Tokyo, Japan
This past Tuesday saw a major show form Japan. Sadly only two of the results from the show weren't immediately available so we had to wait until the full details from the card were released.

The main event of the card was a WBC Bantamweight title fight that saw long term champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (24-0-2, 17) narrowly retain his title with a controversial split decision win against Panama's slippery Anselmo Moreno (35-4-1, 12). The bout, the toughest of Yamanaka's career, saw him needing to dig very deep to turn around the fight, winning the championship rounds to bring home the decision. Although he got the win many have questions Yamanaka's abilities in the wake of the bout whilst others have called for a rematch. The one thing that is clear is that Yamanaka should be relieved to have gotten past Moreno.

In the chief support bout fans at the venue had the chance to see the hard hitting Kenichi Ogawa (16-1, 14) over-come world ranked Colombian Deivi Julio Bassa (17-1, 10). Ogawa extended his current winning run to 8 fights, all inside the distance, and now seems to be focussing on a title fight with either OPBF champion Masayuki Ito or Japanese champion Rikki Naito, both of which would be fantastic match ups.

The rest of this card, which was actually what has been holding up our results for the day, feature only a single 6 rounder. This saw Isao Aoyama (7-3-1, 1) take a decision victory over Tomoyuki Kaneko (7-6-1, 4). Sadly another 6 rounder that had been scheduled for this card, featuring Spice Matsushita (14-8, 2) was cancelled at very late notice.

The card opened with a majority decision draw between Naoko Akagi (2-6-3, 1) and Takeshi Ishiwatari (1-1-1, 1). Another of the opening bouts saw Kenji Ishii (4-5-1, 3) take a razor thin, 38-37 on all 3 cards, decision win over Shoma Sekina (2-3-2).

Two other 4 rounders, which we believe took place after the main event, saw Naoki Sakata (1-0, 1) begin his career with a 2nd round TKO win against Takayuki Takino (0-2) whilst Daisuke Sudo (3-3-2) fought to a draw with Akihiro Hikichi (3-6-4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Thursday was a great day for Japanese fans who had two shows with a lot of action and a number of interesting match ups.

Osaka, Japan
The bigger of the two shows, by far, came from Osaka where fans got a bit of everything. They got a world title fight in the main event, they got the next fight in the development of a brilliant young prospect, they got the debut fight of a former amateur standout, they got a huge debut involving the son of a true legend and they also got a minor upset. All in all fans in Osaka got value for their money.

The main event saw the hugely popular and destructively hard hitting Shinsuke Yamanaka (23-0-2, 17) continue his impressive reign as the WBC Bantamweight champion as he easily disposed of the horribly over-matched Diego Ricardo Santillan (23-1, 15). The Argentinian challenger had come to the ring with an unbeaten record and a lot of confidence but was dominated by Yamanaka who dropped in rounds 6 and 7 with the Argentinian staying down following the second knock-down. In some ways this was the perfect performance by the champion though in other ways it was disappointing to see such a poor challenger thrown in with Yamanaka.

In the chief support bout fans saw the talented youngster Sho Nakazawa (6-0, 4) take a wide 8 round decision win over the game but relatively limited Alexander Cazares (9-4, 3) of Mexico. The young Japanese fighter did have some issues, more than he'd had in his previous 5 bouts, but nothing major in what was a routine win. It now sees like Nakazawa will begin the hunt for titles.

In another of the major support bouts we saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi (1-0, 1) batter Tadao Iwaya (1-3) in just 2 rounds. Juiki is the second son of the great Joichiro Tatsuyoshi and at times showed some of his father's traits though it's going to take a very long time for him to develop into a fighter like his father. It was an impressive debut but it did come against a very over-matched foe.

Another debutant on this card was the touted Shuya Masaki (1-0, 1) who made very light work of Phanthong Por Panya (1-2, 1). Masaki, who has a solid amateur pedigree, stopped Phanthong after just 134 seconds of their scheduled 6 rounder.

It was all perfect for the touted Japanese fighters on this card however as for Rookie of the Year winner Tatsuya Ikemizu (12-1, 5) suffered his first defeat. The youngster was out gunned and out gritted by Japanese based Filipino Mark John Yap (20-12, 10). Yap took a very close 8 round decision over the youngster though it was a bout that Ikemizu will have learned a lot from, a “good loss” if you will.

As well the higher profile bouts this card featured 3 relatively low profile 4 rounders. One of those was over in just 26 seconds as Takaaki Maeda (3-1, 1) blew away Takuya Olivia Hase (2-1-1, 1) in double quick fashion. The other contests were both razor thin decisions with one of those seeing Kenji Kihisa (3-2, 1) over-coming Akito Terada (1-1) whilst the other saw Kazuma Fukuyama (4-4-3) defeat Ryuta Miyoshi (0-2), both of those were majority decisions.

Tokyo, Japan
Whilst the big show of the day was in Osaka there was also some highly entertaining action in Tokyo where fans had 3 bouts of note as well as an interesting and well matched under-card.

The most competitive of the main bouts saw former Japanese champion Koji Umetsu (22-16-3, 10) battle to a split decision loss against Kazunori Takayama (21-8-4, 4) in a bout that really could have gone either way. Umetsu, who was the Japanese Featherweight champion back in 2006, has had an up and down career but at 38 years old he has got to be considering retirement. Takayama on the other hand may be able to work himself towards a title fight later in the year. Incidentally this was the third meeting between the two men.

Another exciting main bout saw the heavy handed Akinori Watanabe (32-4, 27) take a rare decision win as he over-came the teak tough Arnel Tinampay (22-17-1, 8), a Japanese based Filipino tough-guy. This looked like a great bout when it was signed and it prove to be enthralling in the ring, though it was a worthy win for Watanabe who stated that he'd like a fight with Yoshihiro Kamegai after the fight.

The third notable bout proved to be a bit of a mismatch as Takeshi Inoue (3-0-1, 2) made light work of Thai foe Kriburee Sithniwat (0-3-1). The Thai was stopped in the 2nd round of the scheduled 8 round bout. According to boxrec.com this was Kriburee's first bout in almost 6 year, though as with many Thai's it's hard to verify the record one way or another.

In the sole 6 rounder we again saw a Thai being stopped early as Takuya Yamaguchi (9-9, 7) saw off Pornsak Chomram (0-1) at the very end of round 3, technically scoring the KO at 3:09 of the 3rd round.

The card featured 5 bouts scheduled for the 4 round distance. Of those only a couple went the completed schedule. One of those that went the distance saw Daichi Honma (1-0) claim a debut win as he over-came Akihiro Yashiro (2-2-1) in a wide decision win, the other ended in a split decision as Yutaka Uemura (3-2-1, 2) just out did Tomoki Takada (1-1-1). One bout that almost made it to the final bell saw Shunta Terai (1-2-1, 1) take a 4th round TKO against Ryusuke Arai (0-4-1).

The other two bouts lasted less than a completed round. One of them saw Shu Muramatsu (1-1, 1) blow away Masahiko Abe (2-2-1, 2) in 74 seconds whilst the other saw Fire Terakado (1-1, 1) defeat Keisuke Imabuchi (0-1) in 98 seconds.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Tokyo, Japan
We've got to admit that we love big mid-week fights. There is something unique about waking up on a Wednesday or Thursday morning and looking forwards to grown men trading punches in the search of title glory and when it's a world title bout  between two world class fighters.

That's exactly what we had earlier today when WBC Bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (22-0-2, 16) took a hard fought but relatively clear decision win over Thailand's teak tough Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (37-6-1, 16), a former WBC Super Flyweight champion himself. Suriyan came in to the bout as a huge under-dog with betting firms though was the mandatory challenger and came in with real determination to win by bullying and applying constant pressure on Yamanaka. At times it worked wonderfully for the Thai though at the end of the day the power differential between Yamanaka, one of the sports premier punchers pound-for-pound, and Suriyan, a former world title challenger at Flyweight proved the difference with Yamanaka scoring knockdowns in rounds 7,8 and 9 to ease his way over the finishing line. Although Yamanaka did have a serious test he was never close to losing though will have a new found respect for the Thai.

In the co-feature we saw another collision of world class fighters as former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (27-3-1, 12) claimed a tough decision win over former 2-time Super Featherweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-4-1-1, 16). The bout was widely viewed as an unofficial world title eliminator and it's fair to say that Ao will be weighing up his options to fight a world champion at 135lbs, or fight in an official eliminator, in 2015. For Ao this was his 4th win since he lost the WBC Super Featherweight title to Gamaliel Diaz back in 2012, almost 2 years ago to the day. As for Salgado this now sees him falling to 1-2 in Japan following a shock win over Jorge Linares back 2009 and a subsequent loss to Takashi Uchiyama in 2010.

Whilst the show's top 2 bouts when the distance the chief support bout didn't as the very heavy handed Kenichi Ogawa (13-1, 11) took care of Ribo Takahata (10-5-1, 2) in the 7th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. Ogawa has now won 5 successive bouts since his sole defeat a little more than 2 years ago whilst Takahata has continued on his win one-lose one pattern that goes back 10 fights!

The only 6 rounder on the show was the closest bout on the score cards saw Kenta Yamada (7-4) taking a 6 round majority decision over Takushige Sato (5-6-1, 2) in a very competitive contest that saw the judges scoring the bout 58-57, twice, and 57-57

As with most shows the bulk of this card was 4 rounders, in fact there was a trio of them though combined they lasted just 8 rounds. Only one of the 4 rounders went the distance saw Masayoshi Yamasaki (1-1) scoring his first win as he over-came the still win-less Katsuaki Kinoshita (0-5) in a very 1-sided 4 rounder scored 40-35 by all of the judges. A second of the early bouts ended in the 3rd round as Masato Nunotani (1-1, 1) saw off the previously unbeaten Kohei Isozaki (1-1) whilst it took Yutaka Motoyoshi (4-8, 4) just 32 seconds to finish Tatsushi Kagawa (4-8-1, 1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Osaka, Japan
Not many days this year were as highly anticipated as Wednesday 23rd April and the world title double header at the Castle Hall in Osaka. The show was one that seemed to have boxing fans around the world excited and whether you were American, British, Belgian, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Japanese or Thai you almost certainly had some interest in what happened.

What ended up happening split emotion like very, very few shows ever will. We had pure sadness felt by everyone in the arena and we had the joy of one of Japanese boxing's current elite fighters.

The sadness was that felt for former WBC Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa (33-5, 15) who was stopped in his attempt to become a 3-weight world champion. Hasegawa, fighting against Spain's IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23), looked only like a shadow of the man who had once dominated the Bantamweight division.

Although as game and as fast as ever Hasegawa simply didn't have the legs or energy to hold off the marauding Spaniard who scored a knockdown in round 2 that seemed to worry the fans. Less than 30 minutes later the crowd were shocked in to a silence that said it all, as Hasegawa was stopped in the 7th round. For those who had seen the recent WWE Wrestlemania the crowd had that same shocked silence and tearful look as they had had when Brock Lesnar had beaten The Undertaker. Just like the WWE show this seemed to be the end of an era, the end of a man's career and the end of a fan favourite.

Whilst Hasegawa hasn't actually announced his retirement the fight and the crowd said it all. Hasegawa isn't the fighter he once was and the crowd really want this to be it for him. We hope he takes a night or two to think about his future then decides it's best to retire with his health. His legacy is already secure and he will go down as one of Japan's most popular fighters in history.

Thankfully for all those in attendance the sadness turned into happiness and after giving Hasegawa a standing ovation they got to see the immensely skilled Shinsuke Yamanaka (21-0-2, 16) successfully defend his WBC Bantamweight title with a 9th round KO against Stephane Jamoye (25-5, 15).

Yamanaka, who was defending a title held not only by Hasegawa but also by his idol Joichiro Tatsuyoshi who is in he picture, managed to cheer the crowd up with a one sided and relatively pain free beat down of Jamoye who was dropped 4 times before the referee waved the contest off.

Whilst Yamanaka is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter currently plying his trade in Asia it was actually Jamoye who did much to keep this bout interesting. Sadly for the challenger it was interesting as he was being used as a willing punch bag who was being tagged with powerful straight lefts both upstairs and downstairs as Yamanaka recorded his 6th defence overall and his 5th successive by stoppage.

Amazing to think Yamanaka started his career 6-0-2 (2) and has since reeled off 15 wins with 14 by T/KO!

Talking about men who have just began their career this show also featured a selection of novices in action. The most notable of those was Sho Nakazawa (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thailand's Petchnakulua Sornattasak (0-1). Nakazawa is regarded very highly as a prospect and his 63 second victory over the Thai showed enough to be excited about him.

Although Nakazawa is a few fights in to his career the show did feature one Japanese prospect just beginning his career, Ryo Kakutani (1-0) who clearly out pointed fellow debutant Sho Hasegawa (0-1). Kakutani wasn't the only man scoring his first win as the previously win-less Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-4, 1) stopped the still win-less Kimiharu Oura (0-6) inside a round.

Although Hasegawa and Yamanaka were the main events they weren't the only world class fighters in action and fans in attendance also got the chance to see former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (26-3-1, 12) . Unfortunately Ao failed to really impress and although he over-came Mexican visitor Marco Lopez (23-4, 14) he really did little to remind fans that he is a world class fighter, in fact his struggle here represented less a "world class" talent and more a man who is already looking at the end of the line. Ao is supposedly looking for a Lightweight title though on this performance he doesn't even look like a top 15 fighter at 135lbs.

(Photos courtesy of boxingnews.jp)