Bangkok, Thailand
This past Tuesday saw a notable televised card form Thailand. It wasn't a big show but it did feature a world title bout, two promising unbeaten prospects and the fighter with longest active winning streak in the sport.

The main event was the world title fight and saw the unbeaten Wanheng Menayothin (38-0, 13) retain his WBC Minimumweight title with a 9th round KO of over-matched Filipino challenger Jerry Tomogdan (17-6-3, 9). Tomogdan looked out of his depth almost from the off and was quickly finding himself being broken down by the pressure and accuracy of Wanheng who finally saw him off with a body shot to record the second defense of his title. We're now hoping to see the Thai fight Denver Cuello in a mandatory, though we may be left waiting there.

The world title fight was one of 3 title bouts on the show. The most competitive was for the WBC Youth Minimumweight title and saw the unbeaten Chanachai CP Freshmart (4-0, 2) retain his title with a very competitive win against Filipino foe Lester Abutan (7-3-3, 4). Chanachai has impressed us every time we've seen him with his ultra-aggressive style which is a real handful but credit to Abutan for not wilting and trying to fight back in a memorable and exciting contest.

The other title bout was a horrible mismatch as WBC Youth silver Bantamweight champion Petch Sor Chitpattana (31-0, 20) retained his title with a 2nd round KO of Filipino Jayar Estremos (10-11, 4). The bout was finished by a sickening body shot from Petch who has seemingly got eyes on WBC world champion Shinsuke Yamanaka. A fighter between Petch and Yamanaka would be too soon for the Thai, though it's good to see that he has got that type of ambition.

The other bout on the show saw Noknoi Sitthiprasert* (55-4, 32) score his 54th straight win as he defeated Petchchumpol Sor Visetkit (5-6, 3) in the 4th round. Sadly we've yet to see Noknoi face an opponent with any real value and it's becoming a bit of a running joke that Noknoi is going to set records with out having faced a “live” opponent.

*Noknoi's record misses at least 1 bout, a recent win over Donny Mabao, it may however miss a lot more with at least 5 other supposed wins missing from his record.

This past Friday was a hectic day from start to finish for Asian fans who got fights from all over Asia as well as a number of fighters in action outside of Asia.

Beiing, China
The most notable action of the day came from the Chinese capital where fans got an “interim” world title bout as well as several lower level bouts. Whilst we won't pretend the show was the greatest it certainly featured some excitement and plenty of knockdowns.

We'll start with the main event which saw exciting Filipino Randy Petalcorin (23-1-1, 18) successfully defend his WBA “interim” Light Flyweight title with an opening round destruction of Chinese challenger Ma Yi Ming (12-6, 7). Petalcorin looked sharp from the off and scored a trio of knockdowns forcing the referee to halt the bout after less than 2 minutes. Considering how good Petalcorin looked here we can't help but think it's time he stepped up and started facing fellow world level fighters rather than over matched foes like Ming.

The co-feature bout on the BTV Sports telecast saw Chinese Light Heavyweight Qu Peng (7-1-1, 5) make light work of Australian visitor Dane Campbell (3-3, 2) with an opening round TKO. Campbell had been down twice before a follow up assault forced the referee to halt the contest. With this win Peng claimed the “illustrious” WBO China National Light Heavyweight title, which was paraded around the ring prior to the bout.

The opening bout on the telecast was another bout in the heavier divisions as Zulpikar Maimaitiali (1-0, 1) scored a 5th round TKO against Thai visitor Yodkhunsuk Poowana (4-3-1, 2). The Thai had been down in the opening round before being stopped by the referee, incidentally a referee from Thailand. Another China Vs Thailand bout took place off camera as Xia Shunkai (3-0, 2) took his first decision win as he over-came Kajornsak Sithsaithong (7-5, 7).

The rest of the bouts here were all Chinese affairs. One of those saw Adili Abulimiti (1-1-1) take a 6 round decision win over debutant Huang Ju Xiang (0-1), another saw Xu Que (2-1-1, 2) take a 3rd round TKO win over Peng Ding Gui (0-1) whilst the unbeaten Yelieqiati (2-0) took a 4 round shut out against Liu Peng Fei (0-1).

Beijing, China
As well as the big show in Beijing there was another show, in the same venue in fact. This one featured mostly novices in action with 9 fights in total.

The main event for this card saw the debuting Chen Sen (1-0) take a majority decision over Ji Tao (7-5, 2) in the only 6 round bout of the card. Tao was the most experienced fighter on the card, by far.

From the 8 under-card 4 went the distance and 4 finished early. One of those that failed to go the distance saw Su Cheng (2-0, 1) claim a 2nd round TKO against Lin Jing Huang (0-1), another 2nd round TKO saw Alimu Wushouer (1-0, 1) over-come Yan Xiao Long (0-1). A 3rd TKO saw Dilixiati (1-0, 1) stop Lin Bing He (0-1) whilst a bout that ended in round 4 saw Tan Zheng (1-1, 1) over-come Ye Bao Fei (0-1)

In terms of bouts that went the distance a couple of those were clear and a couple were very close. One of those clear bouts saw Niu Zhong Jie (1-0) over-come Yu Chang Tian (0-1) whilst the other was a win for Cai Jun Cheng (1-0) who defeated Zhang Yi Feng (0-2). In the closer bouts fans saw Zhang Qi Xiu (1-0) take a majority decision over Halimubieke (1-2) and Wang Yin Gang (3-0, 1) take a victory over Su Shi Long (0-1).

Bangkok, Thailand
There was also some televised action from Thailand where fans had the chance to see several notable names in action.

One of those notable names was former world title challenger Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (45-2, 27) who took on the visiting Alwi Alhabsyi (13-22-3, 3) in what looked like a complete mismatch on paper. Whilst Panomroonglek got the much expected win, a stoppage in the 5th round, we were impressed but the gutsy effort of Alhabsyi who gave a lot more of an effort than many fighters in his position. Unfortunately for him he was down twice with the final one coming at the end of round 5. (Note at the time of writing boxrec.com list this as a 3rd round KO, the footage however proves that it was round 5).

Another notable name was Noknoi Sitthiprasert (54-4, 31)* who scored his 53rd straight win as he stopped the debuting Tonpetch Sithchansing (0-1) in round 3. This was as much of a mismatch as the records would suggest and it leaves us wondering just how many poor opponents they can find Noknoi to pad his record.

Yet another notable name in action here was former WBA “interim” Flyweight champion Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep (35-3, 21)* who managed to defeat the massively over-matched Jopher Marayan (7-6-2, 3) of the Philippines. Marayan came to fight but was busted up and bloodied by the time the referee stopped the bout in round 4. Prior to the stoppage Marayan was dropped and looked looked wobbly with his effort clearly taking it's toll on him. Despite the loss for Marayan we would like to see more of him as he's a fighter who comes to win. With this win Yodmongkol claimed the WBA Asia Flyweight title.

A final notable name here was Ratchasak KKP (27-3-1, 13) who took a stoppage win over Chaosamut Sithchansing (0-1). Chaosamut came to fight and did show some nice touches in a bout that became a slugfest. Unfortunately for the novice he was broken down despite a brave effort. As with many of the other losers on this card we genuinely want to see more of Chaosamut who impressed us more than Ratchasak did,

Metro Manila, Philippines
In the Philippines fans saw a show with a few interesting bouts.

The most notable of those saw the heavy handed Warlito Parrenas (24-6, 21) make light work of Thai visitor Kaichon Sor Vorapin (25-14, 9). Parrenas, ranked #1 by the WBO at Super Flyweight, disposed of Kaichon in the 3rd of a scheduled 10 rounds. This was the Thai's 5th straight stoppage loss and it seems clear he's no longer any sort of a threat.

Tokyo, Japanese
In Japan fans got an 8 fight show at the Korakuen Hall and although none of the bouts were huge there was a number of notable names and notable results.

The main event saw an upset as Tatsuya Otsubo (8-6-1, 3) took a close unanimous decision against ranked fighter Akihiko Katagiri (16-8-2, 7). This was Katagiri's first loss since he was stopped by Jhonny Gonzalez around 2 years ago however for Otsubo this was his 6th win and he has really turned his career around after a 2-6-1 start to his career.

In the co-feature Hikaru Nishida (12-7-2, 4) took an easy win over Thai visitor Kungsuk Sor Sompong (0-1). Nishida stopped the Thai in the 2nd round of a scheduled 8 rounder. This was Nishida's second win since losing a competitive decision to Akio Shibata last July in an OPBF/Japanese title fight.

A third scheduled 8 rounder saw Kimika Miyoshi (10-8-1, 5), a former female OPBF title holder, take out Muyalek Sithsaithong (3-1, 1) after just 1 minute of their bout.

Another notable name here was IBF Asia Featherweight champion Takuya Watanabe (25-5-1, 12) who blew out Sornnarai Sor Bangkhru (0-1) in 117 seconds of a scheduled 6 rounder. We're not hoping to see Watanabe in a more notable bout as he is genuinely an interesting fighter. Another 6 rounder saw Yamato Nakagawa (5-5, 3) make light work of the limited Ryota Koizumi (6-11-1, 4).

On the under-card we saw qualified accountant Kohei Kashino (2-0, 1) take a decision win over Akihrio Hikicho (3-5-3). Kashino's stablemate Riyako Goshi (3-3) wasn't as lucky however as she saw her 3-fight winning run come to an end in a wide decision loss to Yumiko Shimooka (2-1, 1). The reamining under-card bout ended in a draw as Shinjiro Kawada (2-1-1, 2) failed to see off Ryo Nakanko (1-2-2).

Accra, Ghana
In Africa things didn't end too well for the hard hitting but fragile Joebert Delos Reyes (13-5-1, 10) who was stopped in the 4th round by Emmanuel Tagoe (23-1, 10). This bout, for the WBA International Lightweight title, was ended on the 3-knockdown rule with Reyes being bounced on and off the canvas in round 4.

Eastern Cape, South Africa
Sadly things were frustrating for for Randy Braga (15-1-1, 3) who lost his unbeaten record in controversial circumstances. The Filipino, who travelled to South Africa to take on the heavy handed Macbute Sinyabi (25-4, 19), came incredibly close to claiming the IBO Inter-continental Featherweight title but was unfortunate on two of the cards as he lost a very close split decision to the home fighter.



(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
(*Boxrec records are missing recent bouts for both Yodmongkol and Noknoi)

This past Thursday was a great day for fight fans in Asia with action in both Japan and Thailand

Chonburi, Thailand
The most notable action occurred in Thailand where fans got the chance to see a bit of everything, ranging from former world champions to novices beginning their careers.

The former world champion was Indonesian veteran Muhammad Rachman (65-12-5, 35) who was hoping to call himself a world champion for the 3rd time as he went up against unbeaten Thai Knockout CP Freshmart (10-0, 5). Knockout, who was defending his WBA interim Minimumweight title for the first time, quickly showed that his 19 years of youth “advantage” was more than enough to over-come the Indonesian fighter who had previously held the IBF and WBA world titles. Knockout was too good, too energetic, too fast and over-all too good for his experienced for gave his best but was never really in the bout.

In an under-card bout fans saw the highly experienced Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (44-2, 26) retain his PABA Bantamweight title with an 8th round KO against the smaller but game Mateo Handig (13-9, 7). Panomroonglek is said to be targeting a world title shot and this was more about ticking over than anything else, though the PABA title was on the line.

Another bout on this card saw Noknoi Sitthiprasert (53-4, 30) extend his winning streak to 52 straight wins as he took a decision win over Filipino journeyman Donny Mabao (21-25-1, 4) in what was a third meeting between the two men. Noknoi had beaten Mabao in both 2009 and 2010 and is now 3-0 against the busy Filipino who has now lost 4 in a row.

We are aware that there were other bouts on this show though unfortunately we've not had those results as of yet. From what we understand one bout involved Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, who returned to the ring for the first time since he was stopped by Juan Carlos Reveco at the end of 2014, whilst another involved the exciting Chanachai Cp Freshmart. Hopefully we'll get those results shortly.

Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans had a great day of action which culminated in a really exciting Japanese title fight though also showcased an OPBF title holder, a female world champion and a former Japanese title holder as well as several novices.

The least experienced fighter on the card was Toru Kiyota (1-0, 1) who made a successful debut with an opening round victory over Kohei Isozaki (1-2). Although Kiyota now has some professional experience under his belt it is worth noting this bout lasted just 123 and was Isozaki's second successive stoppage loss.

Another undercard bout that failed to last long was a Middleweight clash that saw Rasher Aoki (3-2, 1) blow away Tomoki Akutsu (1-2) in the second round. This Akutsu's first bout since he was stopped inside a round by Kenyu Ojima last June and it seems clear that his durability will hold him back.

In an interesting Light Flyweight bout fans saw the promising Kenichi Miyazaki (8-1-1, 2) take a clear 6 round decision over the experienced Takuro Habu (11-10-2, 3). This was Miyazaki's 3rd straight since being stopped in the West Japan Rookie of the Year back in November 2013 and it seems clear that he has a lot of potential.

Another 6 rounder saw WBA Atomweight champion Ayaka Miyao (20-5-1, 4) take a clear and comprehensive victory over Momoko Kanda (8-7-2, 2). The bout showed the class difference between a world champion and a domestic level fighter however it comments made after the bout that served as being notable with Miyao suggesting she was open to fighting WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki. If that bout can be made it would be the first ever Atomweight unification bout.

In an 8 rounder fans saw Tatsuya Yanagi (11-2, 4) take a razor thin decision over the more experienced Toru Suzuki (24-5, 8) in a minor upset. Yanagi had entered on back-to-back losses, including a decision loss to the much touted Johnriel Maligro, though had won the 2012 All Japan Rookie of the year. Suzuki, the more experienced man, had been stopped in 3 of his previous 5 and appears to have found his level as being below national title level. Notably Suzuki was testing the water as a fully blown Super Featherweight having previously made his name as a Featherweight.

In another 8 rounder we saw Masaki Saito (12-10-4, 3) score an upset win over former Japanese Super Featherweight champion Seiichi Okada (18-6, 11). Sadly for Okada, who made 3 defended of the national title in 2011, it appears this will have been the final nail in his coffin. The popular 32 year old has lost 5 of his last 7 now and has been stopped in 4 of those bouts suggesting it's time he though about retirement. It's a shame for Okada if that's it but he's had a good career over-all. For Saito this is a huge win and he's now 4-1-1 (2) in his last 6 suggesting he's turning his career around.

The most notable of the 8 round bouts saw OPBF Super Flyweight champion Ryo Matsumoto (14-0, 12) make light work of Thai visitor Thanuthong Chor Kangwal (0-1) who was stopped after 33 seconds of round 2. The talented Matsumoto landed a liver shot that left Thanuthong in agony and showed the huge gulf in class between the two fighters. Prior to the fight Matsumoto had hinted at aiming for a Bantamweight world title later in the year and on this showing he does look healthier as a Bantamweight than as a Super Flyweight.

In the main event the fans got a real treat as Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono (27-2-1, 20) over-came a very spirited effort from Rikiya Fukuhara (30-8-1, 22). Fukuhara, who had previously been stopped by Hosono, started really well but had to pull himself off the canvas in round 4 as Hosono's power and toughness forced Fukuhara into the wrong type of fight. Late on Fukuhara managed to find some success but it was too little too late to over-come the tough Hosono who is hoping to get another world title fight, though seems unlikely to beat any of the current champions, sadly. For Fukuhara this may be the end of his long career, which has seen him claim the Japanese Super Bantamweight title and challenge for titles at both Featherweight and Super Featherweight.


(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Nakhon Sawan, Thailand
This year has certainly been a very slow one to get going but it seems like we now have life in the world of boxing and today we saw the first world title bout in Asia for 2015. We also saw a couple of youth title bouts and a couple of other contests.

The show, which was televised on Thai channel 7, began with one of the WBC Youth title fights as WBC Youth Minimumweight champion Chanachai CP Freshmart (2-0, 1) successfully defended his title. Chanachai was battling against the more experienced Wilber Andogan (10-18-4, 4) and although Chanchai did show signs of inexperience he thoroughly dominated Andogan who did very well to survive the scheduled 10 round distance. Whilst this was the first we'd managed to see Chachai in action he did look impressive and we're going to look forward to see him again in the future as he looked a very aggressive and exciting young fighter.

Following the starter we then got the main event bout which was another bout at Minimumweight as WBC world champion Wanheng Menayothin (37-0, 12) made the first defense of his title. Wanehng, who won the title last year when he stopped Oswaldo Novoa, was taking on unknown Filipino challenger Jeffrey Galero (11-1, 5) and a it seemed in the early rounds as if Wanheng was trying to figure out his Filipino opponent who had success in the opening rounds with his smart movement and intelligent boxing. Sadly for Galero he was then put under 10 rounds of increasingly stiff pressure and although he survived the pressure he was the clear loser come the final bell.

In the show's third bout we again saw title against as the brilliant Kongputorn CPFreshmart (6-0, 4)* retained his WBC Youth Flyweight title with a brutal beating of the very badly over-matched Zhang Fang Yon (0-2). Yon showed some bravery early on but took a pounding before being saved in round 3 by the referee. By the end Yon was bleeding from various cuts, was having his head snapped back and rocked repeatedly and the bout was becoming a show case for the very talented Kongputorn who we hope to see matched a little harder in the next few months.

After the title bouts fans then had the chance to see a former world title challenger in action as Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (43-2, 25), best known for his loss in 2013 to Koki Kameda, dismantled a horribly over-matched Indonesian foe, believed to be Edo Anggoro (7-3), in 3 rounds. The match was a farcical mismatch in what Anggoro did little other than show his guts as he picked himself of the canvas repeatedly. We're unsure if Angoro was the opponent though if it was it seems his record is massively incomplete.

As the broadcast went off air there was still a fight going on involving Noknoi Sitthiprasert (52-4, 30) who managed to over-come the win-less Mongkol Patanakan Gym (0-8), who had been stopped in 6 of his previous 7 defeats.

California, USA
In the US the unbeaten Ruslan Madiev (3-0, 1) recorded his first stoppage as he took 102 seconds to defeat Cesar Martinez (4-5-2, 1)

*Boxrec still fail to recognise Kongputorn's debut win over Veeradej Manoprungroj, which can be seen here 

(Image courtesy of Thairec.com)

Wow, wasn't Friday a busy day with shows in Thailand, Japan and Russia...and here we go with all the results!

Nonthaburi, Thailand
Today there was two Thai cards, one on channel 7 and one on channel 3. Of those cards it was the Channel 3 one that caught the attention with former world champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (30-4-1, 27) in action as he was defending his WBC Asia Boxing Council Super Flyweight title. Srisaket, who was listed on some sources as fighting Mateo Handig, scored his 27th stoppage as he over-came Filipino Bobby Concepcion (11-6-1, 5). The bout was straight forward enough for Srisaket who is now hoping to secure a rematch with WBC Super Flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras.

On the same card in Thailand we saw the exciting but limited Kongfah Nakornluang (17-0, 10) score a second round stoppage over Indonesian visitor, and professional loser, Safwan Lombok (1-27-1). Kongfah started the bout by boxing but in the second round went into fight mode and swiftly saw off the Indonesian fighter. Although Kongfah against us wondering just how far he will go we've got to admit we're going to love following his career and for the second time this year we were really entertaining by this young and exciting Thai warrior.

Ayutthaya, Thailand
On the channel 7 show fans saw Palangpol CP Freshmart (6-1, 4) in the main event as he defended his WBA Asia title against former foe Heri Amol (34-20-4, 14). Palangpol took a decision over the Indonesian veteran though still didn't look ready to take the next step up, we suspect that Palangpol will take a big fight next year and if he wins that he'll be moved towards a world title contest though it's hard to see him beating any of the top Light Flyweights at the moment.

Thai veteran Noknoi Sitthiprasert (51-4, 30) scored his 30th stoppage victory, as he over-came Dechai PetchasemfourGym (0-1) in just 2 rounds.

Other bouts on this card saw Petch Sor Chitpattana (28-0, 18) extend his winning run with a decision over Petchchumpol Sor Visetkit (4-3, 2) whilst Ratchasak KKP (25-3-1, 11) over-came the tough Joel Kwong (1-7, 1) in what was a second meeting between the two men.

Tokyo, Japan
At the Korakuen Hall, the holy land of Japanese boxing, there was 8 domestic bouts with several of them being of genuine interest.

The main event saw Japanese based Filipino Ricky Sismundo (27-8-1, 12) narrowly over-come heavy handed Japanese fighter Shuhei Tsuchiya (16-4, 14) with an 8 round split decision. Although the bout went the distance it certainly wasn't a dull one with Tsuchiya down twice and Susmundo down once in a great contest between two men who knew just how much this bout meant to their careers. For Tsuchiya this is his second loss of the year, following a stoppage loss to Leonardo Zappavigna, and seems to hint that he's never going to be a domestic champion however he will always be a lot of fun to watch. For Sismundo this win should move him towards a Japanese title fight.

In an 8 support bout Yuya Sugizaki (20-9-1, 6) managed to take a fifth round technical decision over Filipino Gabriel Royo (9-11-2, 8), who has now lost 4 in a row. Royo is a heavy handed fighter but is clumsy and it showed against the more skilled Sugizaki. Another 8 rounder saw Yuta Nakagawa (14-4-1, 8) take a clear 8 round win over Yuta Saito (7-5-2, 6) in a Bantamweight contest. The first of the 4 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds was the only one that saw a knockout as Kazuya Nakano (8-3, 7) lived up to his reputation as a heavy handed fighter and stopped Takahisa Nayuki (11-12, 2) in the 5th round of their bout with an eye catching shot that immediately caused the referee to wave off the bout.

On the under-card there was one man we were particularly interested in, Koki Koshikawa (3-0, 1). Koshikawa is tipped as a prospect with real potential having been a stand out amateur and he showed that class as he dominated Ryoji Miyagi (7-5-1, 4) to take a 1-sided decision win.

Another unbeaten fighter in action was Hiroyasu Shiga (4-0, 3) scored a 4th round TKO victory over Takuo Watanabe (2-8-3), an impressive victory considering that Watanbe has got a reputation as being somewhat durable. Another unbeaten man extending his run was Daisuke Yamada (2-0, 1) who scored a second round KO against Kosuke Tsunoda (1-3). In the opening bout Takuya Kurata (1-2, 1) defeated Yuta Ouchi (0-1), also by second round TKO.

Moscow, Russia
We had another show in Russia as the capital city, Moscow, played host to a show that got more interest than many Russian shows have in recent years.

The card began simple enough with two debutants scoring low profile wins. One of those was Dmitry Bivol (1-0, 1) who scored a 6th round TKO against the limited but experienced Jorge Rodriguez Olivera (25-11, 12) the other debutant was Heavyweight hopeful Sergey Kuzmin (1-0, 1) who blasted out Nicholas Buule (3-1, 3).

Another of the undercard bouts saw the very promising Sergey Lipinets (5-0, 4) score and 8th round knockout against Filipino visitor Ernie Sanchez (14-6-1, 5) in a bout that saw the unbeaten Russian claim the WBC International silver Light Welterweight title, Lipinets's first title as a professional boxer. Another man in title action was Andrey Klimov (19-1, 9) who took a very wide decision over Gabino Cota (16-3-1, 14) to defend his WBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title.

One of the more interesting under-card bouts saw Olympic champion, and former amateur stand out, Egor Mekhontsev (7-0, 6) take hid first decision win as he completely shut out Joey Vegas (17-10-1, 10) in an 8 round bout. Mekhontsev will likely feel disappointed that he didn't score the stoppage here but will certainly feel happy to get some professional rounds under his belt given that his first 6 opponents lasted a combined 16 rounds.

One man who didn't need to go any rounds was the heavy handed Eduard Troyanovsky (20-0, 17) who scored a beautiful knockout out as he took out Jose Agustin Feria (16-2-1, 10) inside a round. Another man who scored an opening round KO was Cruiserweight crusher Dmitry Kudryashov (16-0, 16) who took just 22 seconds, yes you read that correctly, to wipe out former world champion Juan Carlos Gomez (55-4-0-1, 40). Gomez might be well beyond his prime but no one would have expected this from Kudryashov who is now ready for a top contender.

Another Cruiserweight contest saw Rakhim Chakhkiev (21-1, 16) make relatively light work of Brazilian Light Heavyweight Jackson Junior (15-2, 13) with a fourth round TKO. Although the bout was relatively straight forward for the big punching Russian he did seem to have problems the few times Junior did catch him.

Towards the top of the card, in fact in the chief support slow, we ended up with a contest that many dubbed a freakshow. The bout, supposedly an exhibition, saw Mickey Rourke (6-0-2-1, 4), yes the Hollywood actor, score a knockout against the frankly hapless Elliot Seymour (1-9-0-1, 1). Seymour may well have put in the worst performance of a professional fighter this year and fought such an incredibly tame effort that it appears he was the actor pretending to be a boxer. For what it's worth we're unsure if this bout will feature on either man's record though we've noted it as a “no contest” on both records.

In the main event of the card we saw former world champions colliding as Russian slugger Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17) took on Mexican veteran Jose Luis Castillo (66-13-1, 57). The two men, from completely different eras, were never on an even keel as Provodnikov took control of the bout in the opening round and was never really under any sort of pressure before Castillo was eventually stopped in round 5.

Barnaul, Russia
A second Russian card came from Barnual and attracted much less attention from the boxing world.

Theunder-card hear features 3 bouts with one of those being an all debutant 4 rounder that saw Mahir Pashayev (1-0) out point Abbas Turgunbaev (0-1). The show's sole upset came in an 8 rounder as Vladyslav Yeromenko (2-1) out pointed Artem Merzlikin (5-1-1, 3).

The show's sole 10 round bout saw the unbeaten Yury Kashinsky (5-0, 5) continue his stoppage streak as he stopped Yuriy Barashian (27-8, 18) in the 7th round

The main event here saw PABA Light Middleweight champion Pavel Mamontov (10-1-2, 1) retain his title with a 12 round decision win over Oscar Roberto Medina (24-7-2, 9).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Friday might have been Halloween but is wasn't a scary day for many with numbers fighters picking expected wins in Asia.

Thailand
In Thailand we had two cards with the most interesting of those being headlined by the unbeaten Kaewfah Tor Buamas (18-0, 12) who retain his WBA Asia Super Featherweight title with an easy and clear win over Indonesian challenger Tony Arema (3-6). The Thai was comfortable through out and picked up the pace in round 6 before Arema retired in his corner accepting his loss. Sadly this sort of a mismatch is all to common place in the Thai scene and we do wonder what a bout like this really does for Kaewfah.

Thailand
A second Thai card saw Petch Sor Chitpattana (27-0, 18) successfully defend his WBC Youth Silver Bantamweight title with a third round victory over a yet unidentified foe. Whilst on the same card veteran Noknoi Sitthiprasert (50-4, 29) scored his 50th professional win. Sadly we've yet to identify his opponent either.

Ulsan, South Korea
The biggest Asian card of the day took place in South Korea where we had a mysterious 6 bout card. The main event on the show saw Jung-Hoon Yang (9-6, 2) successfully defend the South Korean Welterweight title with a 10 round decision over Ma-Roo Jung (2-3-1). The scorecards here were interesting to say the least with a card of 99-94 put in by one judge indicating there was a clear winner but a number of competitive cards.

The chief support bout saw Yong-Hwan Jun (3-3, 1) take a clear decision over Kyun-Ho Nam (0-2-1) with Nam being dropped twice in the opening round. 

The undercard consisted of 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. These saw Joo-Young Kwon (2-0) extend his unbeaten record with a decision over the debuting Woong-Chan Song (0-1) whilst a second debutant Woo-Min Kim (1-0) took a decision over Joon-Young Yoon (0-2). Neither of the other 2 under-card bouts went close to seeing the distance as as Tae-Kyung Um (1-4-2, 1) took a 2nd round TKO over Sung-Min Jo (0-1-1) whilst the unbeaten Jae-Man Kim (2-0, 1) scored a 35 second blow out against debutant Jung-Ho Kim (0-1).

Vladikavkaz, Russia
In Russia we had a 5 bout card headlined by a regional Cruiserweight title bout between Murat Gassiev (19-0, 13) and Engin Karakaplan (12-5-1, 5). Gassiev made very light work of Karakaplan who scored a 99 second victory to claim the IBF Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title.

Other than the main event all the other bouts went the distance. These included a 6 round decision victory for the hard hitting Alexey Zubov (6-0, 4) who over-came Isroil Qurbonov (8-9-1, 3). A second 6 rounder saw a Soslan Tedeev (5-0, 4) take a clear win over Sadiki Momba (17-5-2, 5), despite being deducted a point in round 3 for a rabbit punch.

In an 8 rounder Evgeny Pavko (7-0-1, 3) took a decision over Mikheil Avakyani (26-17-4, 12) whilst the once beaten Rauf Aghayev (15-1, 5) took a competitive win over Ruslan Berchuk (9-5, 5).

Queensland, Australia
In Australia we saw two Filipino's in action with mixed fortunes. 

In an bout for the WBA Oceania Super Featherweight title fans saw the Australian based Filipino Jack Asis (32-18-5, 17) extend a 12 fight unbeaten streak with his 11th win since February 2011. Asis made extremely light work of Isaias Santos Sampaio (19-9, 19) who came with a punchers reputation but certainly couldn't take a decent shot himself.

The second bout saw Amor Tino (14-20-4, 4) fail in his unexpected attempt to claim the WBA Oceania Light Welterweight title. Tino was a late replacement for Fernando Ferreira da Silva who injured himself on the day of the weight in and sadly the lack or preparation was obvious as Tino struggled immensely with the talented Kris George (7-0, 5). George dropped Tino in rounds 1 and 6 and and the Filipino lost his mouth piece numerous times en route to a wide 10 round decision loss.

(Image courtesy of boxrec.com)

Today's action came in two chunks with the early morning stuff coming from Thailand before we later moved on to fights from Russia. It's wasn't action that will rival Saturday's but it was still more than enough to warm us up for the weekend.

Surat Thani, Thailand
The Thai action wasn't really high profile though it did see former WBC Minimumweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai (54-1-1, 20) in action as he defended his WBC International Super Flyweight title against the over-matched Noli Morales (10-5, 3). Morales was completely out of his depth and, although Oleydong isn't a big puncher, he lasted just 4 rounds.

As well as Oleydong's bout we've been informed there were two others. These saw veteran Noknoi Sitthiprasert (49-4, 28) taking a decision over the experienced Fernando Lumacad (29-8-3, 12) and Morakote Patanakan Gym (9-3, 5) scoring a quick blow out over over an over-matched foe. From what we under-stand the Japanese fighter was Shigeru Murata, though we're unsure on his record.

Moscow, Russia
Although the action kicked off in Thailand it was the Russian card that many fans were more interested in and it kicked off around 8 hours after the Thai show had finished.

The card had interesting bouts through out, the first of which was an excellent win for the very highly regarded Sergey Lipinets (2-0, 1) who stopped the over-matched Dzemil Cosovic (3-2-1, 1) in 4 rounds. We're really looking forward to seeing what Lipinets does in the future though some have described him as a future Russian superstar.

On the under card there wasn't just a victory for Lipinets but also for Evgeny Smirnov (2-0, 1) who defeated Milan Savic (1-2-1) via a 6 round decision. Although not as highly regarded as Lipinets there are good things being said about Smirnov.

Another man down the card who was in action was Eduard Troyanovsky (18-0, 15) who made light work of Anton Bekish (5-11, 4). Unfortunately for Troyanovsky he was hoping to fight Richar Abril but numerous issues have prevented that bout from happening, including both fighters suffering injures. It seems likely that he this was a stay busy fight for the Russian Lightweight hopeful but it'll have been a frustrating one for him after all the promises of a world title bout this year.

Further up the card Aslanbek Kozaev (25-1-1, 7) took a 10 round decision over the out matched Igor Faniyan (14-8-2, 7). It wasn't a great match up but it was Kozaev's first bout since his loss to Ray Robinson in the US in February.

The chief support bout on the show saw Russian Cruiserweight hopeful Rakhim Chakhkiev (19-1, 14) defend his WBC international Cruiserweight title for the first time as he over-came former world title challenger Santander Silgado (25-2, 20). Although the victory was a good one for Chakhkiev he really did struggle early on with Silgado who, despite losing, made life difficult for the highly touted Russian.

Although Chakhkiev struggled his compatriot, Alexander Povetkin (27-1, 19) looked sensation as he returned to the ring and dominated Manuel Charr (26-2, 15) in a very, very impressive performance. Povetkin bounced shots off Charr at will before closing the show with a world class combination that sent Charr down hard in round 7 for a genuinely eye catching victory for the Russian Heavyweight.


Metro Manila, Philippines
In the Philippines fans got to see the hard hitting Marbon Bodiongan (10-1-2, 8) wipe out the limited Cris Leon (7-10-4, 3) in 7 rounds. Bodiongan is now unbeaten in 5 with 4 KO's in those 5 bouts since his sole defeat back in August 2012.

(Image, of Oleydong, courtesy of boxrec.com)

February has, on the whole, been a disappointing day with only a handful of notable contests. Thankfully though the month did end on a high with a trio of notable Asian cards.

Bangkok, Thailand
The first of the cards took place in Thailand and was televised on Thai Channel 7. The show, which featured a total of 4 bouts, including a title bout, was arguable the show with the most significant fight of the day on it.

The notable fight in question saw the world ranked Noknoi Sitthiprasert (48-4, 28), pictured, successfully defending his WBC international Silver Flyweight title against the previously unbeaten Rajah Renoel Pael (12-1-1, 5) of the Philippines. Unfortunately for Pael he was denied what seemed like a clear victory with the judges some how preferring the work of Noknoi who was very fortunate to retain his belt.

Fights like this one explain why Thailand do struggle to get over top class fighters. The judging is simply too questionable and with Noknoi's world rankings, including a WBC #4 and WBA #5 placings, there was no chance he was going to lose unless Pael could knock him out. Very unfortunate for the poor Filipino.

Thankfully no other bout on this card much in terms of controversy, though unfortunately they weren't great match ups. The most notable of which included the promising Petch Sor Chitpattana (24-0, 16), who stopped the debuting Carlo Bavetta (0-1) in 4 rounds. 

The other two bouts saw novices fighting each other with Petchchumpol Sor Visetkit (2-1, 1) defeating the debuting Kengkaj Sakpracha (0-1) via a decision and Morakote Patanakan Gym (3-3, 1) stopping Petch Twins Gym (1-4) in just 3 rounds.

Tokyo, Japan
Although the most important bout of the day was in Thailand the best shows were both in Japan. These included "Dangan 94" which was headlined by a fantastic international contest between a highly regarded Japanese fighter and a world ranked Filipino.

The fighters alluded to were WBO #12 ranked Light Welterweight Jimrex Jaca (39-7-3, 22) and former Japanese national champion at 140lbs Shinya Iwabuchi (23-4, 19). 

The fight started well for Jaca who looked sharp from the opening round and dropped Iwabuchi in the first half of the fight. Unfortunately for the Filipino he was unable to see off the brave Japanese fighter who began to turn the fight around as it progressed and eventually stopped Jaca in round 7 with the Filipino being saved after taking some bombs.

Below the main event this show had a notable upset as Koji Umetsu (21-14-3, 9) defeated Tsuyoshi Tojo (12-13-3, 2). On paper we accept this wasn't a shock but Tojo was the #1 ranked Japanese Super Featherweight challenger whilst Umetsu was unranked. As a result of this bout we expect to see a major shake up of the domestic rankings.

Further down this card, though staying with the more important under-card bouts Koshinmaru Saito (20-5-1, 11) stopped Yuichi Ideta (13-10-1, 7) in 6 rounds and Yusaku Kuga (8-1-1, 5) stopped Yuki Iwasaki (11-5, 6) in round 5. 

On the undercard, where we had 4 other bouts. This included the shows opening 4 rounders which saw Gaku Sato (1-1) take a split decision over Takaya Tsuji (1-3, 1) and Kazunori Sato (2-4, 2) stopping the debuting Masato Nunotani (0-1).

As for the 6 rounders, they saw Norimitsu Ebine (9-7-1, 6) taking 6 rounds to stop Yuichi Asano (7-8-1 6) in a bout that looked like a shoot out on paper, and Tomoyuki Kaneko (7-2, 4) taking less than a round to defeat Takuma Okada (4-9, 2).

Hyogo, Japan
A second major card, "Real Spirits 35", was held in Japan in Hyogo. This card, a 7 bout show, was headlined by a contest between Akihiko Katagiri (14-7-2, 5) and Kota Fukuoka (15-4-2, 13). Going in to this bout Fukuoka was ranked by the OPBF whilst Katagiri was ranked by the JBC. Amazingly it was the "non-puncher" of the two who managed to take home the victory with Katagiri opening a cut on Fukuoka's eye that caused the end of the bout and handing Katagiri a 6th round TKO.

Whilst the main event was brilliant on paper it wasn't joined by other great match ups. Despite that lack of great bouts on paper the chief support bout, between Ryotaro Kawabata (10-2, 4) and Kenta Toi (3-4) proved to be great fun whilst it lasted, even if it did prove to be 1 sided with Toi being stopped in round 5.

Another mismatch on the card saw Tokiya Nishioka (8-3-2, 4) quickly stopping Thailand's Thiendaeng Manoprungroj (1-4, 1) in 2 rounds. It took Kazuki Hashimoto (9-4, 5) just as long to stop Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth (10-8-1, 5) in another mismatch.

The under-card wasn't all mismatches and Yuichi Arai (7-8-1, 2) only just managed to over-come Kenta Sugimoto (6-6-1) in a brilliantly even match up. There is no debating that this one was close though could have been swayed by "what you like" as shown in the score cards.

Unfortunately the other lower card bouts were both lacking the competitive edge as Tatsuya Yoneo (6-3, 1) put on a great performance to clearly defeat Ryuto Maruo (5-6, 2) in a 6 rounder whilst the debuting Takaaki Maeda (1-0) scored a shut out over Masashi Katayama (0-2).

California, USA
In the US Filipino prospect Bruno Escalante (12-1-1, 6) proved he his harder than his record indicates as he swiftly took out Lorenzo Trejo (33-29-1,20) and claimed the lightly regarded International Boxing Association Super Flyweight title in the process. It took Escalante less than a round to see off Trejo and whilst the IBA might not be a major title it will still have boosted Escalante's confidence no end to wrap the belt around his waist.


(Picture courtesy of boxrec.com)