Aichi, Japan
The most significant of two Japanese shows this past Sunday came from Aichi where fans got 8 bouts in total ranging from a bout involving a Japanese ranked fighter to some Central Japanese Rookie of the Year bouts.

The main event saw the domestically ranked Shogo Yamaguchi (7-0-1, 4) take a 95 second stoppage victory in an impressive performance against the usually durable Yuji Iwata (6-6-2, 2), who was stopped for just the second time in 14 bouts. Whilst Yamaguchi was impressive here there is no real expectation that he'll be rushed given he's just 21 years old.

The co-feature also didn't last long as the the limited Reiko Sugiyama (5-5-3, 3) scored a 2nd round TKO against Hajime Ikeda (5-6, 1).

The rest of the card was all 4 rounders, and consisted of 6 under card bouts.

Of the under-card contests 3 went the distance, and were very competitive, whilst 3 ended early.

The shortest of the bouts was an 88 second win for the debuting Shingo Saiki (1-0, 1), who blew away Shinpei Tominaga (2-3, 2) in a perfect introduction to the professional ranks. It took until the very end of the second round for Takuya Mizuno (5-0-1, 5) to score his 5th win as he stopped Ikki Kobayashi (1-1), with an official time of 3:08. The third stoppage came in the 3rd round as Kiyoshi Tanaka (1-3-2, 1) claimed his first win, courtesy of a KO against the still win-less Takashi Arakawa (0-2).

Of the bouts that went the distance the most surprising result saw Naoki Masukawa (3-2) take a split decision win over the previously unbeaten Takushiro Mizoguchi (1-1, 1). Another split decision saw Hiroki Yajima (4-5, 2) over-come Akihiro Toya (1-2) whilst Yusuke Kubota (3-2, 1) claimed a majority decision over Tom Hamaguchi (2-3).

Fukuoka, Japan
The other Japanese show was a very low profile card in Fukuoka which consisted of 9 very low level bouts, all scheduled for 4 rounds.

Although the bouts were all 4 rounders only 3 actually reached the final bell. These included a very clear win for Yuki Hirashima (3-0), who kept his perfect record alive with a victory over Junya Mishima (3-8-1, 3). Another of the distance bouts saw Yoichi Kojima (4-1-1, 2) take a competitive decision win over Takahiro Morisaki (3-2, 1). The third distance bout ended in a majority draw between Takashi Matsugano (1-0-1, 1) and the debuting Yuma Kamo (0-0-1).

As for the bouts that failed to go the distance, the shortest was a 96 second blow out by Tsuyoshi Matsuda (3-0, 2) who easily took care of the win-less Seita Nagano (0-2). It didn't take Daisuke Fukuyama (5-2-1, 4) too much longer to stop Taishi Kaneko (0-1), who lasted just 124 seconds.

Things didn't take long for Mitsuyoshi Fujito (5-2, 3) to rack up a win either, as he stopped Shuhei Nishino (2-3, 2) in the second round of their bout. Another second round finish saw Koki Tomio (4-6, 4) stop Takuya Yamamoto (0-1).

It took until round 3 for Shinji Tanaka (1-0, 1) to score his debut win, as he saw off Shinichi Nomoto (4-7-3, 2) whilst Seiya Matsunaga (2-0, 1) was extended into round 4 for his win over Shota Yoshiura (0-1-1).

This past Sunday was a hectic day in Asian boxing with numerous cards held on the same day including the final set of Rookie of the Year regional finals which have now set up the All-Japan finals and interesting card in Korea.

Osaka, Japan
The biggest show this Sunday was in Japan as fans saw the second of the Rookie of the Year semi final shows. The show, which decided the west representative at this year All-Japan Rookie, featured 12 bouts and was really great throughout.

The winner in the Minimumweight division was Reiya Konishi (6-0, 4) who narrowly over-came Jun Takigawa (5-1, 3) in a battle of unbeaten men. The bout was genuinely close through out with Konishi taking the decision with scores of 47-45, 46-45 and 46-45. The win for Konishi secures him a fight with Yuki Kubo in the All-Japan final. At Light Flyweight Seita Ogido (6-1-1, 1) fought to a draw with the still unbeaten Seigo Yuri Akui (2-0-1). Although the bout was a 4 round split decision draw we've been told that Ogido qualified for the All-Japan final who will now find himself up against Kenji Ono in that contest.

In the Flyweight contest the unbeaten Shun Kosaka (9-0) took a very clear decision win over the experienced but limited Naoki Shoda (4-8-1). The bout was scored 50-44 by all 3 judges as Kosaka progressed to the All-Japan final where he will fight against Kenya Yamashita in a very interesting battle of unbeaten men. The bout at Super Flyweight was won by the very promising Ioka gym hopeful Masayoshi Hashizume (6-0, 4) who made surprisingly light work of the previously unbeaten Eita Sakurai (4-1, 1) with a win after 2 just minutes of the bout. The win netted Hashizume a place in the All Japan final against Shogo Yonenaga and also earned him the MVP for the card adding to his West Japan MVP award. We've got to be honest and say that this kid looks a little bit special and we think he'll prove that in his upcoming bout.

At Bantamweight there was another stoppage as Keisuke Tabuchi (8-1-2, 5) took the unbeaten record of Morihisa Iju (5-1, 4) courtesy of a 2nd round TKO. Tabuchi's All Japam Rookie of the Year final bout will see him up against Ryohei Takahashi in what should be a thrilling encounter given how good Takahashi looked in his East Japan Rookie of the Year final last weekend.

One of the show's closest bouts saw Shohei Kawashima (8-0-2, 1) take a split decision over the heavy handed Shisato Okuma (8-2-2, 6) in a bout scored 48-47 by all 3 judges. As a result of this win Kawashima will battle against Yuki Matsudo in the All Japan final. In a relatively one sided bout Kyohei Tonomoto (5-1, 2) clearly over-came the previously unbeaten Takashi Igarashi (5-1, 1) in a clear cut bout at Featherweight. Tonomoto will be fighting Reiya Abe in the All Japan final in what looks a great contest in the making. In the Super Featherweight division we had a razor close bout that ended in a split decision draw between Masashi Wakita (4-2-1, 2) and the unbeaten Yuya Shimakura (3-0-1). The draw will see Wakita moving on to the next round where he will fight against the very exciting Yuichiro Kasuya who won the MVP from the East Japan Final's last weekend with a thrilling win over Yutaka Ekawa.

In a battle of unbeaten fighters at Lightweight fans saw Shogo Yamaguchi (6-0-1, 3) took a decision over Takahiro Shinoda (1-1, 1). This win sets up a really intriguing final bout between Yamaguchi and the highly touted Andy Hiroaka. The Light Welterweight division saw the heavy handed Tetsuya Morisada (4-3, 4) scoring a very quick victory over Chocoboy Oizumi (4-3-2, 2), with the bout lasting less than a minute. The win for Morisada will see him fight Naoharu Kida in the All-Japan final.

The heavy handed Yuki Beppu (7-0, 7) continued the very impressive start to his career as he claimed a place in the All-Japan Welterweight final with a 53 second victory over Shota Yamamoto (5-2, 3). Beppu will now risk his unbeaten record, and KO streak, against fellow unbeaten Hironobu Matsunaga in a bout that looks like a real highlight for the All Japan Rookie of the Year. At Middleweight Toshihiro Kai (4-6-2, 1) scored his first stoppage win as he  stopped Ryota Ikawa (1-6) in the third round to set up a very tough bout for himself against Hisao Narita.

For those wondering about the All Japan Rookie of the year Finals they will happen on December 21st at the Korakuen Hall.

Osaka, Japan
A second show in Osaka was headlined by former OPBF Featherweight champion Hiroshige Osawa (26-3-5, 15) who predictably made light work of the horribly over-matched Nongdear Sor Bangkhru (0-5) who suffered his 4th stoppage loss. For Osawa this was too easy however it was his first bout since changing gyms earlier this year and it seems that his new gym just wanted to give him a work out more than anything else.

In the sole 8 round contest fans saw a much more interesting looking contest as Kosuke Saka (9-3, 6) scored an 8th round TKO against Tetsuya Nishinaga (11-10-1). It wasn't the greatest  match up but it was significantly better than the main event of the card. 

Although Osawa was the biggest name on the show we were mostly interested in Ioka youngster Takeru Kamikubo (7-0, 4) who did what he had to do to shut out the tough Masaki Hirai (4-12-3, 2) over 6 rounds. For the 18 year old Kamikubo this was a perfectly good test and it seems that Ioka have a real diamond on their hands here if he's developed properly, like we suspect he will be. The other 6 rounder on the show was just as interesting as the unbeaten Terumi Nuki (5-0, 2) took a hard fought decision over Kai Johnson (5-7-3, 2) who's win over Tomomi Takano now looks like it was a long, long time ago.

In 4 rounders on this card fans saw two men record their first career wins. One of those was Katsuhito Kudo (1-2, 1) who took his first win with a 96 second KO against Keisei Nishiwaki (0-3-1) whilst the other was Keita Yamamoto (1-2) who took a very close decision over debutant Hikaru Iwasaki (0-1). The only other undercard bout saw Takuya Yamamoto (4-3, 2) take a clear win over Noriyuki Imamura (2-3)

Hiroshima, Japan
A third Japanese card came from Hiroshima and it's fair to say this was the smallest and least interesting of the three Japanese shows.

Of the 9 bouts on this card 6 of them were 4 rounders and interesting only a single one of them failed to go the distance. The one bout that failed to go 4 completed rounds saw Takahiro Morisaki (2-1, 1) take a 3rd round technical decision over the debuting Tasuku Matsunoshima (0-1) with the bout called after 92 seconds of round 3. The other undercard bouts all went the scheduled and saw some very interesting and competitive bouts including a a majority decision draw in an all debutant bout between Toshiya Kawauchi (0-0-1) and Tomoya Yonehara (0-0-1). We weren't far from getting draws with Riku Inokuchi (1-0) narrowly defeating Takahiro Maeda (1-1), the limited Hinonori Miyake (3-3, 1) only just out pointed Yuya Kondo (2-1, 1) and Masashi Kamon (1-1) defeating Yoshiki Tatsukami (0-1) in a third bout that could easily have ended up in a draw. The only clear undercard bout here saw debutant Tamaki Miwa (1-0) clearly beat Maito Fujii (0-3) in a hotly contested bout, though one that was a clear win for Miwa on the cards..

The card, advertised as being a triple main event show, saw the 3 main bouts lasting just 13 rounds. The shortest of those bouts was a second round blow out win for Ryuji Ikeda (8-2-1, 4) who made light work of Thailand's Eaksayarm Mor Krungthep Thonburi (0-2), it took just 1 round longer for Yuya Okazaki (11-7-1, 4) to see off Shinichi Tsukaha (8-7-3, 3). The remaining bout saw Koji Itagaki (13-9-2, 6) struggle to see off Yamato Uchinono (5-3-5, 3) in the most competitive and interesting of the 3 main events.

Seoul, South Korea
In a small, and supposedly "unsanctioned" South Korean show fans saw several Korea Vs Japan bouts.

The main event from the show saw WBC Youth Super Bantamweight champion Ye Joon Kim (10-1-2, 5) stopping Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (4-5-3) in the 7th round of their contest. Kim, the star of South Korean boxing, appears to be on a great roll at the moment and has now scored 4 successive stoppages. In the co-feature Nak-Yul Park (6-2, 3) scored a 6 round split decision over Kentaro Endo (4-5, 3) in a very closely scored bout.

We've been informed that Japanese boxers on this show went 0-6 however we've not managed to get all the results from it unfortunately.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)