Osaka, Japan
There wasn't much notable action in Japan on Sunday but there was two shows. The most noteworthy of those came from Osaka.

It was on this show that we had the most meaningful bout of the day. That bout saw Ryota Kajiki (26-9, 17) for a 5th round retirement of the over-matched Toshiya Yokogawa (7-9-1, 6). For Kajiki, a former Japanese title challenger, this was a 4th straight win and he'll likely look to be moved towards another title fight in the near future. Saying that a win like this really won't prepare him for the top domestic competition and this was Yokogawa's 4th loss in his last 5 bouts.

Whilst the main event was clearly one sided we did see some competitive action in the supporting bouts. The most competitive saw Ippo Nishiwaki (9-3-1, 4) score a narrow win over the much more experienced Hurricane Futa (18-5-1, 10). Nishiwaki managed to claim a 6 round majority decision here as Futa suffered his 3rd loss in 4 bouts. Notably for Futa this was his first bout in Japan in more than 4 years and it's fair to say that inactivity has hurt him here. For Nishiwaki this was a 4th straight win after a run of 0-3-1.

A slightly less competitive 6 rounder saw Noboru Osato (5-3-3, 1) take a decision win against Naoki Yamamoto (5-9-2, 3). On paper this looked an interesting one and did have it's moments with Osato just doing enough to claim the victory.

The most 1-sided of the 6 round bouts was a shut out win for 19 year old prospect Takuma Hayashi (6-0, 3) who easily over-came Sho Yamamoto (5-6-1, 2). The promising youngster shows that he could do 6 rounds comfortably here any may well be moved through to 8 rounders at some point in 2016.

The rest of this card was 4 rounders. The most competitive of those ended in a draw between Hiroshi Hoshimoto (1-0-1, 1) and Shosuke Jo (2-1-1), with there being next to nothing to split the men. Another competitive contest saw Kenta Sakata (3-1-1) just out point Kazumu Hara (1-2), had a single round swung here we'd have had another draw. The only clear decision here saw Retsu Kosaka (3-0) extended his perfect record with a clear win over the limited Ryusuke Hoashi (1-6, 1). The other under-card bout on this card saw 19 year old debutant Shintaro Ryuko (1-0, 1) force a 4th round stoppage of fellow debutan Sunao Okada (0-1).

Oita, Japan
A lesser show was hosted in Oita where Orio promotions put on an 8 bout card, with all the bouts being 4 rounders between novices.

The most competitive bout on the card resulted in a draw between the win-less Sho Sakoda (0-1-1) and the unbeaten Takashi Matsugano (1-0-2, 1). Another ultra-competitive bout came in an all debutant contest between Genki Tashima (1-0) and Yasufumi Shinohara (0-1), with Tashima just doing enough to see off his fellow novice.

Another all debutant bout resulted in one of the shows 3 stoppages. This one saw Ryuji Kido (1-0, 1) take a 4th round TKO win over Ryusei Takano (0-1). Another stoppage on this card saw Toshiki Yanari (4-1, 3) take out Yoichi Kojima (4-2-1, 2) in the 3rd round of their bout. On paper it was the Yanari Vs Kojima bout that looked the best but Yanari was too strong for his foe. The only other stoppage on this card saw J Soul Maeda (4-2-2, 2) score a 2nd round KO against Naoya Shimizu (3-5-1, 2).

The remaining bouts were all unanimous decisions. These included a rare Cruiserweight bout as Yasushi Kitazaki (2-0, 1) out pointed 19 year old Regent Kusumoto (2-2) in a clear but competitive win for the unbeaten man. Another unbeaten fighter picking up a win was Welterweight Katsushi Shiga (2-0, 1), who almost shut out Taichi Yoshizato (1-5, 1). The remaining bout saw Fine Aria (4-1-1, 1) take a decision win over the heavy handed Daisuke Fukuyama (5-3-1, 4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Saturday was a hectic day for Asian boxing fans who saw action begin in Japan, with a trio of shows, and end in Mexico with a Filipino slugger getting his chance to make a statement.

Tokyo, Japan
The biggest show in Tokyo came from the Korakuen Hall where Teiken hosted a notable card featuring several notable names.

In the main event we saw the world ranked Yu Kimura (16-2-1, 3) put on a show-case performance as he defended his Japanese Light Flyweight title and stopped Hayato Yamaguchi (12-6-1, 2). Yamaguchi only got the bout a couple of weeks ago, following an injury to Shin Ono, but looked more out of his depth than ill-prepared. From the opening round Kimura looked too good, too fresh and too sharp before finally forcing the referee to save a bloodied Yamaguchi.

In the chief support bout we saw former world-ranked fighter Yasutaka Ishimoto (25-8, 7) take a 7th round technical decision over Yoshihiuro Utsumi (12-6-3, 7). The bout, scored 68-65 by all 3 judges in favour of Ishimoto, saw Ishimoto ending a 2 fight losing streak which had included a razor thin loss last December to Yukinori Oguni in a Japanese title fight. It's fair to say that Ishimoto will be hoping to get another title fight later this year. Interestingly this is the 3rd time Utsumi has last by technical decision.

Another support bout saw Masanobu Nakazawa (17-1-1, 7) score a late stoppage against Kazuya Soma (7-7-2, 6). Soma, who had only been stopped once previously, was taken out in the first minute of round 8 as Naklazawa claimed his second successive stoppage win and recorded his 14th straight win.

Another supporting bout saw 2014 Light Flyweight Rookie of the Year Kenji Ono (8-1, 4) score a 2nd round TKO against Taichi Yokote (6-3, 3). This was one of two scheduled 6 rounders with the other being a highly impressive debut by Tomoki Narumi (1-0, 1) who kicked of his career with a 2nd round TKO against Makoto Hiroki (4-9, 3) in a Light Middleweight bout. Narumi was a good amateur and it seems likely that he will be fast tracked as a professional.

On the under-card there were 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. The most competitive of those saw Toshiki Nishihara (4-3-2, 1) fight to a majority draw with Kenta Yamada (3-1-1, 3) in a really nip-and-tuck affair. The only other 4 rounder to go the distance saw Akira Onishi (1-2) claim his first win as he over-came the still win-less Kimiaki Suzuki (0-1-1) with a close decision.

One bout that almost went the distance ended with with Masato Niijima (2-0, 2) taking a late stoppage over the previously unbeaten Junki Kobayashi (1-1, 1) whilst the remaining bout was over in just 72 seconds as Hayate Kaji (2-0, 2) blew away the debuting Musashi Yoshino (0-1).

Osaka, Japan
The “L-Osaka” played host to two shows, of those the most notable was the Osaka Teiken promoted card.

In the most interesting bout on that show fans saw Kosuke Saka (10-3, 7) lift himself off the canvas to stop the previously unbeaten Ryuto Kyoguchi (13-1-1, 9) in the 3rd round of a really short but fun fight.

Another stoppage on this card saw Myung He Lee (18-4-1, 6) make light work of Thailand's Dawut Manopkanchang (0-3). This was Dawut's 3rd stoppage loss in Japan following previous defeat to Kohei Kono and Atsushi Kakutani. From what we understand Lee is now hunting a Japanese title fight.

A third fight of note here ended in disappointing fashion as Bunta Mitaka (6-2-3) and Shingo Kawamura (9-2-1, 4) saw their bout end in a 3rd round technical draw.

On the under-card of this show fans saw a trio of low level bouts. The most competitive of those saw Go Mitaka (3-5-2) record a narrow win over Naoki Okumura (1-3) whilst another decision bout saw Hirohide Murakami (3-2) defeat the previously unbeaten Kenta Sakata (2-1-1). The only under-card not to go the distance saw Kyosuke Tsutsuminoto (3-0, 3) continue his perfect start with a 3rd round retirement victory over Shota Taguchi (2-2)

Osaka, Japan
The other “L-Osaka” show was promoted by Taiho.

The most notable of the fights saw Ryota Kajiki (25-9, 16) score a 2nd round TKO against the over-matched Tokiya Nishioka (9-5-2, 5). On paper Nishioka never stood a chance and that proved to be the case in the ring.

A more competitive contest saw Ippo Nishiwaki (8-3-1, 4) narrowly over-come Hirokazu Okajima (8-5-2, 4) in a really well matched contest. We don't imagine either of these two will become fixtures at the top of the domestic scene but they did make for an excellent matched up contest against each other.

A third bout from this show saw Akiyoshi Kanazawa (12-3-4, 5) score a 5th round TKO again Junya Nishikawa (7-6-2, 2). This loss was the first time Nishikawa had suffered back-to-back defeats whilst Kanazawa scored his first win in 3 bouts.

On this under-card there were 4 bouts with only a single one going the distance. That was the narrow 4 round decision win for Takuya Fujioka (4-4-1, 1) who narrowly over-came Noboru Osato (4-3-3, 1). As for the stoppages the quickest of those saw the unbeaten Daijiro Yuki (5-0, 2) score a 2nd round TKO against the debuting Kenji Okawa (0-1). It didn't take much longer for Ruka Shobu (1-0-1, 1) to force a retirement of Akihiko Hayashi (0-2). The other of the undercard bouts went into the 4th round as Kensei Hirano (4-0, 2) defeated Kazumi Hara (1-1)

México, Mexico
In the final bout of the day to involve an Asian we saw the brilliant Jonathan Taconing (21-2-1, 18) impress as he stopped former WBO Minimumweight champion Ramon Garcia Hirales (20-6-1, 12). The powerful Filipino seemed to be the boss from the first round and eventually forced the referee to save his Mexican foe who looked completely out powered and out fought. This was the win that proved Taconing's ability and it now seems likely that the aggressive Light Flyweight is going to be getting a world title eliminator in the coming months.

(Image courtesy of www.boxingnews.jp) 

This past Saturday was a ridiculously busy day in Japan with several shows and a lot of action.

Osaka, Japan
The most significant of the shows in Japan was at the IMP Hall in Osaka, one of two shows in the venue. What made this one in particular, the Green Tsuda one, most important was the debut of a star and the return of an exciting local boxer as well as a very promising unbeaten fighter.

The card's highlight for regional fans was the return to an Osaka ring for Tosho Makoto Aoki (18-12-2, 14). Aoki had been fighting in the Philippines recently and had, twice, seen decent opponents pull out on him leading in to this fight. Sadly that left Aoki's home coming looking less than competitive as he easily defeated Thai debutant Ekayut Saksomchat (0-1) in 4 rounds.

Whilst Aoki was the main event his bout probably only the 4th most interesting on the show. The best, for us anyway, was the debut of Ken Shiro (1-0) who completely dominated Indonesian veteran Heri Amol (34-18-4, 14) over 6 rounds. Amol was dropped from a body and dominated by the jab of Ken Shiro who never looked in any trouble during his outstanding debut.

Another of the notable bouts saw the unbeaten Shohei Okuda (11-0, 4) extend his winning run with a decision victory over the very tough but limited Shohei Kanemoto (9-8-1, 3). Okuda will have seen this bout as a warning not to step up to title level, yet, but the potential for the 23 year old to move to title level is clear. The other contest saw Takayuki Okumoto (12-6-2, 5) taking a 7th round technical decision over Shota Kawaguchi (17-5-2, 7).

The show had a relatively long under-card with one of the better bouts on it being a 6 round victory for Hiroshi Konoura (5-4, 1) who defeated Hisashi Kawanishi (4-7, 1) whilst in another 6 rounder Ryota Yada (5-3, 4) made light work of Takayuki Morimoto (5-9, 3).

The show had 4 bouts set for 4 rounds. Of those 4 contests 3 went the distance, the only one that didn't saw Naotoshi Nakatani (2-0, 2) blasting out Ryo Hirai (1-3-1) in just 115 seconds. Nakatani was one of two fighters to extend his unbeaten record on this part of the card with Takeshi Kajikawa (3-0, 2) over-coming Yuki Nagashima (5-1, 2) via a decision.

In the other 4 rounders we ended up with draws as Kazuma Fukuyama (3-2-3) shared the spoils with Yosuke Shimagawa (3-5-1, 2) and Ryosuke Nasu (0-0-1) fought to a split decision draw with Ryo Miyagaki (0-0-1).

Osaka, Japan
The other show at the IMP Hall was a card held by Taiho and headlined by a very good bout between Ryota Kajiki (23-9, 15) and Shota Yamaguchi (12-2, 8). The bout was competitive going into round 8 but Kajiki's power managed to see off Yamaguchi in the final round to secure the win and move back towards a domestic title bout.

In the co-feature we had an upset as Shunji Nagata (10-11-2, 3) took an 8 round split decision over Akiyoshi Kanazawa (11-3-4, 5), 

In the 6 rounders in the middle of the card Ippo Nishiwaki (6-3-1, 4) managed to claim a 6 round unanimous decision over Katsuhiko Kanno (8-9-7, 3). The other 6 rounder saw the once beaten Ken Osato (6-1, 3) out point Ryo Shirakawa (5-7-2, 2).

The early portion of the card with the 4 rounders had a trio of bouts though, like the other IMP Hall show, only 1 finished early. That was an 80 second blow out win for Keisuke Tabuchi (6-1-2, 5) who made light work of the previously unbeaten Batten Ryosuke (1-1-1, 1). The other bouts saw Daijiro Yuki (3-0, 1) taking a narrow split decision over the debuting Yuki Nakanishi (0-1) and Noboru Osata (3-2-3, 1) defeating Ryusuke Tanaka (3-2, 1) with a split decision.

Osaka, Japan
A third show in Osaka took place at the Sumiyoshi Ward Center. This card featured 7 bouts in total as well as a very interesting Ring Girl's contest with the winning of that contest being a ring girl for the upcoming domestic title fight on August 10th.

The main event in terms of boxing was the return to winning ways for former world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai (10-3-2, 1) who managed to out point Filipino journeyman Marjohn Yap (19-11, 10) in an 8 rounder that felt anti-climatic in many ways. Mukai's jab was simply too much for Yap to have sustained success though Yap, as he always does, did try to make a fight of things.

The chief support bouts, both scheduled for 8 rounds, fans saw Kota Tokunaga (13-2, 9) score a 7th round stoppage against Tatsuya Yoneo (6-5, 1) whilst Yuki Strong Kobayashi (8-3, 4) out pointed Kengo Maruhashi (5-12-2, 5).

The sole 6 rounder from the undercard was incredibly competitive with Yukitaka Nishida (6-8-2, 1) taking a narrow split decision over Kojiro Takada (13-7-3, 9). It wasn't the only close bout on the card and one of the 4 rounders from the undercard resulted in a draw as Kaminoko Okamura Kentakid (3-0-2, 2) kept his unbeaten record alive courtesy of a draw with Hiroya Kojima (2-3-1, 2).

In the other under-card bouts Golgosaithon Kenji (2-0) took a 4 round decision over Keita Yamamoto (0-2) to continue his winning run, whilst Takuya Olivia Hase (1-0-1) secured his first win with a decision over Kazuhiro Hirahara (1-6, 1).

Aichi, Japan
The remaining Japanese action was in Aichi at the Aioi Hall and featured a further 9 bouts.

One of the main bouts here resulted in a draw as the judges were split over who won an 8 rounder between Shinichi Tsukahara (8-6-3, 3) and Yuji Iwata (6-5-2, 2). Thankfully the other main bout left no so doubt as Kazuya Maruki (17-2, 11) scored a dominant KO over Indonesian visitor Wellem Reyk (17-10-3, 5) who was stopped in round 3. Unfortunately for Reyk this was his 6th stoppage defeat and it now seems cleam that his career is now going to be that of a "professional" loser as opposed to a journeyman capable of giving it a go.

The rest of the card, all 7 bouts, were 4 rounders fought as the finals of the Central Japan Rookie of the Year.

At Light Welterweight fans saw  Tetsuya Morisada (2-3, 2) scoring a 2nd round TKO over Tetsuya Yamaguchi (2-2-1, 1), another second round stoppage saw Lightweight Shogo Yamaguchi (4-0-1, 3) extending his unbeaten run with a 2nd round stoppage over Hayato Takeshima (3-3. 3) whilst Minimumweight hopeful Jun Takigawa (4-0, 3) scored a 4th round KO over Hideaki Kamiyasu (1-2).

At Super Featherweight Yuya Shimakura (3-0) out out pointed Kazuaki Okada (3-2, 2), in the Featherweight division Takashi Igarashi (4-0, 1) out pointed Tetsuya Kudo (3-3, 2), at Super Flyweight Eita Sakurai (4-0, 1) defeated the experienced Teruyuki Kobashi (2-10-1, 1) and at Light Flyweight Kenta Matsui (5-2, 1) dominated Takashi Matsumoto (2-1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp and shows Ken Shiro celebrating his knockdown of Amol)