Osaka, Japan
The biggest show of the day came form the newly re-named “EDION Arena Osaka”, aka the “Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium” and the “Bodymaker Colosseum”. The show featured a couple of world title fights, a Japanese title fight and a female world title fight, whilst the under-card featured a former world title challenger and several notable under-card fighters.

The main event of the card saw Osakan super-star Kazuto Ioka (18-1, 10) successfully retain his WBA Flyweight title with a near shut out win against Argentina's Roberto Domingo Sosa (26-3-1, 14). Sosa, although tough, never looked like he was in he fight as Ioka out boxed him, out skilled him, out sped him and out punched him.

Ioka's title fight was one of 4 champions retaining their title. Another saw IBF Minimumweight champion Katsunari Takayama (30-7-0-1, 12) retain his title with an 8th round TKO win against Ryuji Hara (19-2, 11). For Takayama this was his second defense and seems to lead him towards a unification bout with WBO champion Kosei Tanaka, with that bout potentially taking place on New Years Eve, when Tanaka is set to return.

Another champion to retain their title was Sho Ishida (20-0, 10) who comfortably over-came Hayato Kimura (23-8, 15) and retained the Japanese Super Flyweight title, with a wide decision. Kimura seemed unable to ever establish himself against the talented Ishida however we're beginning to doubt Ishida's “world class” potential, given his second less than perfect performance.

Another successful defense saw OPBF female Light Flyweight champion Kei Takenaka (10-0, 3) claim an 8 round shut out win over Krikanok Islandmuaythai (4-5-1, 2) to retain
her title.

Another 8 round bout saw former world title challenger Atsushi Kakutani (17-4-1, 10) take a 2nd round KO against Thoedkiad Singhamanasak (0-4), whilst the much touted Masayoshi Hashizume (9-0, 6) continued his perfect started to professional life with a 64 second win against Petchnamnung Sor Thiebkhun (0-11).

The card also featured a par of 6 rounders. One of those saw the much touted Riku Kano (7-1-1, 4) claim a comfortable decision victory over Kenta Matsui (6-5, 1) whilst the other was a competitive split decision win for Juan Castillo Inami (9-3, 4), who beat Tesu Kanayama (4-3, 1).

In the only 4 rounder Hayate Ikuta (4-0, 1) blitzed Kota Hama (2-2, 1) in just 51 seconds.

Osaka, Japan
Staying at the EDION Arena Osaka, there was also a West of Japan Rookie of the Year show, in fact it was the final of the section of the Rookie of the year competition.

In the Minimumweight division the winner was 20 year old Ryusei Kitamura (5-1, 1) who took a narrow decision win over Ryoki Hirai (5-4-1, 2).

The Light Flyweight champion was Seigo Yuri Akui (4-0-1, 2) who blew away Kaminoko Okamura Kentokid (5-1-3, 2) inside a round.

At Flyweight it was the unbeaten Masahiro Sakamoto (4-0, 3) who came out on top with a 2nd round KO win against Hirohide Murakami (4-3).

In the Super Flyweight division Kensei Hirano (5-0, 3) took less than a round to blow away Shion Tamada (2-1) with an opening round win.

At Bantamweight we had a really competitive bout that saw Tenta Kiyose (6-1-1, 1) take a split decision win over Tetsu Araki (4-1-1).

At Super Bantamweight we had a bout that looked really close on paper though in the ring it was a near shut out as Kohei Iwai (6-3-1, 5) clearly beat Takaaki Kanai (5-4, 3).

The Featherweight action was competitive with Yuto Nagano (5-0, 2) taking a majority decision over Ryuya Yanagida (2-1, 2).

In the Super Featherweight division things were one sided as Naotoshi Nakatani (6-0, 5) blew away Ryo Sumiya (2-2-1) in the 2nd round.

Lightweight saw Tomoaki Mastumura (5-0, 3) destroy Yu Sumiya (1-1, 1) in just 42 seconds.

The Light Welterweight division saw an upset as Kazuma Fukuyama (5-4-3) took a decision win over Yuki Takahashi (5-1, 1).

At Welterweight Giraffe Kirin Kanda (5-1, 3) took a 96 second win over Yuya Shimakawa (2-1).

In the Middleweight division Brandon Lockhart Shane (5-3, 4) beat Yuki Nakanishi (1-3, 1).

Bangkok, Thailand
In Thailand Kiatkreerin put on a 3 fight card.

The main event here saw Mike Tawatchai (36-8-1, 21) claim the vacant IBF Pan Pacific Super Bantamweight title with a decision win over Junny Salogaol (9-8-4, 9). This was Tawatchai's first bout since being beaten in a world title eliminator against Shingo Wake.

Another notable name on this card was former world title challenger Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr (28-4-1, 15) who over-came Oscar Raknafa (12-11, 5) with an 8 round decision win.

A third notable fighter was former Olympic star Manus Boonjumnong (2-0) who beat Marco Tuhumury (10-12-2, 3) with a 4 round decision

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
The only action this past Thursday came form the Korakuen Hall as Japanese fans go the latest Ohashi show, a show that only featured 4 competitive bouts but yet featured 4 world ranked fighters, and featured an exhibition with another world ranked fighter.

The first bout on the show saw novice pro Keitaro Fukuda (2-0, 2) take a 2nd round win over Kabereen Yuya (2-2-1, 2), who suffered his second stoppage loss. The 18 year old Fukuda has recorded both of his wins in the second round.

On paper the best bout on the card pitted two world ranked fighters against each other in a bout made just above the Bantamweight limit. The bout saw Japanese youngster Ryo Matsumoto (15-0, 12) take his next step towards a world title bout as he forced a stoppage of Mexican Luis May (17-9-1, 7), who cited an injury for the reason that he retired in the middle of round 5. Prior to the stoppage it did seem like Matsumoto was in charge and landing hard shot to the Mexican who is now 0-2 in Japan following a decision loss last December to Shun Kubo. There was talk after this bout regarding Matsumoto getting a world title bout in the near future, and that is a real possibility in his next bout.

In the chief support bout fans saw the incredibly popular Akira Yaegashi (22-5, 12) make light work of Indonesian visitor Said M Said (2-3, 1)*. Said never managed to land much of note before he was sent sprawling to the canvas in round 3. After the bout Yaegashi stated the he was hopeful of getting another world title bout, between Light Flyweight and Super Flyweight, and it would seem likely that if Ohashi can get a bout sorted it would take place in December on the same card as Naoya Inoue's return to the ring.

In the main event of the show fans saw Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono (28-2-1, 20) take a clear 10 round decision win over first time challenger Tatsuya Otsubo (8-7-1, 3). The bout was Hosono's 3rd defense of the title he won last year, when he stopped Yuki Ogata, though unfortunately it is looking unlikely that he'll be moved towards another world title fight any time soon.

Notably there was also an exhibition bout on this card between Ryuji Hara (19-1, 11) and stablemate Kenichi Miyazaki (9-1-1, 2). The exhibition may not have been a competitive contest but it did thrill the fans and interestingly saw Hara admit he had been given an offer of a “big fight”, further adding to the belief he has landed a world title fight with Katsunari Takayama. Unfortunately however there was no formal announcement regarding that potential match up which is thought to be a done deal despite the lack of an announcement.

Note-Otsubo has a reported record of (10-4-1, 4)


(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)

Whether you're a fighter, a promoter, a manager, a journalist or a fan you just need accept that sometimes you need to take a leap of faith and believe in your views in the hope they will pay off down the road. Sometimes you're wrong, heaven knows we are on a regular basis. Sometimes however you're right and and you can be the one who says "told you so".

With that in mind, we'd just like to say "told you so" about one young man who planted his name in the record books today and fast tracked himself a world title shot whilst living up to the high expectations we had of him.

Tokyo, Japan
The man we're talking about in that slightly over-indulgent introduction is the newly crowned OPBF Minimumweight champion Kosei Tanaka (4-0, 2) who scored a sensational victory over the previously unbeaten Ryuji Hara (18-1, 10) to claim the OPBF title and supplant himself into the top 10 Minimumweight's on the planet, if not the top 5. 

Tanaka, fighting in his first title fight as a professional, fought in a relatively see-saw battle through 8 rounds before exploding in rounds 9 and 10 to see off Hara who needed saving by the referee. As an isolated incident the stoppage was questionable but Hara had been all over the place in round 9 as Tanaka started to let his lightning quick hands go with nastier intentions. 

When he turned professional we raved about Tanaka, now we hope that others will see the magic that this youngster has in his hands. To claim an OPBF title in just his 4th fight is sensational, it's a Japanese national record. To do it against  fighter like Hara however is something else. Were it not for Naoya Inoue we would honestly be describing Tanaka as a once in a generation fighter, he really is that good. For those wanting to watch this, which really should be everyone, the full fight video is here.

Of course the Tanaka/Hara bout wasn't the only bout of the day and prior to it fans saw 6 other bouts at the Korakuen Hall. These began with a pair of 4 round bouts which both finished early. The shorter of the two saw Kabreen Yuya (1-1-1, 1) record his first win with a 2nd round TKO against the debuting Hiroki Saito (0-1) the other went a round longer as the unbeaten Ryoji Suzuki (2-0, 1) scored his first stoppage by taking out Satoru Takubo (1-3).

The sole 6 rounder also ended early as the light hitting Kenichi Miyazaki (7-1-1, 2) forced a 3rd round stoppage of Hideaki Yamaji (4-7, 2).

The bulk of the support contests were 8 rounders, in fact there was a trio of them. Sadly from that trio only one turned out to be competitive, though it was a bout that everyone already knew was going to be close. We knew it was going to be a good one as it was the rubber match between Spice Matsushita (13-8, 2) and Junpei Hara (14-6-2, 9). The two men had already shared 2 very close bouts in 2012 but this turned out to be even close with Matsushita taking a split decision one cards that really could have gone either way. We know some fans aren't fans of re-runs but we suspect you could have these two in the ring 100 times and there would never be a clear winner due to how well matched they are.

The most one-sided of the 8 rounders saw the heavy handed Yoshimichi Matsumoto (7-1, 6) wipe out Thailand's Phanthong Por Panya (0-1) late in the bouts second round The remaining bout went 5 rounds as former Japanese Featherweight title challenger Toru Suzuki (24-4, 8) ended a 2 fight losing run by stopping the over-matched Yuta Matsuda (9-11-2, 4). The win effectively keeps Suzuki's career alive though we do doubt he'll go on to achieve much more than he has done already and this win likely does little more than covers over the cracks of his recent form.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Today was a very interesting day in Asian boxing with a pretty interesting Japanese card, courtesy of Ohashi gym, and a small but notable card in Yemen as the Yemeni boxing season seems to be picking up again.

Tokyo, Japan
The most notable show of the day, by a long way was the Japanese show which marked an excellent day for the Ohashi Gym. The card, which followed the press conference to announce the Akira Yaegashi/Roman Gonzalez super fight, was reallya show case for the Ohashi fighters with a number of top Ohashi guys on show.

The main event featured one of those Ohashi fighters, former world title challenger Satoshi Hosono (26-2-1, 20), who made the first defence of the Japanese Featherweight title as he saw off the previously unbeaten Gosuke Seki (15-1-2, 3). Seki came to the ring with confidence but was cut in round 4 and then later stopped as the cut got progressively worse and forced the referee to act. For Hosono this was an expected win though we're hoping it will act as a warm up to a possible world title fight later this year though we see politics pushing that back until next year.

Another of the Ohashi fighters on the show was Ryuji Hara (18-0, 10) who, despite being the OPBF Minimumweight champion, didn't have his title on the line as he took on Indonesia's tough Faris Nenggo (8-5-3, 2). Nenggo was never really in the contest but did well to survive 10 rounds with Hara who will likely be focussing on getting a world title fight sooner rather than later, just like Hosono.

Another of the very promising Ohashi fighters on show was Ryo Matsumoto (11-0, 9) who swiftly took out late replacement opponent Zun Rindam (11-5-1, 5). Zindam had come into the bout with just over a weeks notice but it was hoped he's last more than a round or two, instead he lasted just 90 seconds! 

Another of the notable fighters from the Ohahsi gym was Seiichi Okada (18-4, 11) who managed to score a 4th round TKO over the very over-matched Shunsuke Sato (7-16-2, 4). On paper this was just as much of a mismatch as it was in the ring however Okada had lost 3 of his previous 4 and did need a confidence boosting win after his bad run.

Surprisingly the show's 3 opening bouts all ended in stoppages as well with the longest lasting of those being a 6th round stoppage by Junpei Hara (15-5-2, 9) who over-came Tomoya Yamada (11-5, 3) in a bout that looked competitive on paper. It took less than 5 complete rounds for Yoshimichi Matsumoto (5-1, 4) to see off Yasumasa Eguchi (6-10-2, 3) whilst in the opening bout Tetsuya Nemoto (3-3, 2) made light work of Kenta Yokoe (3-8-1, 1) with a second round TKO.

Sanaa, Yemen
As well as the show in Japan there was also a show in Yemen which featured 2 bouts. Whilst there was, again, no Ali Raymi, it did see stoppages.

The most notable of the fighters in action was Prince Maz (7-0, 5) who was fighting for the second time in the space of just 4 days. Maz managed to see off another man who was returning to the ring quickly following a fight on the same day in the form of Akram Jafwi (6-2, 1) who was stopped in the third round of the bout.

The other bout on this show saw the 15 year old, yes you read that right, Ali Rafik (2-0, 2) take out the debuting Yasir Yosif (0-1), also 15 years old, inside a round.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp and shows the talented Ryo Matsumoto landing a hard right hand)

Some days of boxing around the world are quiet with just a few bouts others however are extremely busy with more action than you can shake a stick at. One of those busy days was this past Sunday with Japan hosting more fights that we sometimes see in a whole week!

Shizuoka, Japan
For us the most important card was the Ohashi promoted show at the FujisanMesse in Fuji. This show was headlined by the unbeaten Ohashi prospect Ryuji Hara (17-0, 12), pictured, who successfully claimed the OPBF Minimumweight title by out pointing Filipino Donny Mabao (21-21-1, 4). Although on paper this was a huge mismatch Mabao was experienced, is much better than his record indicates and was significantly heavier on the scales which essentially all came together to give Hara a very tough nights work.

The co-feature was sadly a huge step down in quality from the main event though was even more competitive as James Murashige (7-3-2, 4) was held to a draw by Cristiano Aoqui (7-3-2, 4). We did expect this to be competitive and whilst draws are rare this did seem, on paper, like a bout that was very evenly matched and that a draw was always a strong possibility.

The remaining 9 bouts on the show were all 4 rounders. As with the main bouts, they included some very competitive contests with Yuya Watanabe (0-1-1) and Yoshikazu Tanabe (0-0-1) needing to settle for a draw with each other in the closest of them. A point on all 3 cards separated Tsunehiko Aitoku (1-2) and Akihiro Asahara (1-3), with Aitoku coming out on top with a unanimous decision, likewise just a point separated Kazuyoshi Toguri (2-5) and Yukihiro Kaneko (0-2) with Toguri winning this one by a razor thin unanimous decision.

In less competitive bouts from this show Kenta Yokoe (3-7-1, 1) took a somewhat clearer decision over Shinnosuke Okada (1-5-2, 1) whilst Noriyoshi Taki (4-4, 1) effectively dominated Bejita Ishikawa (2-6-1, 1).

The undercard featured 4 bouts that didn't go the distance. The shortest of these was a 93 second victory for the debuting Naoki Miyagi (1-0, 1) who swiftly saw off the win-less Takahiro Tonouchi (0-3). As well as Miyagi's early victory there was a second round stoppage for Kiyoshi Nakamura (1-0, 1) who stopped fellow debutant Kabereen Yuya (0-1), a fourth round TKO for Daichi Ushiki (2-5, 2) over the the previously unbeaten Tom Hamaguchi (1-1) and a 4th round KO for Daiki Ichikawa (1-0, 1) who took Shinichi Hiraga (0-3) with just 6 seconds left.

Osaka, Japan
As well as Hara's OPBF title bout there was also an OPBF bout at the IMP Hall in Osaka. This time though it was the turn of the fairer sex and Tomoko Kawanishi (9-1, 4) who came out on top as she defended her female Super Flyweight title with a shut out against Thailand's Jubjang Lookmakarmwan (3-7). After the bout the champion apologised for not scoring a stoppage though her fans would have been happy at her domination of the Thai challenger.

Kawanishi's win was the headline bout in the first of a 2 part show at the IMP Hall. The chief support bouts on her part of the card saw Ryuto Kyoguchi (11-0-1, 8) impressively stopping Yasunori Kishigami (8-2-1, 5) in just 2 rounds and Tatsuya Ikemizu (9-0, 3) scoring a 6th round KO over Thailand's Tienchai Sor Kanitsorn (0-3).

The undercard on this show was just as competitive as the Ohashi one with Kiyonori Matsumoto (2-1) taking a split decision over Ryuji Hayashi (1-2), Ryu Horiguchi (4-2-1, 3) managing a majority decision over Kenji Nakayoshi (2-2, 1) and Fumiya Imafuji (4-0-1, 1) taking a very narrow unanimous decision over Takaaki Kanai (2-2).

The one clear cut result from this undercard saw Ryo Ishida (1-0, 1) stop fellow debutant Naoki Fujita (0-1) in the third round.

The second of the IMP Hall show was, on paper, the more interesting of the two parts. The sole "under card" bout saw Go Mitaka (2-3-2) narrowly out point Shinichi Yokozato (0-2).

The main card on this part of the show then featured 5 bouts, each scheduled for 8 rounds. These included a slight upset as Yuki Kobayashi (7-3, 4) managed to defeated the previously unbeaten Bunta Mitaka (6-1-2) in a narrow decision. Mitaka's was one of two unbeaten men in action and whilst he lost fellow unbeaten Shohei Omori (11-0, 6) managed to keep his 0 in tact. Omori, fighting against Yubon Kim (10-4, 3), had to settle for his first decision in in over a year ending a 3 fight T/KO streak.

In another decision bout we saw Kojiro Takada (13-6-3, 9) manage to out point domestic journeyman Shun Ishibashi (8-16-1, 3) whilst.

Of the decisions however the most interesting ended in a draw with Myung Ho Lee (16-4-1, 5) holding former 2-time world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai (9-3-2, 1) to a split decision draw. This draw means that Mukai is now 1-2-1 in his last 4 and his career, sadly, is on the verge of being a write off after showing some really great early promise.

Although much of the card went the distance their was one stoppage as the light punching Kazuyasu Okamoto (9-3, 3) took advantage of the less than durable Shigeki Suda (7-5, 1). This was Suda's 5th stoppage defeat.

Aichi, Japan
The remaining card was at the Aioi Hall and featured a further 11 contests. The main event here saw Shinji Takayama (21-3, 11) continue his long winning streak with a decision over the tough but limited Kohei Maruoka (7-6-1, 1). This bout was main event though for many the highlight was seeing Katsunari Takayama in the ring with Yuki Sano who used this show to wave farewell to his professional career.

As far as the chief support bouts Yuji Shimizu (15-8-1, 1) found his lack of power as an issue in struggling to a decision victory over Taisei Higashi (5-7, 4) who ran him very closely whilst Daisuke Hayakawa (6-2, 5) stopped Hiroki Taniguchi (5-3-1, 1) in 4 rounds of a scheduled 6 and Yasufumi Asaoka (8-7-1, 6) fought to a draw with Kosuke Mizuno (6-4-2, 2).

From the 7 under card bouts on 2 went the scheduled 4 rounds. These two bouts saw Ryoichi Shimano (2-2, 1) very narrowly over-come Yoshiaki Inoue (0-4-1) whilst the debuting Yuya Asano (1-0) overcame fellow novice Shuichi Inagaki (0-1).

Of the 5 stoppages 3 came inside a round. The quickest of these was a 99 second victory for Kenta Matsui (3-2, 1) who scored his first stoppage by taking out the previously unbeaten Hideaki Kamiyasu (1-1). The other opening round stoppages saw the debuting Akihisa Buma (1-0, 1) take out Maito Fujii (0-2) and Takanori Terashima (1-1, 1) stopping Hidekazu Iinuma (1-1, 1). 

The other 2 stoppages came in the final round with Takuya Mizuno (2-0, 2) taking out Yusuke Kubota (0-2) with 38 seconds left whilst Eita Sakurai (3-0, 1) had exactly 30 seconds of his left when he stopped Katsuya Takahashi (1-1, 1)

(Photo courtesy of Ohashi gym)