Tokyo, Japan
On Monday Japanese fans at the Korakuen Hall had a treat as they got a number of really good match ups on the most recent of the Dangan shows.

In the main event fight fans saw rising star Ken Shiro (5-0, 3) score a 10 round unanimous decision win over Filipino Rolly Sumalpong (9-1-1, 4) to claim the WBC Youth Light Flyweight crown. The bout saw Ken Shiro being dropped in round 2 before fighting back hard to claim a clear decision win over the Filipino, who was deducted a point in the final round for biting Ken Shiro.

Following the win Ken Shiro announced that he would be fighting for the Japanese national title in December against Kenichi Horikawa.

In the chief support bout fans saw a minor upset as Japanese based Filipino Ricky Sismundo (30-8-2, 13) took a narrow decision win over Yoshitaka Kato (29-6-1, 9). Sismundo looked better than ever as he out boxed Kato through large swathes of the bout, though was dropped in round 8 as Kato looked to turn the fight around. Despite scoring the late knockdown Kato still came up short, losing 76-75 on all 3 cards.

In another supporting bout fans saw Shota Hayashi (26-5-1, 16) scored a 7th round TKO win over former Japanese title holder Koji Umetsu (22-17-3, 10), who now seems likely to retire given that he is 39 and has lost 4 of his last 6 bouts.

Another of the supporting bouts was a bout between former title challengers and saw Koshinmaru Saito (22-7-1, 11) score a 5th round TKO win over Takehiro Shimokawara (19-11-3, 6). This was a third successive loss for Shimokawara who has now won just 1 of his last 6, and may well walk away from the sport.

Another supporting 8 rounder saw Hayato Yamaguchi (13-6-1, 2) celebrate his 20th professional bout with an 8th round technical decision win over Seiya Fujikita (8-2, 1). This bout, a majority technical decision, was a minor upset for Yamaguchi.

The first of the supporting 8 rounders was another close one as Masashi Odaira (6-4-2, 2) narrowly over-came Yuki Fukumoto (17-11, 5) with a razor thin unanimous decision win. This saw Fukumoto suffer his 5th loss in 7 bouts.

The only 4 rounder on the card saw Yusuke Moriya (2-2, 1) score a 4th round TKO win against Seita Shimaniya (1-5, 1), who has now suffered 4 straight losses. The win for Moriya sees him ending a 2 fight skid.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
For a second successive day Japanese fans had action at the Korakuen Hall and although the card wasn't the best it did offer a lot more than Monday's show did and featured a genuinely competitive support bout.

The main event of the show saw Japanese based Filipino Ricky Sismundo (29-8-2, 13) score a 4th round TKO win over the big punching Kazuya Nakano (8-5-1, 7. These two men fought earlier this year and saw their bout being curtailed by a head clash in the first round, this time however the fight managed to really get going. Sadly for Nakano some early success couldn't see him hold off the tough Sismundo, who gave Nakano his 4th stoppage loss.

In a supporting 8 round bout fans saw Ganbare Shota (11-5-1, 2) take a thrilling win over Masahide Shinabe (7-13-2, 3). Shota won comfortably on the cards but the two men engaged in some real back-and-forth action that had the fans, understandably, very excited.

A closer contest saw Yosuke Kawano (10-4-1, 4) take a very competitive decision victory over Orion Takuya (9-11-3, 4). On paper this was a mismatch, especially considering that Takuya had won just 2 of his last 8, he had however mixed with really good company and that showed as he Kawano a really stiff test in what was a memorable contest.

In the show's only 6 rounder Kenta Yamada (8-4-1, 1) scored his first stoppage, taking a 4th round TKO win over the fragile Takuma Okada (5-11, 2), who has now been stopped 8 times in 16 bouts.

All 3 of the under-card bouts on this card went the distance. The closest of those ended in a split decision draw as the judges couldn't split Atsushi Suzuki (0-0-2) and Taisei Maeda (0-0-1). Another of these bouts saw Koji Okubo (3-1-2) out point Seishiro Kumakiri (3-5, 1) whilst the remaining bout resulted in a decision win for Nobuo Sawadaishi (2-2), who over-came the debuting Naofumi Shibuya (0-1)


(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Shizuoka, Japan
There was only one show this past Sunday but it was an interesting one from Japan with a number of well matched bouts, and a number of very poorly matched contests.

In the main event we saw former Japanese and OPBF Minimumweight champion Ryuji Hara (19-1, 11) return to action for the first time since he suffered a 10th round TKO loss to Kosei Tanaka. Hara was matched easily here as he went up against Petchnamchai Sor Sakulwong (1-3, 1). Hara was dropped in the opening round, albeit not hurt, before coming back in the second round and stopping Petchnamchai with a series of nasty left hands to the body.

In the chief support bout we saw an unfortunate ending as Ricky Sismundo (28-8-2, 12) suffered a huge cut from a clash of heads in the opening round of his bout with Kazuya Nakano (8-4-1, 7). The headclash lead to a technical decision after just 160 seconds.

Another bout that didn't last long saw Cristiano Aoqui (10-3-2, 6) score a surprisingly quick stoppage win against Quaye Peter (7-6-2, 3). Aoqui, a Japanese based Brazilian, needed just 163 seconds to see off Peter here in a very impressive performance. On paper this was the match up of the card and we doubt anyone expected Aoqui to blow away Peter in the way he did.

In the sole 6 rounder of the card fans saw the light hitting Noriyoshi Taki (5-5-1, 1) claim a unanimous decision win over Kyohei Tsunashima (4-6, 3).

The under-card here featured 7 bouts, all scheduled for 4 rounds. Sadly we again saw a bout that ended in a technical decision as Akihiro Asahara (0-1-2) saw his bout with Masanori Kawai (1-2-1, 1) called off after just 30 seconds.

Another of the 4 rounders which ended quickly saw the debuting Mihiro Matsuda (1-0, 1) stop Koki Konno (0-2) in just 48 seconds. The only other stoppage in these 4 rounders was a 4th round TKO win for Tomohiro Shimokata (1-1-1, 1), who stopped Shohei Horii (1-1) in the opening moments of the 4th round.

The most competitve of the 4 rounders saw the debuting Kevin Mendoza (1-0) take a m majority decision win over the previously unbeaten Yudai Imada (1-1-1). Another competitive 4 rounder saw the limited Kenta Yokoe (4-9-1, 1) claim a hard fought win over Mitsukazu Oshita (0-3). A slightly less close bout saw Daiki Ichikawa (4-0, 2) defeat Keita Sakai (2-2, 1) with a clear victory.

In a female bout the unbeaten Yoshie Wakasa (2-0, 1) over-came Asami Jinnari (2-1) in a bout that really could have resulted in a draw with no complaints.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Wednesday was a brilliant day for boxing fans in Japan with notable shows in both Osaka and Tokyo. The fights ranged from world level to prospect level, on both shows, yet they both featured some genuinely exciting fights that delivered what was promised.

Osaka, Japan
Of the two shows it was the one in Osaka that was the more high profile and interesting. The card featured everything from a debutant to world title bouts, and went through everything in between in what was a spectacular day of action in the Osaka Prefectural gymnasium.

We'll start with the main event which looked like a mouth watering bout when it was first rumoured and proved to be every big as good in the ring. That bout saw Japanese star Kazuto Ioka (17-1, 10) become a 3rd weight world champion at the third time of asking as he narrowly over-came Argentinian warrior Juan Carlos Reveco (35-2, 19) in a really close and competitive bout for the WBA Flyweight title. Reveco entered the bout seeking his 9th defense of the crown and at times looked like he was getting the better of things until Ioka made changes late to pull out a very close majority decision in a bout that was everything boxing fans should enjoy. The one, unfortunate, thing about the bout was the Argentinian TV channel screening the fight. They sadly appeared to be a bit “too” pro-Reveco leading many fans to the idea that the close bout was a robbery, when it really was too close to call.

The other world title bout was also marred in controversy as Katsunari Takayama (29-7-0-1, 11) retained his IBF Minimumweight title with a 9th round technical decision win over gutsy Thai Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr (27-4-1, 15). Sakkreerin had been less than impressive in his previous visit to Japan, losing a wide decision to the sensationally talented Takuma Inoue, and we expected a 1-sided bout here though in the end the bout ended up being compelling with Takayama being his usual all-action aggressive fighter. The aggression of Takayama regularly forced Sakkreerin against the ropes where he fought as a counter puncher in a fight that was brilliant to watch. Sadly the bout was marred by an ending that left everyone confused. Originally it looked like the title was going to change hands with Takayama being stopped due to facial damage only for the cards to be read with Takayama retaining the title with a close decision. The odd ending has lead to calls for a rematch and we'd certainly be in favour of seeing these two go at again.

As well as the pair of world title contests there was also a Japanese title fight as the unbeaten Sho Ishida (19-0, 10) was given his stiffest test so far. Ishida, defending the Japanese Super Flyweight title for the second time, only just kept a hold of his belt with a split decision win over Taiki Eto (14-4, 10). Ishida started well and appeared in control for the most part but stamina issues in the later rounds allowed Eto to come on strong in a bout that left us with questions about Ishida. We suspect it was a “bad night” for the unbeaten champion but he clearly has work to do before getting a world title fight.

One man who looked like he was ready for a title fight was former WBA Minimumweight champion Ryo Miyazaki (23-1-3, 14) who made light work of the over-matched Namphol Sithsaithong (7-10, 5) in what was a very clear tune up bout for the popular Japanese fighter. It now seems likely that Miyazaki will be looking for a fight with countryman Ryoichi Taguchi in the summer, if Taguchi is successful in his upcoming WBA Light Flyweight world title defense.

On the under-card there were several notable fighters. One of those was 2014 Super Flyweight Rookie of the Year Masayoshi Hashizume (8-0, 5) who made light work of Saenrachan Sor Theptanee (0-2) with a 3rd round KO. Hashizume has an exciting style and we're hoping to see him step up to facing Japanese ranked foes by the end of this year, though it's unlikely he'll be getting a title fight any time soon. Another Rookie of the Year winner on the under-card was Reiya Konishi (8-0, 4) who scored a very notable 8 round decision win over Kenta Shimizu (8-5-1, 4). This was by far the best win so far for the talented Konishi who looks like a title contender in the making.

A third unbeaten prospect on the under-card was female hopeful Kei Takenaka (9-0, 3) who took a clear 6 round decision win over Thai visitor Kanittha Saknarong (0-3). We're now expecting to see Takenaka move towards a more notable fight though the former OPBF female Light Flyweight title holder really does need a better test before she steps up to world level.

In the 4 rounders on the card fans saw two clear decisions. One of those saw Hayate Ikuta (1-0) make a successful debut as he took a clear win over Seita Shimamiya (1-4) whilst the other saw Noriyuki Imamura (3-3) level off his record with a win over Genki Inoue (1-5-1, 1).

Tokyo, Japan
In Tokyo fans had a show at the popular Korakuen Hall and although this was massively over-shadowed by the Osaka show it was incredibly entertaining and significant in it's own right.

The main event here was an exciting split decision win for Ricky Sismundo (28-8-1, 12) who over-came former Japanese Lightweight champion Akihiro Kondo (21-6-1, 10). Although Kondo often brought the action he was regularly countered by his foe, a Japanese based Filipino, who was a very worthy winner. Amazingly this was Kondo's 5th bout in 9 months, sadly however it was his 3rd loss in that period whilst Sismundo has now won back-to-back fights follow a loss to Masayoshi Nakatani in an OPBF title bout last year.

Sismundo's win wasn't the only success for Filipino fighters on this card as Giovanni Escaner (13-3, 9) scored a slight upset win over touted Japanese prospect Naoto Uebayashi (7-1-1, 4). Uebayashi was stopped in the 8th round of the bout by the talented Escaner who has now scored back-to-back wins in Japan and appeared to be quickly developing into an exciting and strong fighter who will be a handful for a lot of fighters.

Things weren't so bad for Uebyashi's stablemate Hikaru Marugame (4-0, 2) who took a career best victory over Wataru Miyasaka (9-3-1, 2). Marugame was the clear winner but was pushed for the first time in his career and this 8 rounder will certainly have served his development well. Miyasaka may have come up short but certainly did his standing no harm and will likely be put in other good bouts in the near future.

On the undercard we ended up with some very competitive bouts. One of those saw Ken Otogawa (7-5, 5) score an upset against Yasuki Katagiri (4-2, 1) in a bout that was scored 58-56 to Otoggawa by all 3 judges. Another bout saw Tomoyuki Yokota (5-3, 2) upset the more experienced Akihiro Furukawa (12-6-1, 9) with a razor thin decision, scored 56-55 twice and 57-55.

A third 6 rounder saw Hisasi Owada (6-9-1, 1) score a relatively unexpected stoppage win as he finished off Hikaru Takaki (6-7, 5) at the end of round 4.

We saw another stoppage in the sole 4 rounder on this show as Shintaro Hirohama (2-3-1, 2) stopped Takahiro Yamanishi (1-4) in the 3rd round.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

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)