested to see how the unbeaten Takeshi Inoue (2-0-1, 1) was going to cope with the experienced and tough Kota Oguchi (10-14, 1). As it turned out the bout was a mismatch with Inoue clearly winning the bout without clearly dropping a round. The 25 year old Welterweight is one we've been told to keep an eye on and now we hope to see him in another less straight forward bout.

To begun the show fans got an all-deutant 4 rounder that saw Itose Ishii (1-0) take a very narrow decision over Kana Makino (0-1) in a bout that really wouldn't have seen complaints had it been scored a draw.

(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)

Tokyo, Japan
In Japan March 3rd is a special festival called "Doll's Day" to celebrate this Japanese promoters put on a great show full of female fighters as a special thank you to the ladies of Japanese boxing. This particular, "G Legend 6" featured 6 bouts in total including 3 world title fights.

The undercard kicked off with two bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. One of these 4 rounders was an all debutant bout which saw Chie Higano (1-0) narrowly over-come Maho Isono (0-1) via an incredibly close split decision. The other of the 4 rounders saw Yunoka Furukawa (2-1-2, 2) scoring a second round stoppage against Marina Isami (2-2).

As well as the 4 rounders the show also featured a 6 round bout which saw Kai Johnson (4-5-3, 1) scoring her most notable victory to date. Johnson, fighting Tamao Ozawa (6-2, 2), was expected to lose though managed to take out Ozawa in just 2 rounds to secure a genuinely notable victory.

Following the under-card bouts we then moved onto the first of the world title bouts which saw the talented, though nervous, Naoko Shibata (12-3, 3) making the first defense of her IBF Light Flyweight title. Shibata, who won her belt last time out narrowly over-coming Alondra Garcia, dominated Mexican challenger Guadalupe Martinez (6-6, 3) in a very one sided contest that helped establish Shibata on the world stage.

Following Shibata's defense we then moved on to another world title bout. This time it was the turn of WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (18-2-1, 5) who recorded a Japanese national record tying 13th world title defense. Koseki, fighting against the previously unbeaten Angor Onesongchaigym (5-1, 3), was simply too strong for her challenger and eventually stopped the Thai late in round 9.

Koseki wasn't the only Atomweight champion to defend her belt as WBA champion Ayaka Miyao (17-5-1, 2) made the 4th defense of her belt. Miyao saw off Buangern OnesongchaiGym (10-5-1, 1) in just 5 rounds to maintain her reign as champion and score just her second professional stoppage. 

(Picture courtesy of Boxmob)