Kyoto, Japan Today saw Japanese fans turn their attention away from the usual boxing hotspots of Tokyo and Osaka and instead focus on Kyoto which hosted a couple of Japanese title fights which saw the fighters not only trading blows for the title but also for regional bragging rights. The main event of the show was the second of the shows title bouts and saw the world ranked Shohei Omori (15-0, 10) successfully defend his Bantamweight title for the first time with a dominant 6th round TKO win against former 2-time world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai (11-4-2, 1). From the opening bell it seemed that Omori was too big and too strong for his challenger, who never seemed to be able to feel at ease. Omroi's domination was made more evident in round 3, when he dropped Mukai for the first time. Mukai was again down the following round as Omori landed a devastating body shot, tough his sloppy assault allowed Mukai to see out the round, and mount something of a comeback in round 5. Despite Mukai stemming the tide slightly he was unable to survive the 6th round when the referee was forced to save him. Although the performance was sloppy from Omori the youngster seemed to accept that the fight was a learning experience and that he would look to defend his title again before chasing a world title fight. Incidentally Mukai had previously taken Super Flyweight destroyer Srisaket Sor Rungvisai 9 rounds so in comparison this is an incredible result for Omori. In the other title fight Japanese Lightweight champion Kota Tokunaga (15-2, 11) stopped his good friend Yuhei Suzuki (16-5, 12) in the 10th round to keep a grasp on title and pull out a truly fantastic come-from-behind win. Through the first half of the fight it was Suzuki in charge, with two judges having it 50-46 after 5 rounds. From then on however Tokunaga moved up a gear and the final 3 rounds were a fantastic charge from the champion who eventually saw off Suzuki with just 70 seconds left. Despite the win, which secured his first defense of the title, Tokunaga has perhaps given away his gameplan for the future with this bout seeing him start slowly, as he did last time out, and maybe future opponents will see that in future bouts. Whilst the champion is clearly a long way from a world title fight he will develop a a great fan base with performances like this. Not only did both champions record their first defenses but they are both stablemates at Woz boxing, a gym that really appears to have had a defining year in 2015 and will be hoping to see their success continue into 2016. As well as the two title bouts the card featured a trio of under-card bouts. One of those was a female bout which saw Tamao Ozawa (9-2, 2) score a decision win over Filipino visitor Carleans Rivas (4-3-3). This was Ozawa's 3rd successive win since she was stopped by Kai Johnson in March 2014. Another of the under-card bouts saw light punching 20 year old Shun Kosaka (10-2, 1) score his first stoppage win as he took care of Thailand's Petchmai Sor Praithong (0-5) in the 5th of 8 scheduled rounds. The remaining bout was a 4 rounder which saw the debuting Ryotaro Motohashi (1-0, 1) defeat Ryuichiro Okada (0-2) with a majority decision. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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All Japan Rookie of the year Finals set, Osawa scores a quick one and Ye Joon Kim takes another win!11/10/2014 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) |
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