Eastern Cape, South Africa
Last year boxing fans were shocked when little known Filipino Rey Loreto (20-13, 12) scored a 3rd round KO over popular South African Nkosinathi Joyi (24-4-0-1, 17) . That bout, which was screened internationally from Monaco, was supposed to begin Joyi's rise back through the ranks but instead resulted in Loreto becoming “one to watch”. Last December the two men were supposed to have a rematch, that was later rescheduled to this past February, and then again to March. Today it finally took place, after much waiting Loreto and Joyi stepped into the ring to face each other for a second time. The wait wasn't really worth it. From the opening seconds it was clear Loreto was simply too powerful and too strong for Joyi who was dropped after about 90 seconds. The South African probably should have stayed down there and then but he recovered to his feet before being dropped again. That was it. Within 2 minutes the fight had been and gone. For Joyi this has to be the end. He began his career 22-0-0-1 (15) though has now gone 2-4 with 3 stoppage losses and at 31 his career really has nowhere left to go. As for Loreto it's his third notable win in the last 2 years, following the first bout between the two men and his attention grabbing win over Pornsawan Porpramook back in 2013. Also on this card was another South Africa Vs Philippines bout. Sadly this one didn't go in favour of the Filipino as Sinethemba Magibisela (8-6-2, 1) took a 10 round decision victory over the traveling Jetly Purisima (20-14-4, 5)
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This past Saturday wasn't the biggest day in Asian boxing but it was an interesting one with a lot of fights and plenty of recognisable names in action
Davao Del Sur, Philippines The bulk of the Asian action on Saturday came from the Philippines where Sonshine Sports promoted a very deep and long card with numerous big names on it. Sadly a lot of those bigger names were matched very softly. The biggest mismatch, at least on paper, saw former WBC Minimumweight title challenger Denver Cuello (34-5-6, 22) have a field day with Thailand's horribly over-matched Jaipetch Chaiyonggym (3-2, 2). Cuello, fighting for the first time since his loss to Xiong Zhao Zhong last year, repeatedly tagged the Thai with lefts upstairs which left some nasty damage on Jaipetch's face and everntually forced him to retire. The bout was a mismatch but it was a clear tune up for Cuello who has been inactive and injured recently and needed a soft touch in all honesty. Cuello was one of 3 fighters expected to take part in title bouts next time out. Another was IBO Light Flyweigth champion Rey Loreto (19-13, 11) who did what was needed to stop Indonesian journeyman Heri Amol (34-20-4, 14). Amol, fighting for the 58th time, was stopped for just the 7th time as Loreto scored a tune up win ahead of his first title defence, scheduled for December. The third title level fighter was former IBO Super Flyweight champion Edrin Dapudong (30-6, 18) who scored a 5th round TKO against Wisanlek Sithsaithong (11-6, 6). We're now expecting Dapudong to rematch Lwandile Sityatha in an attempt to regain his IBO title, possibly before the year is out. A third big puncher in action in a 10 rounder was Lorenzo Villanueva (27-1-0-1, 24) who forced a doctors stoppage victory over Gadwin Tubigon (10-11-2, 5) with Tubigon's face looking a real mess from a suspected broken nose. The only other 10 rounder saw Rolando Magbanua (24-2, 16) quickly get rid of Joel Escol (8-16-3, 5) in just 113 seconds. Cuello wasn't the only former world title challenger on the show and former WBO Minimumweight title challenger Rommel Asenjo (26-3, 21) was also in action. Surprisingly however Asenjo really struggled as he took a majority decision over Powell Balaba (8-12-1, 5) in a very narrow 8 rounder. Another 8 rounder to go the distance saw Jelbirt Gomera (7-0, 4) out point Jhun Ryan Quimbo (4-6-1) whilst Jake Bornea (7-1, 3) out pointed Rogen Flores (13-25-5, 6). The only 8 rounder not to go the distance saw Robert Udtohan (22-1-2, 14) take out the over-matched Renz Llagas (6-7-1, 4) in the 3rd round. We also saw just a single stoppage in the 6 rounders as Ryan Lumacad (7-0-1, 4) returned from a notable break and took out Robert Awetin (5-18-2, 5) in 3 rounds. In the other 6 rounders we saw Roskie Cristobal (9-0, 7) get taken the distance, unexpectedly, by Rolly Llino (5-13-1, 2) whilst Jamie Quitariano (2-2, 1) took a decision over Bryan Samson (4-4, 2) In the 4 rounders we saw the debut of the much touted Jade Bornea (1-0, 1) who needed just 123 seconds to welcome himself to professional boxing with a quick and impressive victory over the previously unbeaten Mark Baribar (2-1-1). The other 4 rounder saw Michael Bravo (6-1, 1) take a decision over Saddam Barambangan (3-7-1, 2). Victoria, Australia Down under we saw two other Asian fighters in action and unfortunately both were defeated inside the distance. The more recognisable of the two was Filipino journeyman Aswin Cabuy (14-48-4, 7) who suffered his 21st stoppage loss after retiring at the the end of the second round of his bout with Mitchell Middleton Clark (3-0, 3). From what we under-stand Cabuy was dropped in round 2 and suffered an injury that forced him to retire at the end of the round. The other bout seems to have been more interesting as Iranian debutant Rezvan Khasmafkan (0-1) was stopped in 6 rounds by Steve Attard (5-0-2, 2). Prior to the stoppage we've been told that Khasmafkan landed a MMA style knee was deducted a point. Incidentally Attard has been scheduled to fight in Macau on November 22nd against the Macau Kid Kuok Kun Ng in what appears to be a very interesting contest. London, United Kingdom In the UK we saw Russian Heavyweight journeyman Denis Bakhtov (38-10, 25) being stopped in 2 rounds by Olympic champion Anthony Joshua (9-0, 9). Bakhtov was too small, too slow and too old to make Joshua really work for the win and stopped by the referee part way through the second round as Joshua wailed away with heavy looking shots. It's not often that we get fights of note around the world but today was one such case with fights in Japan, the Philippines, Russia and Monaco.
Tokyo, Japan The earliest action of the day was in Tokyo courtesy of a brilliant domestic card that was headlined by a national Light Flyweight title fight. The aforementioned Japanese title fight saw Yu Kimura (13-2-1, 2) narrowly defeating Kenichi Horikawa (25-13-1, 4) in a split decision. The bout, Horikawa's 3rd national title fight, was one that could easily have gone either way and sadly for Horikawa it went against him just like his previous 2. Although Horikawa lost we'd love to see him getting one more chance, even if it's in a rematch with Kimura, because of how close he has been, not just in this attempt but in prior bouts to Ryuji Hara and Akira Yaegashi. In the co-feature the well liked Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-6, 7) made light work of Indonesia's Zun Rindam (9-4-1, 4) stopping him early on. After the bout Ishimoto said he wanted to win titles this year and appeared to mention the OPBF title which is currently held by Shingo Wake which is a bout we'd love to see made as a world title eliminator. Two of the three 8 rounders on the card went the distance with Masanobu Nakazawa (14-1-1, 5) out pointing Kazumasa Kobayashi (8-4-1, 5) the closest of the two bouts whilst Jun Hamana (9-1, 3) beat Kosuke Saka (8-2, 5) in what was, on paper, a very competitive looking contest. The third however was never going to complete the scheduled as Yuichi Yokoyama (13-2, 12) managed to force a retirement of Koichi Ito (9-2-2, 8) in what was, on paper, the least likely bout of the day to go the scheduled distanced. In the opening bouts, both 4 rounders, Ryuya Kaji (1-0, 1) scored a debut win stopping Koichi Nagatsuka (3-2, 1) mid-way through round 2 whilst Regent Kusumoto (1-0) fought hard to claim a victory over Takahiro Yoneshige (0-1) in an all debutant contest. Metro Manilla, Philippines Whilst we'll admit that the Japanese card, above, and the Monaco card, below, were the two that had our interest there was also a notable card in Metro Manila with several title fights and a number of notable fighters. The biggest fight on this show saw Dennis Laurente (47-5-5, 28) stopping the over-matched Thai Singdet Nonpitayakom (11-16-1, 8) in a successful defense of the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Middleweight title. The experienced Laurente sent Singdet down for the count with a devastating body shot. Laurente was one of two men who retained his title asJuan Martin Elorde (15-1-1, 7), the grand son of Flash Elorde, retained his WBO Asia Pacific super Featherweight title courtesy of a disappointing technical draw with Chaiyong Sithsaithong (32-12-4, 24). The bout was unfortunately ended when Elorde was cut on the temple from a clash of heads. The Elorde/Chaiyong fight wasn't the only one which ended early due to a clash of heads as Randy Braga (12-0-1, 2) also suffered a cut from a clash of heads as he took on Jonel Alibio (16-17-5, 8). As with the Elorde fight this was ended in the second round. Braga wasn't the only man keeping his unbeaten record on this show as the talented Giemel Magramo (9-0, 6) scored a 3rd round KO over Rey Morano (8-39-1, 1), Jay Loto (7-0) took a hard fought decision over Dexter Dimaculangan (3-4-5, 1), JK Elorde (3-0, 3) stopped the debuting Juanito Paderes (0-1) and Roderick Flores (2-0-1, 1) narrowly kept his 0 with a draw against the win-less CJ De Tomas (0-1-1). The other bouts on the show saw Diomel Diocos (2-1-2, 2) fighting to a draw with Fidel Cuyno (1-2-2), Robin Langres (1-0) scoring a debut victory over fellow debutant Raul Luba (0-1) and Wilbert Berondo (1-0) also took an all debutant victory over Jomar Manlangit (0-1). Chelyabinsk, Russia As well as the shows in Japan and the Philippines we also had a small one in Russia courtesy of Ural Boxing Promotions. The main contest here sa Murat Gassiev (15-0, 9) out pointing teak tough veteran Ismail Abdoul (51-28-2, 19) to claim the vacant IBF East/West Europe Cruiserweight title. Although Gassiev was taken 12 rounds, for the first time in his career, it's unlikely he expected anythign less with Abdoul being one of the toughest men in boxing. In a Welterweight contest on this show Konstantin Ponomarev (23-0, 11) managed to over come Ramon de la Cruz Sena (16-10-2, 9), who we believe was a late replacement opponent. The only other bout on this show saw Heavyweight hopeful Murad Khalidov (10-0, 5) take an easy stoppage over the very limited Sedrak Agagulyan (1-27-1) who had previously been stopped 16 times. Monte Carlo, Monaco The biggest show of the day in Monaco as we got the excellent "Monte Carlo Boxing Bonanza" and thankfully for us it included a number of fighters of major interest to ourselves. In the shows first contest we had a bout of interest to us as Russian born-German based Welterweight Roman Belaev (13-0, 10) defeated the gutsy but out classed Dean Byrne (17-3-1, 6) and claimed the WBA Continental Welterweight title. The fight, the biggest of Belaev's career so far, really saw him shining as he beat up and broke down Byrne. Whilst it was a good win for Belaev, who was impressive and looked very strong from the opening round to the final round, we will admit that there are faults to be picked with his performance. Firstly Belaev's lack of a jab could have been costly against a better opponent than Byrne, secondly he doesn't really seem willing to throw combinations too much and thirdly his understanding of distance is questionable. With those things said however he does look very promising and very entertaining. Although Belaev was the more impressive man we do need to give a lot of credit to Byrne who proved to be very tough, very game and the fact he lasted the distance was genuinely shocking considering how many hard shots he took. The second bout on the show was another one of interest to us as Filipino Rey Loreto (18-13, 10) took on South African Nkosinathi Joyi (24-3-0-1, 17) in a battle for the IBO Light Flyweight title and scored one of the biggest upsets of 2014. The fight started competitively with Loreto showing not fear of the highly regarded Joyi. It seemed obvious that Loreto knew he belonged at this and wasn't there to be intimidated despite the reputation of Joyi who was once regarded as being on the fringes of the pound-for-pound lists. The confidence of Loreto was obvious again in the second round as he landed a number of solid counter punches, including one that seemed to rock Joyi on the bell. Knowing he had hurt Joyi in round 2 Loreto jumped on his opponent to start round 3 and within a minute of the round he had dropped Joyi hard with one of the best shots he will ever land. Joyi, with his eyes closed, was out for the count and Loreto deservedly celebrated his second major win in a row having beaten Pornsawan Porpramook last time out The key thing that needs saying about Loreto's win is "what an upset!" The third bout on the show was a Cruiserweight contest that saw the very highly ranked Ilunga Makabu (16-1, 15) stopping the previously unbeaten Ruben Angel Mino (20-1, 20) in 2 rounds. It wasn't a bout with an Asian interest per se but it was still an interesting result that was worth mentioning, like wise the same could be said of Jarrod Fletcher's (18-1, 10) victory over Max Bursak (29-2-1, 12). In the main event we saw Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26) successfully retain his WBA Middleweight title in an entertaining, though thoroughly one sided, bout with Ghana's tough Osumanu Adama (22-4, 16). Golvokin managed to drop Adama in rounds 1, 6 and 7 before the referee finally waved the bout off as Adama's knees buckled. It wasn't the most impressive performance from Golovkin but it showed what he was about as he methodically broke down and beat up a game and brave opponent. At the end of the day however it was a mismatch with Adama having nothing to bother the Kazakh destroyer who took the challengers best shots and kept coming forward. We're hoping that Golovkin gets a fight with a big name in the US in April, the rumour seems to be that he'll be facing James Kirkland next though from our view Daniel Geale would make for a much better contest. Whoever he fights it'll be a major day with the boxing world already in love with the man known as "Triple G". |
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