Tokyo, Japan
This past Friday there was 3 Asian shows with 2 in Japan. For us the more noteworthy of those came form the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

The most notable bout on this card saw the always exciting Takuya Kogawa (24-4, 13) reclaim the Japanese Flyweight title to begin his second reign. The all-action warrior managed to out point the tough Hiroki Saito (9-5, 5) in an entrancing 10 round battle that brought the best from both men. Kogawa, who lost the title in 2013 to Suguru Muranaka, has now got a lot of exciting options in front of him, including a possible rematch with Muranaka or a chance to move into another world level bout with some really big names for the lower weights.

Whilst the main event was brilliant there was also 3 very good supporting match ups. One of those saw fringe Super Featherweight contender Shingo Eto (17-3-1, 9) move a step closer to fighting for the OPBF title as he out pointed Filipino veteran Edgar Gabejan (27-32-6, 9) in a very competitive bout. Although Gabejan's record is far from impressive he's actually a very solid fighter and showed that once again here.

Another supporting bout saw Hideo Sakamoto (16-1-3, 5) suffer an unfortunate draw with Hiroki Teshigawara (9-1-2, 4). Some at ringside felt this was a political decision that cost Sakamoto what should have been a clear but competitive decision win though the draw does keep the under-rated Bantamweight in the hunt for a title fight in the next few years. Although talented Sakamoto doesn't belong in the ring with the likes of Shohei Omori, though will be a good opponent for anyone at the domestic level.

The third of the noteworthy support bouts saw the under-rated Ryoichi Tamura (4-2-1, 1) take a split decision over heavy handed southpaw Yusuke Suzuki (6-2, 4) in an enthralling contest between two novice professionals putting it all on the line in what was a perfect example of what boxing is about. We won't pretend this was the highest skilled fight in history but it exemplified the fight game perfect.

As well as the 4 main bout this card also featured 5 lower level bouts, all scheduled for the 4 round distance.

Of those under-card bouts just a couple went this distance. These both saw wins for debutants with Kazuki Naya (1-0, 1) out pointing Daisuke Uchikawa (2-2-1, 1), in a competitive Featherweight bout, while Rikiya Ono (1-0) easily saw off Shogo Isaka (0-1).

A bout that almost saw the final bell ended with more than a minute of round 4 gone as 17 year old prospect Junto Nakatani (2-0, 2) stopped Akira Kokubo (1-6-3), giving Kokubo his first stoppage loss. The remaining bouts both ended in the opening round with Welterweight Shunsuke Nakamura (2-0, 1) stopping 34 year old debutant Akio Uwajima (0-1) at the end of the opening stance whilst Junki Kobayashi (2-1, 2) stopped Ryo Kato (1-2) midway through the opening stanza.

Osaka, Japan
The other Japanese card came from Osaka where Harada Promotions put on an 8 fight card.

The main event here saw Japanese domestic contender Tetsuya Hisada (23-9-2, 13) score a 2nd round TKO against fellow contender Atsushi Aburada (10-8, 6). Hisada came out swinging with bad intentions and a big flurry dropped Aburada early in the second before a follow up attacked forced the referee to step in. Coming in Aburada had, just 2 fights back, fought in a Japanese title fight against Yu Kimura but this loss ends any chance of him getting another any time soon. It does however open the door to Hisada getting a well deserved shot, something he's amazingly never had before.

The co-feature bout here saw Riichi Kawase (7-6-3, 2) score a 2nd round KO against Hiroki Yoshimura (7-12, 4), who has now been stopped 10 times. Yoshimura beat the 10 count but was waved off by the referee. Another early win saw Kyohei Tonomoto (7-2, 3) take out Paisitong Muangsima (0-1) in 161 seconds.

In a 6 rounder Hiroshi Takagi (5-4, 1) took a decision win over the very light punching Takahiko Nakajima (4-7-1). This win for Takagi was his third in a row and it's fair to say he has turned his career around after a 2-4-1 start. He is however unlikely to progress far given that he's already 29 years old.

Like the other card this one had a number of 4 rounders, all of which went the distance. The most notable of those saw the unbeaten Tuki Takahashi (5-0, 1) extend his perfect start with a decision win against Yosuke Shimagawa (5-6-1, 2). Another unbeaten picking up a win here was Yuna Hara (2-0) who out pointed the debuting Joken Takaoka (0-1). It wasn't all good news for people who came in unbeaten however as Maya Uegaki (1-1, 1) suffer a decision loss to Minayo Kei (1-1). The remaining bout saw Takashi Oura (4-4, 1) level off his record with a decision win over Takahiro Horio (1-1).

Pathum Thani, Thailand
In Thailand we saw a number of Nakornluong fighters in action as they continued their march towards numerous world title bouts.

In the main event of the card the WBC #1 ranked Flyweight contender Nawaphon Por Chokchai (29-0, 22) successfully defended his WBC Asian Boxing Council Flyweight title with a 3rd round KO over over-matched Filipino Wiljan Ugbaniel (13-5-1, 4). Nawaphon, who has set his eyes on Roman Gonzalez, was too big and too strong for Ugbaniel and although he landed a massive low blow in round 2 it was a culmination of shots that eventually forced Ugbaniel to take the count in the corner.

A huge mismatch saw the always fun to watch Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (35-4-1, 32) put in a stay busy performance as he stopped Indonesian visitor Jack Amisa (21-36-2, 14) inside a round. The always aggressive Srisaket now has eyes on a rematch with Carlos Cuadras, as it seems likely that that bout may come before the year is over. Notably Amisa was unhappy at the stoppage but he did seem to take his time getting up and had been given a slow count as it was.

Another mismatch saw the criminally under-rated Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (44-6-1, 22) took a straight forward win over the much taller Ibuki Tanaka (0-2). On paper this was a total mismatch, as it proved to be in the ring, but it seemed that Suriyan was working on how to deal with a tall fighter and how to make the most of his “shortness”. Whilst it's not a given it could be that he's looking to get a title fight with a champion later in the year, and many of the top champions in the division are taller than him. Tanaka, to his credit, show real grit and toughness, but was never competitive before being stopped.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Sunday was a hectic day in Asia with 3 notable shows in Japan as well as a small Filipino card.

Tokyo, Japan
The best of the 3 Japanese shows came from Tokyo where reason, along with Shirai-Gushiken-Sports, put on a very good looking “Dangan” card. The card, in total, had 9 bouts with 4 of them being genuinely notable.

The main event saw former Japanese Super Featherweight title challenger Shingo Eto (16-3-1, 9) take a close and competitive decision victory over Tomoya Yamada (12-6, 3). This, on paper, was supposed to be an easy win for Eto but he was pushed all the way in a bout that would have been great to keep Eto on his toes and help prepare him for another, eventual, title shot.

In the co-feature we saw Filipino warrior Ardin Diale (28-9-3, 14) take a split decision win against Yuta Matsuo (7-2-1, 4) in a fantastic bout that showed Diale at his best. The Filipino was fighting in Japan for the first time since his dramatic 8th round TKO loss to Koki Eto last year and seemed to quickly shake off any issues he had with that loss as he notched his 5th straight win. For Matsuo this loss sees him dropping to 2-2-1 in his last 5.

A third 8 round bout saw Spice Matsushita (14-8, 2) take a competitive decision victory over the hard hitting Takumi Koyama (9-4-1, 7) in a slight upset win.

In a 6 rounder we saw the destructive Daigo Higa (5-0, 5) quickly take care of Filipino visitor Virden Rivera (8-2-1, 2). Rivera, who's only previous loss was a 7th round defeat to Rex Wao, was unable to cope with Higa who was aggressive from the opening and finally saw off Rivera in the 2nd round.

On the under-card were 5 bouts, two of which ended early. The quicker of those ended in the 2nd round as Taisei Hayashi (1-1, 1) defeated Toshihiko Saito (0-2), the other saw Sho Nagata (4-1, 2) upset Hokuto Kawana (4-1, 3) with a 4th round KO.

In a more competitive under-card action Hideaki Onuki (2-0) claimed a majority decision over the win-less Koji Fujimoto (0-2) whilst Taiga Higashi (2-1, 1) took home a split decision victory as he over-came Yusuke Moriya (1-2). The only clear decision on the under-card saw Yoshimitsu Kimura (1-0) take a victory over Yuki Nishikawa (0-1) in an all-debutant affair.

Wakayama, Japan
In Wakayama fans has an interesting show with 3 notable bouts as well as a relatively forgettable under-card.

The main event saw former OPBF Super Bantamweight title challenger Eita Kikuchi (17-4-4, 7) take a decision win against Keita Ito (8-20-2, 4). For Kikuchi this was a third successive win after back-to-back stoppage losses in 2013, including a loss to Shingo Wake. Interestingly Ito managed to surpass expectations and gave one of his best performances in recent years, unfortunately however it was his 8th straight loss.

The unbeaten Shohei Kawashima (10-0-2, 2) continued his unbeaten run with a clear decision victory against Yuta Sasaki (6-7, 1). This was Kawashima's first 8 round bout and the 23 year old will have learned so much from the experience, even if Sasaki wasn't a top tier opponent.

The third main bout saw Kazuki Hashimoto (11-4, 7) take a very quick victory over Chikashi Hayashizaki (6-5-1, 2). Hashimoto saw off his foe after just 97 seconds.

The under-card, surprisingly, all went the distance with all 5 bouts completing their schedules. The most competitive of those saw Yosuke Shimagawa (5-5-1, 2) take a very narrow split decision victory over the win-less Koichi Sumiya (0-2-1), who proved to be better than his record suggested. Another very competitive bout saw the debuting Shintaro Ukezono (1-0) take a majority decision over Shinen Nakayasu (0-3).

Even the “non-close” decisions were close. These saw Ryo Sumiya (2-1-1) take a thin unanimous win over Kazuaki Okada (3-4) and Koichi Wakita (2-1) take an even slimmer win over Kazuki Koyanagi (3-9). The only clear decision from the under-card saw Katsushito Kudo (2-2, 1) over-come Teruyuki Nogami (0-2)

Hiroshima, Japan
In Hiroshima there was a 10 bout card which featured 2 main bouts alongside 8 under-card bouts, each of which was scheduled for 4 rounds.

The main bout saw Koji Itagaki (14-9-2, 6) take a wide decision against Filipino visitor Benezer Alolod (16-7-5, 5). This was Itagaki's second win following an horrific 0-4-1 run whilst Alolod has now lost back-to-back fights after having a good string of results in 2014

The other main event saw Ryuji Ikeda (9-2-1, 5) blow away journeyman Kosuke Iwashita (14-18-2, 8) in just 160 seconds. We didn't expect this one to be so one-sided and it perhaps spells the end of Iwashita who is now 1-8 in his last 9 bouts

The under-card featured a bit of everything, with a number of competitive bouts as well as a number of stoppages. One of those stoppages came in an all debutant bout as Katsushi Shiga (1-0, 1) scored a 4th round TKO against Hiroyuki Tsujimura (0-1). Another 4th round TKO came at Lightweight as Satoshi Yamamichi (4-3, 4) took out Takahiro Maeda (1-2, 1). A third 4th round finish saw the unbeaten Kazuya Okubo (3-0, 1) extend his perfect record with a victory against Kota Hama (2-1, 1), who lost his unbeaten record. One other stoppage on this card saw Ryoya Ikema (4-1, 4) stop the win-less Hayata Komen (0-2) in the 3rd round.

In more competitive action J Soul Maeda (3-2-2, 1) took a split decision over the previously unbeaten Riku Inokuchi (1-1), another split decision saw Takahiro Morisaki (3-1, 1) defeat Takumi Konod (1-1-1, 1), who also lost his perfect record. Another close bout saw Hiromichi Kurokawa (4-2-1, 1) take a majority decision over Masashi Kamon (1-2). The only clear under-card bout saw Hironori Miyake (4-3, 1) take a wide decision over Masafumi Suda (1-2, 1)

Siquijor, Philippines
In the Philippines there was a small card with no major bouts on it though the main event did feature an unbeaten prospect taking a step up in class.

That aforementioned main event saw Jayr Raquinel (5-0, 3) take a 3rd round DQ win against Jimboy Haya (7-2-1, 4), who was unable to keep his shots above the belt against the unbeaten man. The 18 year old Raquinel may be worth making a note of, though unfortunately this bout failed to really tell us how good he is.

In both the under-card bouts fans saw early blow outs. One of those saw Marjun Pantilgan (5-2, 4) blast away with Rajah Jetro Tulod (0-1) inside a round whilst the other saw Filjun Taneo (3-1, 1) defeat Salvador Crispin (0-1), also inside a round.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Monday was a busy day in Asian boxing and although non of the action was headline making it was still an interesting day with several shows across the continent.

Gangwon-do, South Korea
The most significant action of the day came form South Korea where fans had a televised card with a trio of title fights as well as a number of interesting under-card contests.

The main event featured WBA world ranked Minimumweight-come-Light Flyweight Takuma Sakae (11-0, 7) who claimed his first professional title, the IBF Youth Light Flyweight title, as he took a 7th round TKO victory over Thailand's limited Jaipetch Chaiyonggym (4-3, 2). Sakae, who was crowned the All Japan Rookie of the Year at Minimumweight in 2013, was simply too good for the Thai who had lost previous bouts to Denver Cuello and Jonathan Taconing, both world class fighters themselves. Aged just 21 we are excited about the potential of Sakae though would like to see him in with more testing opposition later this year.

Another winning his first title was Shingo Eto (15-3-1, 9) who was forced to go 12 rounds by former OPBF Featherweight title challenger Maxsaisai Sithsaithong (15-7, 4) en route to winning a decision for the IBF Super Featherweight title. The talented Eto was a very clear winner with all 3 cards being lop-sided in his favour and it was a great return to action for a man who was out pointed last time out by Rikki Naito in a Japanese national title fight.

Whilst the show saw a pair of new champions it also saw one man retaining his title. That was Takuya Watanabe (23-5-1, 11) who took a 5th round TKO victory over Non Sithsaithong (12-7, 8) to retain the IBF Asia Featherweight title. For Watanabe this was the first of the title he won last year, when he defeated Yodpichai Sithsaithong by 7th round TKO, and we suspect we'll see him fight again Korea. Whilst this was his second win in the country it's fair to say he'll be best remembered by Korean fans for his loss to Jaesung Lee, a loss that resulted in a total blood bath.

We're now expecting both Watanabe and Eto to return to Korea in early March to fight against Korean opposition. From what we understand Watanabe will be fighting against Korean champion Bong-Joon Suk (8-1-2, 2) whilst Eto is though to be heading towards a fight with Korean Lightweight champion Sa-Ya Lee (6-2, 3)*.

Two other bouts on this card that featured Japanese fighters saw quick blow out wins as Daigo Higa (4-0, 4) scored and opening round KO against Pongpayu Chaiyonggym (0-2) and Shunsuke Fukushima (5-3-2, 3) took out Songpol Sithsaithong (0-2), also inside a round.

Sadly we suspect we won't be getting any other results from this card, which also included a female bout, involving two fighters who failed to recognise.

Chonburi, Thailand
As well as the action in South Korea there was also some action in Thailand.

The main event here saw yet another link to Korea as Myung-goo Yuh (24-4-1, 19) recorded a 3rd round TKO against the debuting Jakara Petchjinda (0-1). For Yuh this was a 10th win in Thailand, and his 8 win in Thailand inside 12 months, just sadly most of them have been fought at this appalling low level .

Yuh wasn't the only visitor to have success on this card, in fact all the winners were visitors. One of those fighters who tasted victory was Filipino Richie Behec (1-0-1) who maintained his unbeaten record with a 4th round technical decision win over Kiatisak Bangchalon (0-1), another Frenchman Jaoquim Mahe (8-0, 4) stopped Klasuk Patchinda (0-1) and another was Italian Ricardo Redbluegym (2-0, 2), who stopped Pornsawan Lookprabat (0-1).

Misamis Oriental, Philippines
In the Philippines fans had a small 5 bout show which included yet another title bout.

The aforementioned title bout saw Jerry Tomogdan (16-5-2, 8) take a majority decision win over the previously unbeaten Joey Canoy (8-1-1, 3) to claim the PBF Minimumweight title in a minor upset. The 21 year old Tomogdan had come into the bout on a 4 fight winning streak though those wins had come against opposition and he was seen an under-dog. He was however an under-dog that bit and ended Canoy's unbeaten record. 

Another of the bigger bouts on the show saw knockdowns being traded as Renoel Pael (16-1-1, 7) was given a scare. Pael was dropped in round 3 by the limited Nicardo Calamba (6-19-3, 3) though battled back to drop Calamba in round 5. Eventually Calamba called it a night at the end of round 7.

Arguably the most the most interesting bout, at least on paper, ended in a draw. This bout pitted touted power puncher Jeronil Borres (5-0-1, 5) up against Salatiel Amit (4-0-2, 3) and although both fighters appear to have power neither could stop the other here. Antoerh fighter who maintained his unbeaten record was Ramram Lagos (1-0-2) who took a 4 round decision over Fijun Taneo (0-1) whilst Michael Camellion (3-1, 2) made light work of the debuting Alex Caoktoy (0-1). who lasted just 78 seconds.

*Note-Boxrec.com list Lee at 5-2 (3), they don't however recognise his Korean title defence against Sung Tae Kim and they list Suk at 7-2-1 (2) which is also incorrect.

(Image courtesy of koreaboxing.or.kr)

This past Monday was nothing short of a blockbuster day on the Japanese domestic scene with two notable cards and a host of interesting bouts.

Tokyo, Japan
The bigger of two cards was Dangan 113 which came from the Korakuen Hall and had a big of everything from a highly entertaining main event to a dreadful debut from a touted prospect, from a notable upset to a highly impressive debut.

The main event saw Japanese Super Featherweight champion Rikki Naito (11-0, 5) retain his title with a clear decision over Shingo Eto (14-3-1, 9). The scores, which ready 98-93, twice, and 98-92 suggest it was a one-sided contest but certainly wasn't and Naito had to work incredibly hard to win the rounds and fight on despite a nose that was bloodied very early in the contest.

The  chief support was a genuine upset as the under-rated Hideo Sakamoto (15-1-2, 5) managed to stop the world ranked, WBC #12, Hiroki Shiino (11-4, 10). Shiino a former OPBF Bantamweight champion, was widely favoured to over-come Sakamoto though was made to look distinctly second rate by the more talented under-dog who will likely use this win to move towards a title shot, either nationally or regionally. Unfortunately for Shiino this was a second stoppage loss in 3 bouts following a loss late last year to Ryosulke Iwasa. 

Whilst Shiino's loss was an upset he did put up a good effort, not something that can be said of former amateur star Takaaki Kamikawa (0-1) who was frankly terrible against Shoma Fukumoto (5-1, 5). Kamikawa had turned professional with notable fanfare but this performance made it look like he was a rank amateur. Fukumoto isn't a terrible fighter but we expect much, much more from Kamikawa.

Another minor upset saw Tatsuya Otsubo (5-6-1, 3) force a 3rd round TKO against Ryosuke Suzuki (4-2). Interestingly Otsubo was fighting for the first time in almost 3 years making the upset even more impressive.

Another of the results that we had received from this card was that of Koji Benjamin Watanabe (0-1-1), a friend of the site. Sadly Watanabe was stopped in just 37 seconds by Daijiro Umemoto (1-0, 1) who appeared to be a very good prospect in the Light Welterweight division.

When we first published this we were missing a number results. 

Of those bouts only went the distance as Yoshito Ikari (3-1-2, 3) fought to a 4 round majority draw with Naoya Sato (2-0-1). Between the other 3 bouts there was just 7 rounds of action. The longest of the bouts we've not yet mentioned went into round 3 as the previously winless Hironobu Suzuki (1-2, 1) got off the mark with a third round TKO over Takuya Gocho (0-3). The other bouts only went into round 2 and these saw Daisuke Fukuyama (3-2-1, 3) stop the debuting Kanehiro Nakagawa (0-1) and Takeshi Ishiwatari (1-0, 1) begin his campaign with a win over Yutaro Ogane (0-1).

Osaka, Japan
In Osaka fans got a smaller show that was headlined by a very promising female fighter, Nana Yoshikawa (4-0, 2). Yoshikawa made extremely quick work of former world title challenger Kledpetch KKP (6-4, 1) with a second round KO via a devastating body shot that saw Kledpetch down for the count. This was supposedly a world title prelude, or tune up, for Yoshikawa who we assume will have put the Light Flyweight on alert considering nobody had taken care of Kledpetch like this, even Shindo Go took 8 rounds to see off the Thai.

As with the other card we were missing results when this was first published, sadly in this case it was for much of the show. Those results can now all be found below.

Yoshikawa's bout was one of a trio of 8 round bouts. Another saw Eita Kikuchi (15-4-4, 7) score an 8th round TKO against the heavy handed but limited Toshiya Yokogawa (6-7-1, 5) whilst the other featured Shota Kawaguchi (18-5-1, 7) who scored an 8th round KO against Kosuke Isono (7-3-1, 1) with a beautiful right uppercut that left Isono out cold for quite a while.

The sole 6 rounder on the show also ended early as Junki Oura (6-5, 2) took out Thai visitor Decha Janthasri (0-1) in the second round. It was also in the 2nd round of the scheduled 4 rounder than fans saw Takuya Uehara (2-0, 1) stop Kento Osumi (1-1, 1).

The other undercard bouts all went the distance with many of them being very competitive outs. The most "one-sided" of these bouts saw Hiroya Kojima (3-2-1, 2) take a clear cut decision win over Ryusei Kitamua (2-1, 1) and Kosei Toyoda (3-1-1, 1) take a clear win over Masahiko Jikan (2-3). The closer contests saw Yu Konomura (3-2-1) take a split decision over Takuya Fujioka (3-4-1, 1), the previously win-less Tsuyoshi Hashimoto (1-2-1) take a majority decision win over the debuting Kenji Miyata (0-1) and Daisuke Takeichi (2-3, 1) take a majority decision win over Ryuji Hayashi (1-4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

It's been a whilst since we had some fights though this past Friday was chock-a-block with fights taking place through out Asia. The day had cards in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan and gave us a share of shocks, blowouts, predictability and excitement reminding us why we all love boxing, even in it's down periods. 

Tokyo, Japan
For us the most notable of the shows was the reason promoted show at the Korakuen Hall that featured a trio of notable match ups alongside 7 lesser fights. The card wasn't an amazing one but was notable and significant on the Japanese and Asian boxing scene due to the main trio.

The first of that significant trio was Taiki Eto (13-3, 10) who bounced back from his loss last time out to Yohei Tobe and simple destroyed Brukluk Kor Narong Service (0-2) in just 2 rounds. Whilst Eto was stopped in a Japanese title fight by Tobe it's interesting to note that Brukluk's only previous fight was a loss to current Japanese champion Sho Ishida who, just like Eto, stopped the Thai in 2 rounds.

The second of the significant bouts also ended in the second round as the heavy handed former Japanese, OPBF and PABA champion Akinori Watanabe (31-4, 27) easily took out Thailand's Chatchai Sithsaithong (8-4, 6). This bout was Watanabe's return to the ring after a 9 month break though it's obvious from this performance that he still has enough to compete at title level.

In the main event Super Featherweight hopeful Shingo Eto (14-2-1, 9) made light work of Arnon Sithsaithong (0-1) who was stopped inside a round. After the fight it was announced that Eto would be fighting Japanese champion Rikki Naito in October in what looks almost certain to be a fantastic bout.

Whilst the main trio of bouts went a combined 5 rounds it's worth noting that the 7 undercard bouts also all ended early, in fact those 7 bouts went a combined 13 rounds!

The quickest of those undercard bouts saw the debuting Tsubasa Koura (1-0, 1) score a notable opening round blow victory against Naoki Morooka (2-1, 2). Aged just 19 Koura may be worth keeping an eye on desite his bout here only last 142 seconds. The only other opening round victory scored on this undercard was by Daichi Yamamoto (1-2-1, 1) who took just 25 seconds longer than Koura to score his victory. For Yamanoto he got his maiden victory with a KO over the still win-less Kazuma Fukino (0-3).

Of the 7 undercard bouts 4 went into the second round. The quickest of those 2 round bouts saw Shunsuke Mori (1-2, 1) scoring a stoppage 28 seconds into the round as he punished Takuya Sagehashi (0-1). It took Ryotaro Tokusa (1-0, 1) a further 20 seconds, 48 seconds of round 2, to take out his debut foe Hiroshi Higuchi (0-1) in an all debutant bout. Another debutant who suffered a set back was Kaiki Oshira (0-1) who was beaten by Hokuto Kawana (3-0, 2) at the 2:22 mark of round 2.

The other man who scored a second round KO was 19 year old Daigo Higa (2-0, 2) who were impressed by on his debut. Higa made light work of Thai visitor Rotthang Wor Por Srisaket (0-3) who was stopped at the 2:40 mark of the second round.

The only bout on the entire show to go beyond 2 rounds saw Kazumichi Ishizawa (3-4, 1) taking a 3rd round stoppage victory over Motonobu Suzuki (2-5). On paper this was one of, if not the, most evenly matched bout but even that didn't help it go the distance.

Hyogo, Japan
At the Kobe Central Gym there was a small but very notable show courtesy of Shinsei Gym. The card featured just 6 bouts though a number of them were fought as part of a small Japan Vs Philippines event. 

The show opened with a 4 rounder between Koichi Sumiya (0-1-1) and Yuki Arakawa (0-1-1) that ended in a split decision draw. The only other "under-card" bout saw Ryo Kosaka (8-3-1, 4) taking a second round KO over Monkey Shuhei (5-5-1, 2) in a scheduled 6 rounder.

The first of of the main bouts was a win for the Philippines as as the battle hardened and experienced Roque Lauro (11-16-4, 2) took a split decision over Japanese teenager Ryuya Yamanaka (7-2, 2). On paper this was a mismatch though delving below just the raw records suggests that Lauro is a very capable foe and has been in with a relative who's who whilst fighting well above his natural weight. With wins over Joan Imperial, Ronelle Ferreras and Myung Goo Yuh we'll suggest that Lauro is one of those potential banana skins, as Yamanaka found out here.

The second bout was another win for the Philippines as former OPBF title challenger Jhunriel Ramonal (14-7-4, 7) took a narrow split decision over Kota Fukuoka (15-5-2, 12). Ramonal had been stopped, in 3 rounds by Shingo Wake, last time he was in Japan though appears to have found that his level here with this win, a great result given that he had been stopped in his 2 previous bouts.

The Philippines made it 3-0 as the criminally under-rated Renoel Pael (14-1-1, 5) scored a dominant decision over the heavy handed Yuki Yonaha (3-2, 3). This bout wasn't even close and there was no debating the winner here as Pael put on a masterclass against a man who looked out of his depth. We'd suggest keeping an eye Pael as he appears to have plenty of skills and has no fear fighting on foreign soil, in fact his best performance came in Thailand against Noknoi Sitthiprasert just 6 months ago, the judges gave that to Noknoi though Pael really did deserve the win.

The only win for Japan came in somewhat disappointing circumstances as the the highly regarded Shun Kubo (5-0, 4) defeated Renren Pasignahin (6-4-1, 2) with a 4th round TKO. From what we understand the Filipino suffered a nasty injury that forced him to suffer his first stoppage defeat. In saying that we do suspect that Kubo would have won regardless of the injury but it is still a disappointment from the all involved. Pasignahin was robbed of his chance to compete after less than 4 rounder and Kubo was robbed of a "clean" win, a real shame.

Makati City, Philippines
As well as the action in Japan we also had two cards in the Philippines. 

At the bottom of this card was a number of novices, including the debuting Mark Angelo Plana (1-0) who successfully kicked off his professional campaign with a clear decision over fellow debutant Lordy Pateno (0-1) in a 4 round. The Plana/Pateno bout was one of two 4 rounders with the other one being won by female hopeful Naome Tacda (2-0, 2) who defeated Aisah Alico (5-4, 4) in the second round. In the sole 6 rounder Jonathan Dela Cruz (5-0, 2) recorded a second round KO against the usually durable Jomar Borbon (4-19-2, 2). 

The bulk of the show's contests were 8 rounders and these featured the show's most competitive bouts. The compeititve contests featured a surprising split draw for Ronelle Ferreras (14-7-3, 6) with JC Francisco (6-8-3, 2), a further shot to Ferreras's career which has really taken hit after hit this year, and also a split decision win for Eric Panza (6-2-1, 1) who narrowly over-came Pablito Canada (4-4-1, 1) in a very close contest.

In less competitive contests we saw a pair of stoppages for Japanese fighters. The less significant of those bouts saw Ryuta Wakamatsu (10-10, 7) stopping Aroel Romasasa (11-7, 5) in the second round in a slight upset. The other bout shocked no-one as Momoko Kanda (7-6-2, 1) stopped Nongnun Mor Krungthepthonburi (2-3) in 4 rounds and claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council female Minimumweight title. This was the second bout between Kanda and Nongnun, the first time they met Kanda took a decision over 6 rounds but this time it seems she was fighting with real confidence and forced the stoppage of her Thai opponent.

The card featured a pair of 10 rounders but neither of them was even close to being competitive. One of them saw popular world ranked power puncher Warlito Parrenas (21-6, 18) completely dismantling Richard Garcia (25-20-1, 7) in the third round. Parrenas, one of the hardest puncher in the Super Flyweight division, broke apart Garcia with body shots in the third round and left Danrex Tapdasan with no option but to stop the contest. The other 10 rounder lasted a mere 36 seconds as Rey Juntilla (18-5-3, 11) detonated a body shot on Cris Leon (7-11-4, 3) who failed to recover. 

Sadly the main event was equally as one sided with Richard Claveras (9-0-2, 9) defending his WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an opening round KO against Thailand's Sangthong Chor Pakdee (4-1, 4). We expected this to be explosive, but we didn't think it was going to be over quite so quickly.

Metro Manila, Philippines
The second Filipino show took place in Metro Manila at the The Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Complex and proved to relatively full of mismatches.

The card opened with a pair of 4 rounders, both won by men who went into the bouts as unbeaten. These saw Robin Langres (2-0, 1) take a 4th round TKO over Jonathan Pedrosa (0-6-1) and Jetlee Formentera (2-0, 1) take an opening round blow out victory against Roberto Mendano (0-2). 

Although the opening contests didn't last long the pair of 6 rounders both went the scheduled. These saw Wilbert Berondo (4-0, 2) score a near sut out over Roy Albaera (2-24-5) whilst the once beaten Diomel Diocos (4-1-2, 2) took a majority decision over Vincent Bautista (1-2-1). Strangely the Diocos/Bautista bout was scored 59-54 by two judges whilst the third had contest level at 57-57. The final "undercard" bout was the sole 8 rounder which saw Jeffrey Francisco (10-0-1) extending his unbeaten run with a clear decision over domestic journeyman Jeson Berwela (4-17, 2).

The bulk of the card was the trio of 10 rounders. The first of those saw Giemel Magramo (11-0, 8) taking and early and easy win over over the experienced but limited Jovel Romasasa (10-20, 4). Romasasa retired at the end of the 2nd round giving Magramo his 11th win though hopefully he will be matched more competitively next time out. Sadly much of the top bouts here were uncompetitive and in Featherweight action Juan Miguel Elorde (16-1, 8) took a 5th round TKO over Paulus Baransano (0-4). Juan Miguel Elorde wasn't the only member of the Elorde family to score a win as his brother, Juan Martin Elorde (16-1-1, 7), defeated Juniston Simbolon (7-12-1, 3) via a 6th round technical decision. At the end of the bout Elorde was bloody from an accidental headbutt hence going to the cards early. Both of the Elorde's were facing Indonesian foes.

The main event saw another easy win for a Filipino against an Indonesian as Dennis Laurente (48-5-5, 29) stopped the very limited Elly Pangaribuan (3-4, 1). This was Pangaribuan's second successive second round stoppage following on from his defeat to Nobuhiro Ishida just over a year ago.

Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand
In Thailand we saw PABA Featherweight champion Thong Sithluangphophun (10-0, 7) defend his title with a 3rd round KO against Indonesian challenger Yakobus Heluka (7-8). For Heluka this was a 4th straight loss and it seems like he's generally just getting in the ring to lose right now, a real shame. The ended for this one was a bit on the nasty side from Thong though it does appear that Heluka decided that he didn't want to continue.

Quebec, Canada
In Canada fans got to see the heavy handed and very promising Artur Beterbiev (5-0, 5) take a very quick win over the over-matched Alvaro Enriquez (12-13-2, 4) in what was clearly a stay busy fight after spending 7 months out of the ring. We now expect to see Beterbiev facing former world champion Tavoris Cloud in September in what looks to be a genuinely fantastic bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)