Tokyo, Japan
This past Monday only saw a single Asian show that took place at the Korakuen Hall.

In the main event Japanese fans saw history being created as they saw the first 3-weight female Japanese world champion being crowned as the brilliant Naoko Fujioka (14-1, 6) claimed the WBO female Bantamweight title. The former Minimumweight and Super Flyweight champion easily over-came tough but limited Korean fighter Hee Jung Yuh (15-3, 6) in what was a near shut out by the fabulous Fujioka. Aged 40 it seems likely that Fujioka is in the twilight of her career but given her ability there is certainly plenty left for her to achieve before her career.

In the co-feature fans saw a thriller as the much touted Hikaru Marugame (5-0-1, 3) fought to a split decision draw with the highly experienced Jonathan Baat (30-6-4, 14), who was celebrating his 40th professional bout. Baat, who entered this bout on a 3 fight winning streak, was seen as being a calculated risk for Marugame though it's one that almost came back to bite the 25 year old who was really tested here.

Another of the feature bouts saw former amateur star Naoto Uebayashi (8-1-1, 4) claim an 8 round decision win over Atsushi Hosogai (7-10). This was Uebayashi's first bout since he was stopped by Giovanni Escaner in April. Although back to winning ways we do suspect that Uebayashi's career is going to fail to reach the heights expected of him.

In another 8 rounder Yuki Nakai (7-4-2, 2) defeated Hisashi Owada (6-10-1, 1). The only 6 rounder saw a shock as Wataru Seino (5-3, 5) blasted away Akihiro Furukawa (12-7-1, 9) inside a round whilst the only 4 rounder saw Wataru Ikegami (1-0, 1) stopped Natsuki Matsumoto (0-1) in 2 rounds.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Chonburi, Thailand
The first Asian card of the day came from Thailand where a number of promising South Korean fighters were on show as AK Promotions managed to keep their stable of fighters busy.

The most notable name on the card was former OPBF title challenger Jaesung Lee (18-4-2, 9) who surprisingly struggled to over-come the previously unbeaten Rivera AK Gym (1-1, 1). Lee's performance was much worse than expected though it may be excused by the fact he was fighting at Featherweight and had had a March 1st bout changed and then cancelled prior to this contest. Hopefully we'll see an improved version of Lee next time out.

The other 3 Korean fighters on the card were all involved in title bouts. Of those the most promising was Hyun Woo Yu (4-0, 4) who claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council silver Light Welterweight title with a 31 second blow out win against Indonesia's Oke Haryanto (5-6-1, 2), who has now been stopped in 4 successive bouts. We like what we've seen of Yu but we don wonder what the WBC were doing allowing Haryanto to fight for any title at 140lbs.

Another early blow out in a title contest saw Hong Kyoon Shin (10-3-1, 6) score a 2nd round KO against Jack Madison (2-4) to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Super Flyweight title. Amazingly for Shin this is his first win since 2006, however he has been inactive in recent years with a record of 0-2-1 in his previous 3 bouts dating back more than 7 years. For Madison this was his 4th stoppage loss overall and his second in a row.

The remaining title bout came in a female contest as Hee-Jun Yun (15-2, 6) scored an 8th round TKO win over Nonggift Onesongchaigym (7-3-2, 1) to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council female Super Flyweight title. This win saw Yuh scoring her 13th straight win and become the first fighter to stop Nonggift, who had previously been in with Hongfah Tor Buamas and Eva Voraberger.

The one bout that didn't feature a Korean saw “losers” colliding as Kongfah Singwancha (6-12-1, 3) take an opening round stoppage against Kong Windy Sports (1-9) who was stopped for the 6th time in his career, including a loss last time out to the very promising Yu.

México, Mexico
In Mexico we had a genuinely thrilling female fight between two of the sports elite female fighters. The bout saw Japan's sensational Naoko Fujioka (13-1, 6) look like a star as she gritted her teeth and over-came Mexican starlet Mariana Juarez (40-8-3, 17) in a bout our friend Jake Donovan described as FOTY contender. Juarez, a very popular Mexican, started well as was in the lead on two of the cards when the open scoring was announced after 4 rounds. That announcement seemed to wake up Fujioka who moved up a gear to win the final 6 rounds and take a very well deserved split decision win with scores of 98-93 and 97-93 in her favour, whilst the dissenting judge gad it 94-96. Despite being 39 it's clear that Fujioka still belongs at the top and should continue to be recognised as one of the best female boxers on the planet, despite her loss to Susi Kentikian last time out.

Baja California, Mexico
Things in Mexico weren't as good for Filipino fighter Rogelio Jun Doliguez (19-3-2, 14) who suffered his 3rd loss in 4 bouts as he was easily beaten by the world class Fernando Montiel (54-4-2, 39). The bout was completely one-sided with Montiel winning by a score of 99-88 on all 3 cards. Sadly for the once promising Filipino it seems like his early hype has now been thoroughly finished.

New Jersey, USA
In New Jersey fans got the chance to see two touted Chinese fighters in action with both of them taking decisions wins.

One of those Chinese fighters was Heavyweight hopeful Zhang Zhilei (3-0, 2) who went the distance for the first time in his career as he was unable to see off American fighter Eric George (2-9). For Zhilei, dubbed “Big Bang” this will be a disappointing result but at the end of the day a win is a win for the 2008 Olympic silver medallist.

The other Chinese fighter was Wang Zhimin (2-0) who took a 6 round decision win over the very testing Jesus Lule (7-11, 1). Although Lule's record is less than spectacular this was a genuine good result for the Chinese novice who could well be one of the countries most promising fighters despite the lack of hype he's received so far.

Queensland, Australia
In Australia we saw a minor upset as the unbeaten Filipino John Vincent Moralde (12-0, 6) dominated and out pointed the previously unbeaten Brayd Smith (12-1, 10) in a very one sided bout that showed just how good Moralde is. Aged 20 we thought this bout might have come too early for Moralde but he was sensational landing combinations at will and looking a clear level above his foe who struggled to claim more than a round. For Moralde this win is likely to be rewarded with a fringe WBC ranking to go alongside his newly acquired WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Featherweight title.

(Image courtesy of Pepe Rodriguez)

This past Saturday was a hectic day to say the least with bouts spread across the world with many of them being major bouts.

New Jersey, USA
The biggest bout of the night saw unbeaten Russian puncher Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23) unifying 3 Light Heavyweight world titles as he dominated American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2-2, 32) in a very impressive and controlled performance. The Russian dropped Hopkins in the opening round and had all over the place in the final round as he came close to stopping Hopkins. Although the clock ran out before Kovalev could score the stoppage he still managed to unify the WBO, WBA and IBF titles at 175lbs and put real pressure on Adonis Stevenson to fight in a total unification bout later this year.

Pennsylvania, USA
In an unexpectedly tough bout we saw another promising Russian Light Heavyweight, Vasily Lepikhin (16-0, 9), claim a hard fought decision over Jackson Junior (15-2, 13). We had expected Lepikhin to impress, as he did against Robert Berridge, but he seemed to struggle over the line a little bit here and it shows he's a few fights away from being stepped towards a world title fight. It's a shame but he's not ready to be stepped up, at least not yet, despite being very talented.

Texas, USA
Staying in the US a little bit longer, fans in Texas had the chance to see the very promising Egor Mekhontsev (6-0, 6) made light work of the heavy handed Jinner Guerrero (7-3, 6) who lasted just 2 rounds. Guerrero had entered the bout as a genuinely dangerous fighter but was never in the bout against the former amateur standout who some are tipping as yet as another Light Heavyweight to keep a close eye on.

Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Our first world title fight came in Germany where the previously unbeaten Naoko Fujioka (12-1, 6) lost a very close fight to German local hero Susi Kentikian (34-2-0-1, 17). The fight, for the WBA female Flyweight title, was a great female fight ruined only by some frustrating officiating with a referee that seemed unable to really keep the action flowing as the two fighters fell into each other. Although the contest was competitive and full of action we do feel that Fujioka was hard done by, though we need to admit we saw the bout on a broken stream that frustrated us almost as much as the referee for the contest.

Queretaro, Mexico
A second female world title bout came in Mexico and again saw a Japanese fighter losing a questionable decision as Etsuko Tada (13-2-2, 3) came up short against Anabel Ortiz (16-3, 3) for a second time. Tada had traveled to Mexico in an attempt to reclaim the WBA female Minimumweight title though lost a close decision to Ortiz for the second time following a loss last year in Japan to the Mexican fighter. Sadly for Tada it appeared one judge didn't even bother watching the fight was competitive through out despite a laughable 99-90 card for Ortiz.

Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
One of the days first shows came from Thailand where we had a trio of notable bouts.

The main event saw the world ranked Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (29-7-1, 12) score a 9th round KO against Filipino foe Macrea Gandionco (10-2-1, 6) to record his first defense of the interim WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title. The Filipino took a hard counter and whilst it looked like he could continue he instead chose to take the 10 count before getting to his feet. It was as if he was happy enough with his effort up to that point to call it a day.

On the under-card fans saw Fonluang KKP (22-1-1, 10) take a 4th round TKO against Indonesian visitor Falazona Fidal (25-42-1, 8) who was stopped for the 14th time in his 68 fight career. The other contest on the card was a female bout that saw Kanda Por Muangpetch (3-1) score a 6 round decisions win over the debuting Namnung Kwanjaisrikot (0-1).

Queensland, Australia
On a show down under Australian fans saw several Asian fighters in action.

One of those was the very notable, and extremely dangerous, Bantamweight contender Zhanat Zhakiyanov (24-1, 17) who made very light work of Australian based Filipino Roberto Lerio (16-21-1, 6). Lerio was stopped in the second round of the bout as Zhakiyanov continued to march toward a world title fight and the heavy handed Kazak has now stopped his last 11 dating back more than 3 years!

Sadly it wasn't a good show for Filipino's and not only was Lerio stopped but so too was Romeo Jakosalem (15-9-1, 8) who was stopped in the 9th round of his bout with the highly touted Cameron Hammond (11-0, 5). Jakosalem has now lost 5 of his last 6 including an early blow out to Min-Wook Kim in an OPBF title fight and it appears that his career is really becoming that of a journeyman, a sham considering that he was an OPBF champion less than 3 years ago.

Davao City, Philippines
Sadly we've not yet received all the results from the Philippines.

In an interesting clash of fringe world class fighters fans saw Drian Francisco (26-2-1, 20) take a clear win over former Bantamweight world title challenger John Mark Apolinario (17-5-3, 4). Apolinario was down in round 5 and hurt again in round 7 as Francisco proved his dominance over a much lesser foe than himself. Sadly for the heavy handed Francisco he did show signs of ring rust and it's fair to say had he not been rusty he may well have finished off Apolinario in round 7 when he was rocked hard.

On the undercard the debuting Aries Buenavidez (1-0) defeated fellow debutant Sammy Caballeres (0-1)

Metro Manila, Philippines
A second Filipino show saw the extremely heavy handed Richard Claveras (10-0-2, 10) successfully defending the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an 8th round TKO over JC Francisco (6-9-3, 2), who had never previously been stopped. A second champion who managed to defend his title on this card was Ardin Diale (25-9-3, 12) who retained the GAB Flyweight title with a stoppage of the heavy handed Jenny Boy Buca (9-2, 9) who suffered a broken nose before being retired at the end of round 10. This was Buca's first stoppage losses and allows Diale to end the year on a high after suffering an 8th round loss to Koki Eto in a thrilling OPBF title fight back in June.

In another title fight fans saw Jhon Gemino (11-3-1, 5) take the PBF Super Bantamweight title as he stopped the more experienced Rey Juntilla (19-6-3, 12) in the 7th round of their scheduled 10 rounder. Gemino was one of two new champions crowned on this show alongside Al Rivera (11-2, 9) who claimed the PBF Lightweigth title with a 2nd round KO against Junard Postrano (7-7, 2).

In another stoppage we saw Renz Rosia (10-2, 5) take our Jay-ar Estremos (10-9, 4) in the 6th round.

The undercard bouts all went the distance. These saw Rommel Berwela (2-2-2) even off his record with a majority draw against JR Florendo (3-2-1) in what was one of two draws on the card, the other saw Ariel Arevalo (2-1-2, 1) fight to a 4 round draw with Juanito Paredes (0-1-1). In another close bout Jason Dogelio (1-2) out pointed Manuel Mamacquiao (0-4). The only other bout on the card saw Lorence Rosas (2-0-1) out point the win-less Brando Bokingkito (0-2)

Klimovsk, Russia
In Russia we saw a small but interesting card that featured 2 more Filipino fighters in relatively interesting bouts, sadly however they lost both of those contests.

The most interesting of the two was a PABA Lightweight title bout that saw Roman Andreev (16-0, 12) take a clear decision over the tough Rey Labao (26-6, 17). Labao was never really in the bout though that was due to Andreev who appears to be very promising and could well go all the way, one day. The other Filipino was Jason Canoy (21-5-2, 15) who was clearly beaten by the promising but previously untested Nikolay Potapov (13-0, 6).

In a female bout novice professional Yulia Berezikova (2-0, 2) scored a very impressive victory by stopping the experienced Dalia Vasarhelyi (9-7, 1) in the 4th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. This was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds with another failing to go the distance as Konstantin Piternov (17-6, 8) scored a 3rd round TKO against the previously unbeaten David Nagy (3-1, 2). The other 8 rounder saw Maxim Maslov (15-1-1, 8) struggle past Yuri Bihoutsea (8-6-2, 5) in a surprisingly competitive contest.

In a 4 rounder on the under-card Alexander Podolsky (2-0) took a 4 round decision over Dmytro Aushev (1-5, 1)

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
It's fair to say that this week isn't the most exciting for boxing fans however there was a very interesting female bout earlier today as the amazing Naoko Fujioka (12-0, 6) made the first defence of her WBA female Super Flyweight title with a decision victory over the challenging Tomoko Kawanishi (9-2, 4).

The female world title bout was the headline contest on "Fighting Bee 8" and saw Fujioka given one of the toughest challenges in her 12 fight careed though saw her adapting to overcome a tiring Kawanishi down the stretch.

Sadly much of the rest of the card paled in significance and interesting to the female bout. These included a 2nd round TKO victory for the hard hitting Kazuya Soma (7-5-2, 6) who saw off Thailand's very poor Fasanghan Or Benjamad (0-7). We know the records of Thai's can be hard to verify but the 0-7 record of Fasanghan looks likely to be spot on.

In another 8 rounder Toshikuni Wake (8-13-3, 2) took a close decision over Ryuta Wakamatsu (9-10, 6) in the most competitive bout of the show.

One of the two 6 rounders saw Yudai Tamagawa (6-5-1, 2) over-coming Tsubasa Mochizuki (6-4, 2) to end a 3-fight win-less run that began late last year. The other 6 rounder saw Yudai Arai (4-2-3, 2) taking a clear victory over Kenta Yamada (6-4).

The show actually began with back-to-back opening round KO's. These saw Hiroyasu Shiga (3-0, 2) taking out Keita Kurihara (3-4, 3) in 52 seconds and Takuya Kihashi (1-1, 1) beating Shoken Yamazaki (2-3) in 142 seconds.

(Image courtesy of Boxmob.jp)