Khiri Khan, Thailand
The most notable Thai card of the day came courtesy of Thai Channel 3 and featured 3 relatively well known names.

The most well known man on the card was former world title challenger Terdsak Kokietgym (58-5-1, 38) who scored a 3rd round KO victory against Indonesian journeyman Eddy Comaro (32-25-5, 13), who has now been stopped 11 times!

Another notable name on the under-card was former WBA Super Flyweight champion Tepparith Kokietgym (31-3, 19) who took a straight forward decision win against Boido Simanjuntak (18-30-1, 7). Tepparith has now racked up 5 wins this year and it seems about time to let him in against more testing opposition.

In the main event fans saw world ranked Super Flyweight Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (34-7-1, 15) take a clear win over Espinos Sabu (12-7-2, 5) to retain the PABA Super Flyweight title.

Nakhon Sawan, Thailand
In the only boxing bout of a Muay Thai card fans saw world ranked youngster Petch Sor Chitpattana (33-0, 21) take a clear decision win against Eric Panza (8-5-1, 2). This bout may have seen Petch run up a 33rd straight win but it's clear he's not ready for a world title fight and will need to significantly increase his level of competition to even come close being ready.

Tokyo, Japan
We also had the second set of semi-final bouts for the Rookie of the East tournament as the Korakuen Hall played host to a thrilling second day of Rookie action.

In the Minimumweight bout Hizuki Saso (6-1, 2) scored a 2nd round TKO win against Yuki Ikeya (3-2, 1), who has now been stopped twice with his other loss being a stoppage defeat on his debut.

At Light Flyweight Hiroki Hosoya (3-1) took a well earned decision win against Akihiro Yamanaka (5-4, 2), and ended a 4 fight winning run from Yamanaka.

Unbeaten Flyweight hopeful Masahiro Kaneda (6-0, 1) continued his perfect start as he out pointed 21 year old fighter Yuma Kudo (4-2-1).

In the Super Flyweight division fans saw Teiken's heavy handed Ryo Matsubara (4-1, 4) show off his power as he stopped Ryoji Fukunaga (4-2, 4) in a bout between punchers. This was stopped after 126 seconds with Matsubara seemingly the harder of the two big punchers.

At Bantamweight it was 21 year old Wataru Takeda (6-0-1, 2) scoring the win as he stopped Yuito Yamaguchi (4-5-1, 1) in the 2nd round of their bout.

The most competitive bout on the card came as Super Bantamweight where Renji Ichimura (4-2, 3) claimed a majority decision over Ryusei Ishii (5-2, 3) in a bout that really was razor thin.

Another Teiken fighter picking up the win was unbeaten Featherweight Teppei Kayanuma (6-0, 4) who scored a 2nd round TKO win against 19 year old Ryota Ishida (5-1, 3), in what looked to be the best match up on paper.

At Super Featherweight the unbeaten Fumiaki Kishi (5-0-1, 3) scored a 2nd round KO against Sho Nagata (5-2, 2) with a 1-punch finish.

In the Lightweight division fans got really competitive action with Mao Kawanishi (4-1, 1) claiming a majority decision over Yutaka Uemura (5-3-1, 2).

The Light Welterweight bout saw power again come to the fore for Shinjiro Kawada (4-1-1, 4) who scored a 2nd round TKO win against Masaya Sakamoto (3-1, 2).

At Welterweight Masaharu Kaito (4-0, 1) proved he could punch as he blew away Toshinobu Mimura (4-1-1, 3) in spectacular fashion inside a round.

In the Middleweight bout Riku Nagahama (1-0-1) claimed his first win with a narrow decision victory over Reo Watanabe (2-1-1, 1).

This past Friday wasn't an incredibly day but was a day with some notable fighters and some very young talent.

Bangkok, Thailand
The most notable action of the day came from Thailand where there was a number of contests, including, for us, the bout of the day.

That stand out bout was a WBC Youth Flyweight title contest that saw Daigo Higa (7-0, 7) score a sensational 7th round KO against the previously unbeaten Kongfah CP Freshmart (14-1, 8). The aggressive Japanese visitor set an hellacious pace from the opening round and although Kongfah showed his resiliency and toughness he was eventually ground down by Higa, who looks like a star in the making.

Another bout on this card saw world ranked Bantamweight contender Petch Sor Chitpattana (32-0, 21) score a stoppage in 4 rounds over a very poor opponent. The unbeaten hopeful never broke sweat en route to his victory.

Thailand
On a second Thai show, at a much lower level, fans saw a couple of noteworthy bouts.

The main event saw former WBA Super Flyweight champion Tepparith Kokietgym (30-3, 19) make very light work of Indonesian veteran Ricky Manufoe (23-23-2, 10), in what a really pointless rematch for the two men. Tepparith, who stopped Manufoe in 2 rounds in 2013, scarcely broke sweat as he took out the Indonesian in 2 to claim the WBA Asia Bantamweight crown. Manufoe went down from a left to the body and although the shot didn't look too nasty it left him in agony for the count.

The other bout saw the unbeaten Petchchorhae Kokietgym (13-0, 8) continue his unbeaten start as he over-came limited Indonesian fighter Madit Sada (9-22-1, 3) in what was the second meeting between the two men. The two fought in May last year with Petchorhae taking 4 rounds to stop Sada, this time around he needed just 3 rounds to see off Sada, who was unable to keep the Thai away. The finish was an eye catching one but one that looked very much like Sada was happy to see the end of the bout.

London, UK
In the UK we unfortunately saw Filipino Dennis Tubieron (19-5-2, 8) suffering an opening round stoppage defeat to Super Featherweight prospect Mitchell Smith (13-0, 7), who seemed to break Tubieron in half with just a single right hand to the body.

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.

Thailand
The only Asian show this past Friday came from Thailand where several notable fighters were in televised action.

In the main event we saw former WBC Minimumweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai (56-1-1, 21) retain his WBC International Super Flyweight title as he easily out-pointed Indonesian visitor Rasmanudin (19-9-3, 10). The Indonesian didn't travel to lose and did try to fight back against the Thai but simply wasn't good enough or big enough Oleydong. Looking at the Thai it's a real mystery as to how he ever made Minimumweight as he is looking massive at Super Flyweight and dwarfed Rasmanudin who has fought as high as Featherweight!

Another notable fighter on this card was Petch Sor Chitpattana (30-0, 19) who defeated Filipino visitor Jestoni Autida (7-3, 3). On paper this was a mismatch but the visitor did make a good go of things late in the bout and again left us questioning Petch's real potential. The 21 year old Thai is young but with 30 bouts under his belt we do wonder if he's really progressing or developing as he should.

One fight we do like and we do see a lot of potential in is Kongfah CP Freshmart (13-0, 8) made light work of his opponent on this show. Kongfah, who got out attention last year, was too good for his opponent and it showed when ever the unbeaten prospect turned the screw. In defense of the opponent he did come to fight but was widely out classed. Another man who beat an out classed opponent was Chanachai CP Freshmart (3-0, 2) though his opponent was hapless and really looked like a light touch for the unbeaten prospect. Unfortunately as the time of writing the opponents of Kongfah and Chanachai are unknown.

Victoria, Australia
There were more Thai's in action in Australia, though unfortunately they were out classed.

The more experienced of the Thai's here was Yodmongkol Singmanasak (12-15-1, 7) who was stopped in the 4th round by the once touted Michael Zerafa (17-1, 9). This was Yodmongkol's 11th stoppage loss and he has gone 1-9 in his last 10, leading us to wonder what purpose he was really serving here against a talented kid like Zerafa.

The other Thai was the debuting Kayfai Singmanasak (0-1) who was widely out pointed by Khoder Assi (5-1, 1) in a mis-matched 6 round contest.

Bangkok, Thailand
Boxing might not be back to full swing as of yet but there has been enough action this week to say the year is beginning to warm up and it was seen again this Friday when Thailand hosted a televised card with several notable prospects.

For us the pick of the bunch in regards to the prospects was the brilliant Kongfah CP Freshmart (11-0, 6) who recorded his first win of the year as he stopped the limited Fahpikard Twins Gym (2-8) in the 3rd round. Kongfah really impressed us last year with 8 wins, including a beautiful knockout of Santhong Chor Pakdee that was possibly the most visually pleasing knockout of the year and a brutal knockout of an unknown opponent in December, which isn't yet included on his boxrec record, and it seems he'll be doing the same this year as well.

Another unbeaten prospect to pick up a win here was WBC Youth silver Bantamweight champion Petch Sor Chitpattana (29-0, 19) who made relatively light work of Chinese novice Hou Tin Long (1-1) who was out sized and under-prepared for a fight with Petch, who scored a 4th round TKO. Despite his 29 fight record we're very unsold on how good Petch really is and his competitive has, on the whole, been terrible leaving us to question how much potential he really has. Amazingly Petch has been a pro for close to 4 years and at just 21 years old he may well end up being in a ridiculous amount of fights before his career comes to a close.

A third prospect on this show, albeit one with a loss as a professional, was the much touted Palangpol CP Freshmart (7-1, 4) who was given a solid work out by Filipino veteran Donny Mabao (21-24-1, 4) who has continued to show he is better than his record indicates, despite having now lost 4 in a row. dating back 10 months. Palangpol won a deserved 8 round decision though really doesn't look close to being ready for a world title fight as he team seemed to be indicating last year.

In the only other fight on the card fans saw saw Iranian fighter Mohamadreza Hamze (5-5-1, 2) scored a 4th round KO against Kwanpichit Twinsgym (0-2). Sadly we were unable to see this one to say anything more about it.

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)

This past Friday was a somewhat busy day though most of the more notable action came from Thailand with a number of title fights whilst in Japan we had some low level action.

Wat Tako, Thailand
In one of the Thai shows we saw two unbeaten men extending their winning records and claiming regional title belts with relatively straight forward wins, though wins which came in completely different ways.

One of those bouts saw the less than impressive Saenganan KKP (8-0, 5) claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Light Flyweight title with a 12 round decision over the limited Wilber Andogan (10-16-4, 4). Unfortunately for fans wanting to see excitement this bout would have been thoroughly under-whelming with Andogan showing little in terms of positivity whilst Saenganan left us wondering just how low his ceiling will be. To say we are less than impressed by both of these men would be stating the obvious and Saenganan has really disappointed us in successive fights now.

Whilst one Thai disappointed us the other impressed us. That was Petchchorhae Kokietgym (7-0, 5) who looked sensational in a second round blitz to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver Flyweight title. Petchorhae had won the opening the opening round and done all the feeling out he needed before rushing Roilo Golez (15-13-1, 6) in the opening seconds of round 2 to stop the Filipino in what was really a statement making win.

On the same card there was also a trio of other bouts. The most interesting of those saw the unbeaten Petchmanee Kokietgym (2-0) defeating the highly experienced Domi Nenokeba (11-21-1, 7). On paper this looks like a straight forward win however Nenokeba did drop Saenganan KKP in a recent bout and may well have done enough to have deserved the win on that occasion. The bouts both ended in second round KO's as Kongthara KKP (2-0, 2) stopped the debuting Samart Por Aripai (0-1) and Petchnamchai KKP (1-0, 1) scored a debut win over Sakadpetch Sor Kanitsorn (0-1)

Bangkok, Thailand
The second Thai card took place in Bangkok and featured a trio of notable bouts.

The main event here saw Petch Sor Chitpattana (26-0, 17) defend his WBC Youth Silver Bantamweight title with an 8th round KO against Filipino foe Jaymart Toyco (14-6, 10). Petch didn't have things all his own way though the ending was a decisive one with a fantastic 1-2 sending a defeated Toyco down. In credit to Toyco he put up a decent effort though he was fighting a better over-all fighter.

Whilst Petch and Toyco were the only title fighters on this card they weren't the only notable fighters on the card, in fact the most notable was former WBC Minimumweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai (53-1-1, 21) who, at the third time of asking, stopped Indonesian journeyman Falazona Fidal (25-41-1, 8). The ending was a controversial one with the Indonesian protesting the stoppage though he seemed to act more hurt than he was when he went down and was effectively punished for his poor acting.

A third bout on this show saw Kongfah CP Freshmart (8-0, 4) score an amazing KO over the previously unbeaten Sangthong Chor Pakdee (4-1, 4). The bout was relatively even through the first 2 round rounds with Kongfah doing enough to win them with out dominating though in round 3 Sangthong was dropped hard in a real KO of the year contender. We kid you not, this was stunning.

One fighter who didn't score a stoppage on this card was Fahpituck Por Pakdee (4-0, 3) who had to take a 6 round decision over the usually fragile Fahpikard Twins Gym (2-7).

Tokyo, Japan
As well as the action in Thailand there was also a card in Japan featuring 9 bouts, many of which were highly competitive affairs, albeit at a low level.

One of the competitive bouts saw Daisuke Sudo (2-2) claim a very narrow majority victory over the previously unbeaten Naoyuki Sakamoto (1-1, 1) likewise Fumihiro Ijima (2-2) did the same against Hiroyuki Yago (2-1) who also lost his unbeaten record. A third majority decision in the 4 rounders saw Jim Miura (2-0) narrowly keep his "0" with a win over the debuting Seiryu Toshikawa (0-1). Had any of those bouts ended up in 4 round draws no one would really have had much of a complain as they really were tight and close contests with little to seperate them. Thankfully we did have some decisive action in the 4 rounders with Mao Tameda (1-1) taking a clear decision over Ryuji Kohama (0-1) and, even more clearly, Satoshi Hongo (2-2, 1) scoring a 4th round KO against Hiroki Ishii (1-3-1).

In the sole 6 rounder Yasuhiro Tanaka (4-1-2) took a clear cut decision over Takahiro Iida (4-5-1, 2). This was Tanaka's first bout in 17 months.

The main trio of fights were all 8 rounders the most competitive of which resulted in a majority draw between Ryutaro Taira (8-4-2, 3) and Ryu Onigashima (12-6-1, 7). One of the scorecards, a 78-74 win for Onigashima, appears to be far out with the others agree to a draw with scores of 76-76 and 77-77 suggesting the bout was extremely close in their eyes. 

Another of the 8 rounders saw Kazuki Matsuyama (9-5, 5) take a 6th round TKO win over the limited but heavy handed Yudai Ueno (7-7-2, 6) whilst the final bout saw Yuki Fukumoto (16-9, 5) take an expected victory over Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-17). The Fukumoto/Sakurai bout came to an end with less than 2 minutes left due to an accidental injury with Fukumoto taking a wide technical decision win.

Western Australia, Australia
It wasn't a good day for Asian's in Australia as a trio of travellers lost.

The most notable of these was Indonesian James Mokoginta (25-14-2, 13) who lost a clear decision to Nathaniel May (7-1, 4) in a bout for the WBO Asian Pacific Youth Super Flyweight title. Although the clear loser Mogoginta likely showed up May's questionable about power, especially when one considers that that Indonesian fighter has been stopped in 8 previous fights.

Thai debutant Payayong Sueksasongkro (0-1) was a clear loser against the unbeaten Louisa Hawton (3-0, 1) though was game enough to last the distance, as was Pantiwa Laewmahosod (0-2) who took on the talented Lauryn Eagle (9-4-1, 3) in a 6 round bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp is from the Fukumoto/Sakurai bout)

A great week of action ended on Friday with a lot of Thai action including a Thai show and Thai's in Australia.

Ayutthaya, Thailand
The most notable action was in Thailand and televised on Channel 7. 

The main event from this card saw Thailand's very own Petch Sor Chitpattana (25-0, 16) given a very serious test by Filipino "Cinderella Man" Gerpaul Valero (17-15-3, 11). Valero, challenging for the WBC Youth Silver Bantamweight title, managed to drop Petch early in the contest and through 4 rounds he kept the contest very competitive with as he took the fight to the unbeaten champion. Unfortunately in the later rounds the contest Valero showed signs of exhaustion and Petch came on strong to take a 96-93 decision on all 3 cards. 

In one of the 3 support bouts fans got to see South Korean Myung-goo Yuh (18-4-1, 13) make very very light work of the thoroughly out-matched Morakote Patanakan Gym (8-4, 4) who was stopped in just 2 rounds by the hard hitting Korean, who was surprisingly fighting in Thailand for the 6th time. Yuh isn't a world class fighter but even he seems to realise that for a Korean fighter to make any type of name for himself he will have to travel and that's been something he's happy to do to get fights, hopefully more Korean's will follow suit.

Another of the support bouts saw the WBC #1 Minimumweight contender Wanheng Menayothin (35-0, 11) take a pretty straight forward, though uninspiring, victory over Indonesia's Samuel Tehuayo (17-2-2, 3). Wanheng went through the motions for the first 4 rounds though came alive in round 5 and tried to stop Tehuayo. Tehuayo, to his credit, survived the storm but was a clear loser, despite inflicting a cut, albeit from a clash of heads, on Wanheng who saw out the round despite the pain and blood.

The other bout on the show saw former Muay Thai fighter Kongputorn CPFreshmart (2-0, 2) stopping novice Lomnauo Sakberlin (0-1-1) in 4 rounds. Although boxrec.com have this down as an all debutant contest we have reported on the previous bouts of both men which, oddly, have passed boxrec. by.

Victoria, Australia
As well as the action in Thailand there was also Thai's in action in Australia. Unfortunately for these Thai's things didn't go as well as they did for some of the guys in Thailand.

In Victoria the fans saw Yodmongkol Singmanasak (12-14-1, 7) suffer a very disappointing defeat at the hands of novice Martin Toma (1-1) with Toma taking a 4 round decision over the significantly more experienced Yodmongkol. This was Yodmongkol's 6th loss in Australia and we're starting to wonder if he will ever win "down under".

In a bout fought at Heavyweight fans saw the 42 year old Komgrit Nanakorn (17-22, 7) suffering his 17th loss in Australia as American Pierre Karam (19-4-1, 6) took an 8 round decision over the Thai. Komgrit, to his credit, did get up from a knockdown but he now needs to think about his future as he can't keep taking shots at his age.

(Image 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)