Tokyo, Japan
This past Thursday in Japan fans at the Korakuen Hall got a treat as they saw a world title unification bout, a Japanese title bout, a world ranked contender and several promising prospects in a show that went somewhat under-the-radar.

The main event of the card was the Japanese title fight, which took place at Featherweight and saw former title challenger Satoshi Hosono (29-2-1, 20) narrowly retain his title with a majority decision win over the tough and very game Takuya Watanabe (26-6-1, 12). Watanabe came to win and through the first 5 rounds was more than holding his own however Hosono's pressure managed to see him come on strong in the latter rounds to just claim the victory.

In the other title fight fans saw the tough Momo Koseki (21-2-1, 7) over-come an opening round knockdown, and a bloodied nose, to unify her WBA Atomweight title with the WBC title held by rival foe Ayaka Miyao (20-6-1, 4). Miyao got off to a good start but Koseki showed her champions quality and claimed a narrow win. This was Koseki's 16th defense and finally saw her unifying titles to cement her legacy as the greatest Atomweight of all time.

The chief supporting bout saw the world ranked Ryo Matsumoto (16-0, 14) continue his unbeaten run as he scored a 5th round TKO win over the game and gutsy, but completely over-matched, Saensak Sithwarunee (1-5), who has now been stopped in a successive trio of bouts.

Ryo Matsumoto's bout was one of three scheduled to go 8 rounds. Another saw Lightweight puncher Yosimichi Matsumoto (9-1, 7) score a 4th round TKO win over Genki Maeda (2-1, 1), who tried to bite off too much too soon. The other saw Kenichi Miyazaki (10-1-1, 3) score a 4th round TKO win over Thai visitor Chaloemkiat Kiatprapat (0-1).

To open the card fans get a couple of 4 rounders. One of those saw Toru Kiyota (2-0, 2) score an 81 second victory over Akira Watanabe (2-5-1, 2) whilst the other resulted in a 3rd round TKO win for Naoki Koishi (4-2, 1) who beat Yuichi Kitayama (3-3-1, 3).

(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)

This past Thursday was a great day for fight fans in Asia with action in both Japan and Thailand

Chonburi, Thailand
The most notable action occurred in Thailand where fans got the chance to see a bit of everything, ranging from former world champions to novices beginning their careers.

The former world champion was Indonesian veteran Muhammad Rachman (65-12-5, 35) who was hoping to call himself a world champion for the 3rd time as he went up against unbeaten Thai Knockout CP Freshmart (10-0, 5). Knockout, who was defending his WBA interim Minimumweight title for the first time, quickly showed that his 19 years of youth “advantage” was more than enough to over-come the Indonesian fighter who had previously held the IBF and WBA world titles. Knockout was too good, too energetic, too fast and over-all too good for his experienced for gave his best but was never really in the bout.

In an under-card bout fans saw the highly experienced Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (44-2, 26) retain his PABA Bantamweight title with an 8th round KO against the smaller but game Mateo Handig (13-9, 7). Panomroonglek is said to be targeting a world title shot and this was more about ticking over than anything else, though the PABA title was on the line.

Another bout on this card saw Noknoi Sitthiprasert (53-4, 30) extend his winning streak to 52 straight wins as he took a decision win over Filipino journeyman Donny Mabao (21-25-1, 4) in what was a third meeting between the two men. Noknoi had beaten Mabao in both 2009 and 2010 and is now 3-0 against the busy Filipino who has now lost 4 in a row.

We are aware that there were other bouts on this show though unfortunately we've not had those results as of yet. From what we understand one bout involved Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, who returned to the ring for the first time since he was stopped by Juan Carlos Reveco at the end of 2014, whilst another involved the exciting Chanachai Cp Freshmart. Hopefully we'll get those results shortly.

Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans had a great day of action which culminated in a really exciting Japanese title fight though also showcased an OPBF title holder, a female world champion and a former Japanese title holder as well as several novices.

The least experienced fighter on the card was Toru Kiyota (1-0, 1) who made a successful debut with an opening round victory over Kohei Isozaki (1-2). Although Kiyota now has some professional experience under his belt it is worth noting this bout lasted just 123 and was Isozaki's second successive stoppage loss.

Another undercard bout that failed to last long was a Middleweight clash that saw Rasher Aoki (3-2, 1) blow away Tomoki Akutsu (1-2) in the second round. This Akutsu's first bout since he was stopped inside a round by Kenyu Ojima last June and it seems clear that his durability will hold him back.

In an interesting Light Flyweight bout fans saw the promising Kenichi Miyazaki (8-1-1, 2) take a clear 6 round decision over the experienced Takuro Habu (11-10-2, 3). This was Miyazaki's 3rd straight since being stopped in the West Japan Rookie of the Year back in November 2013 and it seems clear that he has a lot of potential.

Another 6 rounder saw WBA Atomweight champion Ayaka Miyao (20-5-1, 4) take a clear and comprehensive victory over Momoko Kanda (8-7-2, 2). The bout showed the class difference between a world champion and a domestic level fighter however it comments made after the bout that served as being notable with Miyao suggesting she was open to fighting WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki. If that bout can be made it would be the first ever Atomweight unification bout.

In an 8 rounder fans saw Tatsuya Yanagi (11-2, 4) take a razor thin decision over the more experienced Toru Suzuki (24-5, 8) in a minor upset. Yanagi had entered on back-to-back losses, including a decision loss to the much touted Johnriel Maligro, though had won the 2012 All Japan Rookie of the year. Suzuki, the more experienced man, had been stopped in 3 of his previous 5 and appears to have found his level as being below national title level. Notably Suzuki was testing the water as a fully blown Super Featherweight having previously made his name as a Featherweight.

In another 8 rounder we saw Masaki Saito (12-10-4, 3) score an upset win over former Japanese Super Featherweight champion Seiichi Okada (18-6, 11). Sadly for Okada, who made 3 defended of the national title in 2011, it appears this will have been the final nail in his coffin. The popular 32 year old has lost 5 of his last 7 now and has been stopped in 4 of those bouts suggesting it's time he though about retirement. It's a shame for Okada if that's it but he's had a good career over-all. For Saito this is a huge win and he's now 4-1-1 (2) in his last 6 suggesting he's turning his career around.

The most notable of the 8 round bouts saw OPBF Super Flyweight champion Ryo Matsumoto (14-0, 12) make light work of Thai visitor Thanuthong Chor Kangwal (0-1) who was stopped after 33 seconds of round 2. The talented Matsumoto landed a liver shot that left Thanuthong in agony and showed the huge gulf in class between the two fighters. Prior to the fight Matsumoto had hinted at aiming for a Bantamweight world title later in the year and on this showing he does look healthier as a Bantamweight than as a Super Flyweight.

In the main event the fans got a real treat as Japanese Featherweight champion Satoshi Hosono (27-2-1, 20) over-came a very spirited effort from Rikiya Fukuhara (30-8-1, 22). Fukuhara, who had previously been stopped by Hosono, started really well but had to pull himself off the canvas in round 4 as Hosono's power and toughness forced Fukuhara into the wrong type of fight. Late on Fukuhara managed to find some success but it was too little too late to over-come the tough Hosono who is hoping to get another world title fight, though seems unlikely to beat any of the current champions, sadly. For Fukuhara this may be the end of his long career, which has seen him claim the Japanese Super Bantamweight title and challenge for titles at both Featherweight and Super Featherweight.


(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)

Again we've got to apologise for being extremely late to update results with it now being Thursday and we're only just putting up Sunday's results. This has been down to several small reasons that have all, unfortunately, occurred at once delaying a lot of things.

Part of the problem was that there was simply so much action in Asia, 6 separate cards too place across Japan and South Korea meaning that it took a long time to get all the results. But, belatedly, here we go.

Tokyo, Japan
The biggest show of the weekend, not just in Asia but world wide was in Tokyo as the boxing world turned it's attention to a world title double head and a card dubbed "Ring of Diamonds" a show that was created to celebrated Ohashi Gym's 20th anniversary and show off some of their genuinely top tied fighters. It was a show that a super show and one that deserved to mass attention it got.

The main attraction was of course young superstar Naoya Inoue (6-0, 5) who continued his climb to the top of the boxing world with a breath taking performance against the defending WBC Light Flyweight champion Adrian Hernandez (29-3-1, 18). Although he was the betting favourite few would have expected Inoue to do what he did. Firstly he out boxed Hernandez for 4 rounds, then he outfought Hernandez for 2 rounds scoring a 6th round stoppage despite suffering from some issues with his leg. The stoppage was brutal and the result was sensational. 

Inoue wasn't the only man in a world title fight and in the shows other world title bout saw Akira Yaegashi (20-3, 10) successfully defend his WBC Flyweight title fight with a nasty stoppage of game challenger Odilon Zaleta (15-4, 8). The performance from Yaegashi was less than stellar though tactically Zaleta had the style to give the Japanese fighter some real issues at times. In the end though Yaegashi had enough in his locked to over-come a poor start and stop the challenger in 9 rounds.

Yaegashi's victory helped set up a fight with Nicaraguan sensation Roman Gonzalez (39-0, 33) who himself scored a victory on the card beating the over-matched Juan Purisima (11-5-1, 4) in the shows only out-and-out mismatch. It wasn't a fair fight but it was a bout that was there to show case Gonzalez and have him in the venue to "publicly" challenger Yaegashi something he did after Yaegashi's title defense.

One of the most competitive bouts on the show saw Satoshi Hosono (25-2-1, 19) defend on his "bazooka" like power to over-come the previously unbeaten Yuki Ogata (19-1-1, 3) to claim the Japanese Featherweight title. Ogata had gotten much the better of the fight before Hosono managed to land a bomb in round 10 to keep his world title dreams alive. Despite the loss we genuinely believe that Ogata will "come again" an is likely a future Japanese champion in the making, though from the skills he showed he does have the potential to win an OPBF title, he just needs more experience over 10 rounds.

Further down the card their was chances to shine for two talented young, unbeaten Japanese prospects. These saw Ryo Matsumoto (10-0, 8) over-come tough former world title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka (22-12-1, 10) in a valuable 8 round contest. It was, easily, the hardest bout of Matsumoto's career though it certainly helped his development and showed that he has the talent and ability to become a world champion even if he's not yet ready. Strangely we can't say that Takuma Inoue (2-0) despite his lack of experience, isn't ready. He was also on the show and completely dominated the top 5 ranked Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr (23-3, 15) in one of the most out standing performances by such a novice.

Prior to the 6 fights above there was 2 Rookie if the year Qualifying bouts. These saw Shingo Iijima (4-1-1, 1) take a decision over the previously unbeaten Masahito Oki (2-1, 2) and the debuting Shin Tomitaka (1-0) over-came Takahiro Yamanishi (1-2).

Fukuoka, Japan
Another Japanese show as held in Fukuoka at the Kokura Kita Gym. This show was one of the smallest shows of the day and featured a highly competitive headline bout between Yoshihiko Matsuo (17-5-5, 3) and Yudai Matsumoto (8-9-3, 1). On paper it looked one sided, in reality however there was next to nothing to split the two men and Matsumoto, once again, proved his record is misleading and although he is 1-5-1 in his last 7 he is a brilliant opponent who will never let anyone have an easy time with him.

The co-feature on this show wasn't as competitive as the main event and instead it saw Yamato Uchinono (5-2-5, 3) stopping Takuro Habu (11-9-2, 3) in 5 rounds. 

The rest of the card was unfortunately one sided with a trio of stoppages. These saw the promising Yuki Beppu (4-0, 4) score a 96 second stoppage over Shota Aikawa (4-4-1, 1), Keisuke Nakayama (6-1, 3) stopped the debuting Dawubon Sakhonwon (0-1) in 3 rounds whilst Masanori Maeda (1-1-1, 1) scored a 4th round stoppage over the win-less Yoshiaki Kishioka (0-2).

Okayama, Japan
One of the most more obscure cards of the day was in Okayama at the Mimasaka Bunka Center and promoted by Shinsei Gym who were, of course, a little down hearted with Kohei Oba having lost the biggest fight of his career just a few days earlier.

This show was headlined by a fight between Filipino Adones Aguelo (21-9-2, 13) and Hirohito Fukuhara (16-9-9, 8) with the visiting fighter scoring a late KO with just 94 seconds of the bout remaining. This was one of only 2 stoppages on the card with the other coming way down the card as the previously win-less Atsuhiro Mach Yamamoto (1-7, 1) defeated Katsuyoshi Yamada (0-1) inside a round.

The other 5 bouts on this show all went to a decision. The highest profile of those saw Kazuhiro Nishitani (13-2, 6) take a wide decision over the hard hitting but technically poor Gabriel Royo (9-9-2, 8). This was a near shut out over 8 rounds and was one of two bouts that went the completed 8 with the other being a decision victory for Ryuya Yamanaka (7-1, 2) who over-came Hiroki Yamamoto (6-10-1, 1).

In the only 6 rounder we had the most competitive bout of the day as Yasuyuki Otagaki (4-1-3) drew with Yushi Fujita (5-6-2). 

The 4 rounders saw Tetsuya Kawabata (3-7, 1) taking a rare decision as he over came the debuting Manabu Kashine (0-1) and Takuya Fujioka (3-3-1, 1) levelled his record off as he over-came the previously unbeaten Hideya Takayama (2-1-1, 1).

Aichi, Japan
The rest of the Japanese action was at the Aioi Hall in Aichi where 2 separate shows were held on the same day. The first of these shows that we'll look at is the Midori promotions show which was a 6 bout card which was nothing but competitive from top to bottom.

The show opened with a trio of 4 round contests, only one actually got a winner. The one bout with a winner saw the unbeaten Masaru Urata (3-0-1, 1) over-come Ryunosuke Yamashita (1-3) via a narrow decision that saw one judge giving the bout to Urata by just a point. The other two 4 rounders both resulted in draws with Kazunori Takai (0-0-1) fighting to a majority draw with Tomoya Yamaguchi (4-2-1, 4) whilst Tetsuya Kanao (0-0-1) fought to a split decision draw with Kiyoshi Tanaka (0-3-2).

Following the back-to-back draws we then had back-to-back split decision bouts as recent Japanese Heavyweight title challenger Kotatsu Takehara (10-9-3, 4) narrowly over-came Frenchman Cyril Leonet (6-8-2, 1) in a very competitive bout and Filipino journeyman Jaypee Ignacio (11-17-2, 2) scored a shock upset victory over Ryosuke Maruki (7-2-1, 5). Of those 2 bouts the talking point is clearly Ignacio's win over Maruki which ended Ignacio's 0-2 run in Japan. Outstanding performance by the tough Filipino.

The main event here saw Kazuya Maruki (16-2, 10) taking a close and controversial victory over RJ Ano-os (8-6-1, 2) in a bout that should probably been scored a draw with all 3 cards giving Maruki the nod 96-95.

The other show at the Aioi Hall we again got some very competitive match ups. These included a 4 round majority decision to Takashi Igarashi (2-0, 1) who out pointed Ryuya Kusakabe (0-1), a split decision draw between Naoki Yoshimura (0-0-1) and fellow debutant Shin Tomita (0-0-1) and a very close unanimous decision victory for Masatsugu Ito (1-1-1) who over-came Hideya Koyama (0-1).

The other 4 rounders on this show were less competitive as Hayato Takeshima (3-2, 3) took just 38 seconds to see off the win-less Shohei Iwamoto (0-2-1), Shinpei Tominaga (1-1, 1) took less than 2 rounds to stop Yuta Takimoto (3-4-1, 2), Jun Takigawa (3-0, 2) needed 3 rounds to see off Tatsuya Sakamoto (3-5, 1) and Tetsuya Yamaguchi (2-1-1, 1) also needed just 3 rounds as he defeated the previously unbeaten Masanori Kawai (1-1, 1).

The co-feature bout was also over early as Kazuki Fukakura (7-6-2, 3) saw off Nao Iwata (3-11-3) in the 3rd of a scheduled 6 rounds.

Thankfully after all the stoppages we get a really hard fought main event which surprisingly saw Daiki Koide (21-6-2, 9) given an amazingly tough bout by Jose Maxian (9-4, 7). Although Maxian was stopped inside 2 rounds almost 2 years ago by Rikki Naito he does seem to be growing into a very capable fighter. We'd keep an eye on Maxian one day winning an OPBF or Filipino title as he is much better than his record indicates.

Gimpo, South Korea
In South Korea a card genuinely slipped under our radar despite their being a Korean title as the main event. The show, in total, had 10 bouts with the main attraction being the the bout for the Korean Lightweight title which is now around the waist of Sa-Ya Lee (5-2, 3) after he stopped Sang-Joon Park (5-4-2) with just 75 seconds of their bout remaining.

Prior to the main event we got a series of 4 rounders and a small handful of 6 rounders. 

The 4 rounders, the 6 of them, featured just a pair of stoppages. These early endings saw Suk Yoon (1-0, 1) stopping Min-Wook Lee (0-1) in 2 rounds and Ki-Chul Lee (2-0, 2) stopping Kwon Kim (0-2) in round 4. Interestingly Kim was just seconds from the final bell.

In the bouts not to see stoppages we did have one technical decision as Dong-Young Gang (2-0) took a 3 round technical victory over Kyung-Am Kim (0-3), incidentally they scored the 76 second third round, with at least 2 of the judges awarding that particular round to Gang. As well as the technical victory for Gang we also had 2 draws as debuting pair Seung-Yoon Shin (0-0-1) and Joseph Lee (0-0-1) were seen as difficult to split by the judges and Sung-Dong Kim (2-1-1, 1) marked up the previously perfect record of Joon-Ho Moon (2-0-1, 1), also with split decision draw.

The one 4 rounder that reached a natural decision conclusion and had a winner was a bout that saw the unbeaten Byung-Ha Kim (3-0) clearly defeat Seung-Bong Moon (1-1-1, 1) .

In the 6 round bouts things were equally as competitive with Moon-Sun Jung (2-2-3) taking a majority decision over In-Kyoo Lee (2-2, 1) and Da-Won Suh (3-3-1, 1) fighting to a draw with Hyo-Suk Kim (2-0-4, 1). Whilst the only clear victor was Joon-Young Lee (4-1-3, 2) who clearly beat Hyo-Hyun Nam (2-4).

(Image thansk to Ohashi Gym)