This past Sunday was an incredibly busy day for Asian fight fans who had a bit of everything.

Osaka, Japan
In the most significant bout of the day, at least the most significant in Asia, fans got a treat as a determined Takahiro Yamamoto (16-4, 13) stopped Yu Kawaguchi (23-7, 10) to claim the OPBF Bantamweight title. The two men, traded shots earlier this year in a 12 round split decision, engaged in one of the most entertaining bouts of the year here with Yamamoto scoring a knockdown in round 2 before being dropped in round 3. Despite trading knockdowns it was cuts to Kawaguchi that forced the bout to end, with the defending champion looking a bloody pulp by round 7 when the referee eventually called a halt to proceedings.

Although Kawaguchi was easily stopped it wasn't a bad day for his fast rising gym mate Kazuki Tanaka (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thai visitor Kamraiyok Orwandavee (0-3) who was blitzed inside a round. Interestingly Kamraiyok had taken Yamamoto 3 rounds at the end of last year and whilst it may be too early to talk about Tanaka Vs Yamamoto it does seem to be a possibility for the future.

Another stablemate of Kawaguchi's to taste victory was was Takayuki Okumoto (15-6-2. 6), who took an 8 round decision win over Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-20). Sadly though another fighter at the Greentsuda gym, Shohei Kanemoto (9-10-1, 3) was on the losing end of a decision as he was out pointed by Kazuyasu Okamoto (10-4, 3).

In a Light Middleweight bout Ryota Yada (8-3, 6) scored a 4th round TKO against the limited Marcos Sogabe (6-11-1, 5) as he recorded his 5th straight victory.

Lower down on this card fans saw Genki Maeda (2-0, 1) takes a 6 round decision win against San Saknarong (2-4) whilst a 4 round decision saw Ryosuke Nasu (2-1-1) defeat Seita Mochizuki (3-8).

Also on this show was the retirement ceremony of Nobuhiro Ishida who waved good bye to professional boxing life.

Osaka, Japan
Another Osakan show was just as interesting, even though it lacked a title bout, though it did feature a title prelude.

That title prelude was at Middleweight where Koki Tyson Maebara (9-1-1, 9) blew away Thailand's Kungsuk Sor Sompong (0-2) in just 2 rounds. Following this win Maebara announced that he was going to be challenging for an OPBF title in December, in what will be his first title bout, and a major step up in class.

Another notable name in action here was former Japanese Light Middleweight champion Takayuki Hosokawa (27-10-4, 9) who took an unexpectedly close decision win over Jung Hoon Yang (9-7, 2), himself a former OPBF Welterweight title challenger. Hosokawa had been told to retire if he lost this bout though the uninspiring win may well send him into retirement anyway.

Another bout that went the distance saw Ryuya Yamanaka (10-2, 2) take a wide 10 round decision win over Yoshinori Wakahara (7-6, 4) in what is a solid win for the 20 year old Yamanaka. Although not the most talented youngster in Japan we do expect to see Yamanaka compete at title level in the near future.

An all Japanese based Filipino bout saw veteran Jonathan Baat (30-6-3, 14) take a wide decision win over Dado Cabintoy (15-5-2, 8), sadly for Cabintoy this loss sees a 5 fight winning streak, dating back more than 2 years, come to an end. For Baat this win secures him an October 19th bout with the much touted Hikaru Marugame (5-0, 3) in what looks like a really good looking match up.

Another Japanese based Filipino picking up a win here was Mark John Yap (22-12, 10), who out pointed Shun Ishibashi (10-17-1, 4). One judge had this one far too close, scoring it 77-76, but Yap did get a well deserved unanimous decision win.

In a bout scheduled for 6 rounds fans saw a blow out as Yuki Nagashima (6-2, 33) swiftly dispatched of Jaroenlek Chaiyonggym (0-2). The only other under-card bout saw the debuting Akio Furuya (1-0) take a split decision over the win-less Sumeeman Shoki (0-6).

Aichi, Japan
The least significant of 3 Japanese shows came from Aichi where much of the action was based around Middle Japan Rookie of the Year finals.

The main event of the show was one bout which part of the Rookie tournament. This bout saw Kazuya Maruki (19-3, 12) take a dominant decision win over Indonesian visitor Heri Andriyanto (21-19-2, 10). This was a very one sided bout, though Andriyanto did make things interesting at times.

The lowest weight of the Rookie of the Year bouts was at Light Flyweight where Hiroki Yajima (5-5, 3) scored a 2nd round KO against Tomohiro Shimokata (1-2-1, 1). Another stoppage occurred in the Flyweight final as Katsuteru Yoshifusa (4-0, 1) blew away Hiroshi Tanase (2-6) inside a round. At Super Flyweight we saw another unbeaten man pick up a win as Takuma Matsushita (3-0, 1) claimed a split decision win over Ryo Shibata (3-2, 2).

Another unbeaten man who picked up a win here was Takuya Mizuno (6-0-1, 6) who took a 3rd round KO win over Yusuke Kubota (3-3, 1). It wasn't all great for unbeaten fighters however as Michitaka Umemoto (1-1, 1) suffered a split decision loss to Masatsugu Ito (3-2-1, 1) in a very competitive match up.

At Featherweight Japanese based Peruvian Kevin Mendoza (2-0, 1) scored a blow out victory over Naoki Masukawa (3-3). Another stoppage occurred in the Super Featherweight bout as Yuya Shimakura (5-0-1, 2) stopped Kazuaki Okada (3-5, 2) in the 4th round of their bout.

At Lightweight the promising 19 year old Daiki Ichikawa (5-0, 3) took out Kohei Furusawa (4-6) in the 2nd round. At Light Welterweight Tetsuya Yamaguchi (3-2-2, 2) took a 4th round TKO against Eisuke Hara (4-2, 3). The remaining bout was at Welterweight where Shingo Saiki (2-0, 2) stopped Masanori Kawai (1-3-1, 1) inside a round.

Florida, USA
Sadly in the US we saw Filipino veteran Dennis Laurente (49-6-5, 30) lose a wide decision to the faster, younger and more skilled John Jackson (20-2, 15). Laurente did his best to force the action but was also two steps behind Jackson who looked bigger and faster throughout. Despite the loss Laurente managed to maintain of never being stopped, an impressive feat given the power of Jackson who did drop in round 3 but never came close to stopping him.

Lanao del Norte, Philippines
As for actual action in the Philippines there was two bouts in Lanao del Norte. One of those saw Joel Dela Cruz (19-23-3, 7) take a decision victory against journeyman Dondon Lapuz (19-48-7, 7).

The other bout on this card saw former OPBF title challenger Jovylito Aligarbes (12-3, 6) score a 6th round TKO against Edil Bastian (4-4-1, 1). This was Aligarbes's second stoppage win since he was stopped, 18 months ago, by Shingo Wake and it seems like the youngster is slowly rebuilding his career.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

The weekend is just around the corner but we've already seen several notable fights on a Thursday that was packed with fighters worth giving plenty of attention to. In fact in Japan there was 3 national title bouts whilst in the US fans had the chance to see a former world title challenger continue his ascent back to the top.

Tokyo, Japan
In the Japan the card began with a pair of intriguing non-title bouts before a trio of bouts for belts. Although it's fair to say it was the title action that got the attention the under-card was certainly not something that could have been ignored.

One of the under-card bouts saw recent Japanese Flyweight title challenger Yusuke Sakashita (13-5-2, 8) score a 6th round TKO against the tough but very limited Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-19). Sakashita, who was last seen being stopped by Suguru Muranaka, was too good for Sakurai and it showed here in what was, essentially, a comeback fight for Sakashita.

The other under-card bout saw former Japanese Featherweight title contender Yuki Ogata (21-1-1, 3) take a clear decision win over Kentaro Yamada (8-6-1, 6). Ogata had narrowly beaten Yamada last year with a split decision last year but this time he was a clear winner with no doubting the result.

The first of the title bouts saw Yukinori Oguni (14-1-1, 4) successfully retain his Japanese Super Bantamweight title with a 10 majority draw against Gakuya Furuhashi (17-5-1, 7). This was Oguni's first defense since winning the belt late last year with a narrow decision victory against Yasutaka Ishimoto and although it's a successful defense it's clear Oguni is a long way from being ready to move up a level. For Furuhashi it's clear that he'll feel he deserves a rematch even if he's not likely to get one any time soon.

The second title bout saw Kota Tokunaga (15-2, 10) claim the biggest win of his career as he stopped Yuya Sugizaki (20-10-1, 6) in the 8th round of their bout and claimed the Japanese Lightweight title. Toklunaga was narrowly behind at the half way mark but turned the screw from round 6 and eventually forced the referee to save Sugizaki. Impressive for Tokunaga's gym, WOZ Boxing, this is their second title win in the space of a few weeks following Shohei Omori's excellent victory over Kentaro Masuda for the Japanese Bantamweight title. Notably this title was vacated by Yoshitaka Kato, a stable mate of Sugizaki's.

In the main event fans saw Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (12-1, 6) narrowly retain his title with a split decision win over Nobuhiro Ishida (27-11-2, 11). This bout was nip and tuck through out and whilst it wasn't a classic it was compelling with neither man really knowing if they'd done enough to deserve the win and title. Sadly following the bout it's been revealed that Ishida is now likely to retire from the sport and wave good bye to what has been a genuinely memorable career.

California, USA
In the US fans saw the popular and exciting Mercito Gesta (28-1-2, 16) fight to a split decision draw with Carlos Molina (17-2-2, 7) in a solid fight that was genuinely entertaining. Going in Gesta did look under-sized and, especially early on, seemed to struggle but he found his range and rhythm in the middle rounds to get a well deserved draw. The only issue with the bout was the appalling 98-92 score card in favour of Molina from judge Eddie Hernandez, a genuinely shocking card for such a close and well contested bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Osaka, Japan
The run in to the new year is a packed one and this past Saturday we saw just how busy it was with 4 separate Asian cards, the most notable of which was in Osaka.

The headline bout here was a major Heavyweight bout on the Japanese domestic scene as former Light Middleweight champion Nobuhiro Ishida (27-10-2, 11) continued his assault on the Heavyweight division. Ishida, fighting for the third time as a Heavyweight, managed to record his first stoppage in the division as he forced the retirement of former Japanese title challenger Kotatsu Takehara (10-11-3, 4). Takehara had had his face busted by the shots of Ishida which were landing clean from the opening round. For Ishida this win is likely to get him his long desired Japanese title fight and give him a chance at becoming a 2-weight Japanese champion, and amazing achievement for the 39 year old from Osaka.

In the chief support bouts fans saw Kazuki Hashimoto (10-4, 6) make light work of Thailand's Petchklua Tornattasak (0-1), with an opening round blow out, and Shun Ishibashi (9-16-1, 4) score an upset win over Satoshi Ozawa (9-6-1, 2), with Ozawa retiring after round 3. Amazingly Ishibashi's win was just his second in over 6 years and ended a run of just 1 win in 11 bouts!

In the sole 6 rounder fans saw Ryota Yada (6-3, 4) take a very narrow decision over Yuta Maruoka (9-3, 4). The bout was razor thin with Yada taking a majority decision by a a single point on 2 cards.

To begin the show fans had a pair of 4 rounders. One of these saw Naotoshi Nakatani (4-0, 3) take a hard fought and narrow unanimous decision over Tesu Kanayama (2-1) whilst the debuting Akito Terada (1-0) claimed a split decision over Ryosuke Nasu (1-1-1).

Haikou, China
As well as the show in Japan there was also a card in China with title implications.

The main event of this card saw China's very own Xian Wei Qian (6-4-1, 1) successfully defend the WBC Asian Boxing Council Featherweight title with a 10th round stoppage against Thailand's Thewa Onesongchaigym (5-2, 1). This was a rematch of Thewa's only previous loss and resulted in his first stoppage defeat.

Another rematch saw Xiang Jing (8-3-2, 1) narrowly over-come Filipino visitor Ben Mananquil (10-1-2, 2) with a split decision win to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title. The two men had fought to a draw earlier this year but this time around Mananquil came up short. Prior to he bout Mananquil had unfortunately missed weight and was unable to win the title even if he had won the fight.

A third title fight saw Andrey Kalyuzhnyy (6-1, 4) score an 8th round TKO over Thailand's Kajornsak Sithsaithong (7-4, 7) to claim the IBF Youth Super Middleweight title. This was the second meeting this year between the two with their first bout resulting in a 32 second blow out win for Kalyuzhnyy.

On the undercard fans saw several bouts with inexperienced fighters. One of those was Lightweight hopeful Sun Xiang Xiang (3-0, 1) who recorded his first stoppage as he over-came Thailand's Phompetch Twins Gym (6-2, 3) with a 3rd round TKO.

The other two bouts with novices featured female fighters with Chen Jiayu (1-0) claiming a win in an all debutant contest against Wang Congcong (0-1) and Cai Zongju (3-1, 1) taking a decision win over Ma Li (0-1).

Thailand
The details we have from Thailand at the moment are very limited though we have been told that former world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (82-2, 53) managed to record his 53rd career stoppage as his opponent refused to come out for round 3. Prior to this stoppage this had been a 1-sided beat down by Sirimongkol who is now unbeaten in 39 fights!

On the same Thai card fans also saw the heavy handed Chalermpol Singwancha (11-0, 9) score a chilling KO against Filipino fighter Nelson Gulpe (8-4, 3) who went left in a heap.

Padang, Indonesia
In Indonesia we had yet more action.

Included on this show was a 12 round decision victory for Sandi Korga (4-6, 1), who over-came the limited Yosmar Kefi (3-6, 3). The other bout on this show saw Afrizal Tamboresi (3-0, 1) over-come the win-less Yudi Saputra (0-2) with an 8 round win.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Sunday was a busy day in the Japanese boxing scene with 3 notable domestic shows. Although the shows weren't attention grabbing on an international scale they were big enough to feature some well known fighters.

Osaka, Japan
The most well known fighter in action was Nobuhiro Ishida (26-10-2, 10), who was on one of two separate shows held at the Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka city. Ishida, pictured, was fighting for the second time as a Heavyweight and managed to out point Frenchman David Radeff (5-8-2, 2) in an 8 round bout. The win for Ishida was his first win as a Heavyweight and has seen him taking a step towards a rematch with Kyotaro Fujimoto, a bout that Ishida wants so as to claim the Japanese Heavyweight title and avenge a close loss from earlier this year. Without a Fujimoto rematch the odds are that Ishida will have to think very hard about his future.

Another man thinking about his future right now is former Japanese Bantamweight champion Kohei Oba (36-3-1, 14) who announced his retirement following a hard fought decision win over domestic rival Keigo Soma (6-11-1, 3). This 8 round bout was Oba's first following his stoppage loss to Randy Caballero earlier this year and it's clear that the loss to Caballero took a lot out of "The Mayweather of Nagoya" who at just 29 has called an end on his career.

On the same show we also saw a return to the ring for recent Japanese Bantamweight title contender Yu Kawaguchi (21-6, 9) who looked less than impressive in scoring a narrow 8 round win over Seizo Kono (14-7-1, 9). For Kawaguchi this was his first bout following a 10 round loss to Kentaro Masuda in a bout for the vacant Japanese national title at Bantamweight and although he was competitive in that one the bout appears to have taken it's toll on him here.

The undercard of this show featured 5 bouts all scheduled for 4 rounds. These saw a pair of blow out wins for debutant fights. The quickest of the debutants to record a win was Yuto Nagano (1-0, 1) who took just 34 seconds to blow through Norio Shimizu (0-1). It took just 2 minutes for fellow debutant Tomoaki Matsumura (1-0, 1) to get off the mark with his own opening round victory which came against Shuichi Inagaki (1-1, 1).

The other 3 bouts all went the distance as Hirohide Murakami (2-2) took a clear decision win over Masatetsu Hirano (1-2, 1). A second, closer, decision saw Ryosuke Nasu (1-0-1) score his first win as he over-came Yuki Sueyoshi (1-3, 1). The closest of the 3 decisions saw Genki Inoue (1-3-1, 1) fight to a draw with Ryota Shimizu (3-5-1, 1).

Osaka, Japan
The other show at the Bodymaker Colosseum was the Rookie of the West finals with 10 bouts on the show, all featuring novices competing for their chance to be Rookie of the Year later this year.

The lowest weight featured was Minimumweight where we saw the unbeaten Reiya Konishi (5-0, 4) continue his unbeaten run with a 2nd round stoppage against the win-less Naoki Yoshimura (0-2-1). Konishi kicked off a good run for unbeaten fighters with unbeaten men winning every division from Minimumweight all the way up to Super Flyweight, as well as Super Bantamweight. At Light Flyweight that saw Seigo Yuri Akui (2-0) over-come the previously unbeaten Michitaka Muto (3-1-1) with a 4 round decision, Flyweight saw a 5 round decision for Shun Kosaka (8-0) who managed to rack up his 8th straight decision win with a clear victory over Takahiko Nakajima (4-5-1). At Super Flyweight we saw Ioka prospect Masayoshi Hashizume (5-0, 3) blow away Takeshi Kajikawa (3-1, 2) in very impressive fashion, this win notably won Hashizume the MVP for the show.

The Bantamweight bout was won by the heavy handed Keisuke Tabuchi (7-1-2, 5) who took a very narrow majority decision over Takaaki Kitagawa (4-3, 2) in one of the more exciting bouts on the show.

At Super Bantamweight we saw another unbeaten winner as Shohei Kawashima (7-0-2, 1) took a 5 round decision over the heavy handed Kohei Iwai (4-3-1, 4).

The remaining 4 bouts on this show were all very competitive with little to split the fighters. These included a Featherweight bout that saw Kyohei Tonomoto (4-1, 2) take a very narrow split decision over Toru Kageyama (5-6-1, 4) whilst Chocoboy Oizumi (4-2-2, 2) took the Light Welterweight crown with a split decision over Kazuma Fukuyama (3-3-3). In a unanimous decision Shota Yamamoto (5-1, 3) defeated the previously unbeaten Ryo Kanda (2-1, 1) for the Welterweight crown. Arguably the most surprising result came at Middleweight where the previously win-less Ryota Ikawa (1-5) over-came American Brandon Lockhart Shane (3-3, 2) in a narrow split decision.

Hyogo, Japan
The third Japan show was in Hyogo and was headlined by former world title challenger Atsushi Kakutani (15-4-1, 7) who scored a 4th round TKO against Thai visitor Dawut Manopkanchang (10-7-1, 3). After the fight Kakutani, who is best known for his loss to Adrian Hernandez in a WBC Light Flyweight title fight, hinted strongly that he was wanting to get an OPBF title fight for December.

In the chief support bout we again saw a Japanese fighter fighting a Thai. This time however the bout was much more competitive with Yuichi Arai (9-8-1, 2) narrowly over-coming Saensak Sithvarunee (0-2) with an 8 round majority decision. 

The only 6 round bout on the show saw Yushi Fujita (6-6-3, 1) defeat Takuya Hashimoto (4-5, 4) in 3 rounds. Fujita scored his first stoppage though it shouldn't be taken as too much of an impressive achievement considering Hashimoto has now been stopped in all 5 of his losses.

The card kicked off with a trio of 4 rounders. These saw Kazuki Kimura (3-2) take a 4 round unanimous decision over Naoya Hamaguchi (4-2-1, 1) in a minor upset, Kazuyoshi Toguri (3-6) managed to take a narrow split decision over Tomohiro Tatani (3-9, 2) and a split decision draw between Kenta Ide (1-1-1) and Keigo Yokoyama (1-1-1).

Jakarta, Indonesia
In Indonesia fans saw Ruben Manakane (14-11-1, 9) score a 5th round TKO against Egy Rozten (3-6-1, 3).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

To end the month of April boxing fans all turned their attention to Japan for a show dubbed "Kamikaze 3", a show that seemed to have all the hardcore fans really interest. We'll admit it's odd for fans around the globe to even know about a Japanese domestic card but this one was different.

Tokyo, Japan
When a fighter scores a big win on US TV fans tend to note, fans seem to suddenly care and become interested in a fighter. This was the case when Japanese fighter Nobuhiro Ishida (25-10-2, 10) stopped the previously unbeaten James Kirkland on HBO. Kirkland was hyped a destroyer of men, a Light Middleweight who ruined anything he touched. Ishida made his name stateside by stopping Kirkland inside a round in one of the most shocking results of the last decade.

The fame Ishida had from that result saw him getting big fights with Paul Williams, Dmitry Pirog and Gennady Golovkin. Although he lost all 3 of those bouts American and European fans still had an interest in him and when it was announced he'd be fighting at Heavyweight that interest grew and grew.

Unfortunately for Ishida the interest from around the world didn't help him with the judges and after a very, very good performance he was narrowly outpointed by Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (9-1, 5), over 8 rounds, in a decision many have suggested was swayed by Fujimoto having a higher domestic profile. Although Ishida lost there have been calls from fans and the media to have a rematch, this time over 10 rounds and with the Heavyweight title at stake, though we have heard that Fujimoto has no interest in that and would rather fight international opponents. We're hoping that, no matter what happens, Ishida gets a chance to fight for the Japanese Heavyweight title. Whether that would be a rematch with Fujimoto or a fight for the vacant title is up for debate but we'd be happy to see either.

Although the Heavyweight bout wasn't a title bout, Fujimoto would have lost the title had he been defeated. There are some suggesting that his title was "protected" so that Japan would have a Heavyweight champion though on this showing the champion really may not be worth having.

Fujimoto wasn't the only reigning champion on the show and another was Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (27-5-1, 7) who also retained his title as he stopped challenger Yuhei Suzuki (14-4, 11). The two men had fought last year to a close decision, this time around however Kato started fast and managed to stoop Suzuki in round 7 as he recorded the 6th defence of his belt.

As well as the two champions the card featured a further 3 bouts.

One of those three contests saw the once hotly tipped Kenji Kubo (4-2-1, 2) in action. Kubo, who beat former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane on debut, has been struggling in recent fights though showed a great attitude to stop Atsushi Hosogai (6-8) in the 7th of a scheduled 8 round bout. 

Both of the others went the distance. The closest saw Yusuke Sakashita (12-4-2, 7) taking a razor thin majority decision over Hideyuki Watanabe (7-6-2, 5) in a fight that could, and perhaps should, have been awarded as a draw. The other saw a genuine upset as journeyman Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-16) managed to out point Seiji Watanabe (5-4-1, 2) over 6 rounds to claim his first win over 4 years.

(Image thanks to boxingnews.jp)

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
The first OPBF title fight of the new year took place today and saw a new champion crowned as Masayoshi Nakatani (7-0, 5) managed to claim the biggest victory of his career. Nakatani, stepping up big time to challenge Yoshitaka Kato (26-5-1, 7) for the OPBF Lightweight title, may have been viewed by many as taking the fight too soon though showed exactly why so many rate so highly.

Despite coming in to the bout with just 21 rounds of career experience Nakatani looked like a veteran at times. He made the most of his sizable reach and height advantages to make Kato fight from range and also made the defending champion pay for his lack of accuracy in the later rounds with great counters.

With this victory we expect Nakatani to move into the world rankings. Prior to the bout Kato was ranked by both the WBC and WBO (#10 in both) and it'd not be a shock if Nakatani moved into a similar position when the rankings for those organisations were updated. Sure he's not ready for any of the active world champions but he's certainly a man who we think will be fighting on the world stage over the following few years. With his size, power, skill and developing experience this kid will be going a very long way.

In the chief support bout, at least in terms of professional contests, there was a rare stoppage victory for the promising Yukinori Oguni (12-1, 3). Oguni, a former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion, took time to get going though didn't really struggle with Yuki Fujimoto (7-3-1, 2) who suffered his first stoppage loss via an 8th round stoppage. Although Oguni was stopped last year by Shingo Wake we've no doubt that this young kid has the potential to make his mark on the world stage.

The least surprising result on the card saw Yusuke Sakashita (11-4-2, 7) take a stoppage over Thai tomato can Petchek Sithkorpolkanpim (0-12) who suffered his 11th career stoppage via this second round loss.

In a disappointing result the highly touted Kenji Kubo (3-2-1, 1) fought to a split decision draw with Kota Sato (9-5-1, 4). Kubo, who began his career with a very impressive decision over Nouldy Manakane, appears to have flopped and is now starting to look very unlikely to ever live up to his potential. Of course credit needs to go to Sato here though in all honesty it's hard to hide our disappointment over Kubo's career.

If Kubo suffering a draw was disappointing then it's fair to say that Yusuke Suzuki (4-1, 3) scoring a 3rd round KO over Takaaki Ishikawa (10-5, 5) was a delightful surprise. Of course Ishikawa hasn't got the greatest chin, suffering 5 stoppage losses now, but it was still a very solid win for Suzki who is still a novice himself.

As well as the competitive bouts on the show there was also the Heavyweight spar of Nobuhiro Ishida (25-9-2, 10). Ishida, a former Japanese Light Middleweight champion, shared the ring with Yamato Fujinaka (4-3, 1) and seemed to do relatively well. There were issues with his sparring but it's expected that he will be given a Japanese ranking and he will be able to challenger Kyotaro Fujimoto on April 30th. It's not yet confirmed but indications are suggest that the JBC ranking committee WILL grant Ishida a Heavyweight ranking.

Barangay. Namayan Basketball Arena, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines
As well as the show in Tokyo there was also action in the Philippines thanks to Aljoe Jaro. This card, which had made headlines before it had even started, turned out to be a pretty interesting one for numerous reasons.

With 13 fights on the show, yes, you read that right 13 fights, it was bound to have talking points and that's certainly what we got.

The lowest level bouts on the card were a trio of 4 rounders. These saw Joel Tamayo (1-1) taking his first victory courtesy of a 4 round decision over the debuting Jeromias Aguinaldo (0-1); Joyjoy Formentera (2-1) winning a tight split decision over Jeffrey Alejandre (1-2) in an excellently made bout, and a good stoppage victory for the promising Rolly Sumalpong (3-0, 1) who stopped Rodney Ramirez (0-1-1) in the 4th and final round.

The card amazingly had 7 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds. Surprisingly only 3 of those bouts actually went the distance. These distance bouts saw Rowel Rosia (6-2, 3) score a very credible win over Lionel Legada (11-6-1, 5) with a unanimous decision, Danilo Gabisay (5-2, 3) scoring a narrow victory over Regan Delos Santos (2-2-1, 2) with a majority decision whilst the unbeaten Joey Canoy (4-0-1, 3) was unexpectedly held to a draw by Felipe Cagubcob Jr (1-1-4) who is starting to become an expect in scoring draws.

Of the other scheduled 6 rounders the longest lasted 5 rounds as Jonathan Francisco (5-3, 2) struggled to finish off Mac Mac Canisio (2-4-1). This was somewhat the opposite of Lloyd Jardeliza's (5-0-3, 4) 159 second blow out of the fragile Marco Niones (3-11-1, 1) who suffered his 9th stoppage loss.

For us some of the most noteworthy results came in the other 6 rounders. One of those was a 3rd round victory scored by the very promising Neil John Tabanao (6-0, 5). Tabanao, fighting Warren Mambuanag (6-4-2, 3), showed why he is so highly regarded as he dropped Mambuanag in the opening round before finishing him in round 3.

The second noteworthy result in the 6 round bouts saw former IBF Minimumweight champion Florante Condes (26-8-1, 22) stopping journeyman Marzon Cabilla (9-11-1, 4). On paper this shouldn't be noteworthy though it is for several reasons. Firstly this was Condes's first bout in well over a year and his first win since 2010. Both interesting facts, though the key is that Cabilla was supposed to be a better opponent, despite being a very late replacement, than Condes's original opponent Rey Morano who the GAB refused to sanction for the bout. If Cabilla, who lasted just 133 seconds, was better then just how bad do the GAB think Morano is?

In the shows sole 8 round bout, the unbeaten Ardie Boyosi (9-0-1, 6) stopped the experienced Prell Tupaz (8-23-4, 1) in just 111 seconds as he showed off why his is touted as a really credible prospect. Tupaz might have collected losses but he has rarely been stopped and actually came in to this bout following an 8th round technical decision loss to one time world title challenger Sylvester Lopez.

We believe the card had 2 bouts scheduled for 12 rounds. One of these saw Jomar Fajardo (13-4-1, 6) claim the new Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) Light Flyweight title courtesy of a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Robel Villegas (9-8, 3), whilst the other again brought question marks to the GAB.

Former WBC and Linear Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (35-13-5, 25), originally scheduled to fight Pit Anacaya, instead took on Charlie Cabilla (13-13-4, 2) and took him out inside a round. Cabilla, a late replacement for Anacaya who the GAB said was an unfit opponent for Jaro, was also unfit though with the matchmaker given less than a week to sort out an opponent it's questionable as to what the GAB expected.

Auditorio Benito Juárez, Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
In Mexico things went as expected for a trio of Filipino's who were thrown in hard and expected to sink.

Things for Vergel Nebran (11-7-1, 7) went exactly as most would have expected, with the Filipino being stopped by former WBC Super Flyweight world champion Tomas Rojas (42-14-1-1, 28). In fact if anything was surprisingly here it was how long Nebran lasted, refusing to be stopped early on he survived until round 8 against the rangy Mexican fighter.

Rojas wasn't the only former world champion beating up on a Filipino foe as Ramon Garcia Hirales (19-4-1, 12), the former WBO Light Flyweight champion, over came Lionel Mark Duran (11-10-2, 5) in what looked like a mismatch on paper. Although the expected winner won Duran impressed by refusing to be stopped

The closest a Filipino came was Adones Aguelo (20-9-2, 12) who gave Mexico's Nery Saguilan (27-4-1, 10) a good run for his money in a competitive 10 round bout. Aguelo, who was narrowly beaten, proved he was on an even keel with Saguilan and a rematch in a neutral venue may well see the decision reversed.