Bangkok, Thailand
This past Tuesday saw Thailand hosting a small show televised on channel 11. The card wasn't a huge one but did feature a 2-weight world champion has continued his pursuit of a third divisional world title.

That former world champion was Sirimongkol Singwancha (86-2, 55) who scored a 3rd round KO against Tanzania's Saidi Mundi (12-2-1, 5), who fought under his middle name of Abdulrahmani. The visitor was dropped in the opening round, from a shot to the head, dropped again in round 2 from a shot to the back of the head and then finished with a borderline body shot in round 3, by which point he had seemingly already quit. With this win Sirimongkol recorded the second defense of the WBO Asia Pacific Super Welterweight title.

Emerging title hopeful Chalermpol Singwancha (15-0, 11) continued his winning streak with a decision win over a taller but Unknown opponent. Despite the win Chalermpol continued to leave us with the feeling that he's just a very 1-paced fighter who hasn't really been able to improve on the skills he had when he turned to the pro boxing ranks. He does have heavy hands and a nice array of shots but does seem like he's unlikely to go too far given his inability to find an extra gear.


Although we weren't impressed with Charlermpol we must confessed that our heads were turned when we saw teenager Campee Singwangcha (5-0, 5), who scored a brilliant 1-punch KO of an unknown opponent in the second round. The promising teenager, who showed more than enough to get excited about, looks like he has the potential to be a very good contender if matched well. The finish showed that he has genuine power, he had also shown brilliant handspeed and a lot of raw talent. It may be a bit too early to proclaim him as one of the best prospects in Thailand but he really did shine here and looks to know how to do more than just come forward.


We have been informed there was a 4th televised bout but at the time of writing we're unsure on either of the fighters were.

Pathum Thani, Thailand
There wasn't much action this past Tuesday though Thai fans did get a televised show courtesy of Channel 3.

In the main event of the show fans saw unbeaten Thai prospect Jirapan Nakornluang (14-0, 10) retain his WBC Youth Silver Featherweight title with a decision victory over limiter, but game, Filipino Nathan Bolcio (12-9-2, 4). Bolcio, despite his record, came to win though lacked the skills to over-come his promising foe.

Whilst Bolcio gave it a go and wasn't good enough the same could not be said about Mohamed Larabi (4-5, 2) who gave it a go and was good enough as he battled Sirimongkol Singwancha (85-2, 54). The Frenchman may have been one of the biggest under-dogs this year though more than did enough to deserve a win against the former 2-weight world champion, unfortunately however the judges failed to agree and gave Sirimongkol one of the most contentious decisions of the year. Larabi showed his disgust at the decision immediately and was right to do so.

One bout that didn't need the judges saw another former world champion in action. That bout saw former WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rugnvisai (36-4-1, 33) mow down Indonesian visitor Hendrik Barongsay (28-23-3, 17) in just 2 rounds. Srisaket is now eyeing up an opportunity to reclaim his old title from Mexican fighter Carlos Cuadras.

Another man who didn't need the judges was Pongsaklek Sithdabnij (4-3, 3) who scored a 3rd round KO against Khaosod Lookklongbangklang (0-1). This win sees Pongsaklek finally move to a “winning” record and is his 4th straight win, following a shock upset of the then 22-0 Kongfah Nakornluang just over a month ago.

One other bout on this card saw Veerasak Himalaigym (1-0) take a debut win against Peemai Por Kobkua (0-1), with a decision victory.

This past Tuesday wasn't a busy day of fights but there was shows in Thailand and Japan.

Samut Sakhon, Thailand
In Thailand fans saw a small 3-fight card that was headlined by a former 2-weight world champion who looked less than stellar.

That main event bout saw the 38 year old Sirimongkol Singwancha (84-2, 54), a former WBC title holder at Bantamweight and Super Featherweight, take a decision over Filipino opponent Dan Nazareno Jr (21-13, 17). This was a rematch of a bout from last year, which was also won by the Thai, though this one saw Sirimongkol being dropped early and starting very poorly before coming back late on to take the win. Although Sirimongkol did score the win, and successfully defended the WBO Asia Pacific Light Middleweight title, it's clear he's no longer a threat to anyone even close to world class.

On an under-card bout fans saw Pakorn Mor Poowana (6-2-1, 5) claim his first decision win with a 6 round decision over a debutant known as “Lucas” (0-1) whilst Yodkhunsuk Mor Poowana (4-2-1, 2) blew away Seksith Saknarong (0-1) in the second round.

Tokyo, Japan
In Japan fans has a small show at the Korakuen Hall which was sold as a Dangan all 4 round show. The card, which unsurprisingly featured only 4 round bouts, featured a total of 10 bouts, and surprisingly all the bouts saw the start of the 4th round.

Of the 10 bouts only two ended earlier. One of those saw the unbeaten Jin Miura (4-0, 1) score his first stoppage as he over-came Ryota Harukawa (3-5, 2) with just 34 seconds left. The other stoppage saw Kohei Hasegawa (2-2, 2) scoring a stoppage against Masahiki Ashiya (1-1-2, 1) with just 16 seconds of their bout left.

The card's other 8 bouts all went the distance. These included an all debutant bout between Hiroyuki Ezawa (1-0) and Joji Kobayashi (0-1) with Ezawa taking a very slim win over Kobayashi. Another debuting winner was Yujiro Moriya (1-0), who out pointed Masayuki Sugino (0-2) with a shut out victory whilst another debutant Masaya Kubo (1-0) out pointed Norihto Ouchi (0-2).

Another notable bout here was a Cruiserweight bout, a real rarity in Japan, that saw Ryu Ueda (4-0, 2) take a very wide decision over Keita Kudo (0-2).

Although there was some clear wins there was also a number of very close decisions. One of those saw Kei Iwahawa (4-2, 2) take a split decision over the previously unbeaten Kimihro Nakagawa (3-1-1, 2) in a bout that saw all 3 judges having the bout 39-38. Another close bout saw Naoyuki Sakamoto (3-1, 1) take a majority decision over Takeshi Ishiwatari (1-1, 1), who lost his previously perfect record. Another highly competitive bout saw Fumihiro Ijima (4-2) out point Yukito Tomori (2-1).

The remaining bout on this card saw Yoshia Tome (2-1-1) take clear win over Yoshiki Toriyama (0-2) who, like many others on this card, remains win-less.

Before we start with the results for January 28th we want to say a massive thanks to James Goyder for providing all the results for this particular Thai card and the image.

Hua Hin, Thailand
Pankorn Singwangcha won the ABF 140 lbs title this afternoon in Hua Hin with a stoppage win over Chinese light welterweight Hi Li Fu who didn’t come out for the ninth round after having been second best throughout the fight.

Pankorn made a blistering start and landed a right hook to the cheek of his southpaw early in the opening round which caused some immediate swelling and was followed up by a hard cross which put him down for the first time in the fight.

Moments later the Chinese southpaw was down again and barely beat the count but he survived the round and started to hold his own in the second and third, although he was badly hurt again in the fourth round by right hands to the body.

At some stage a clash of heads opened up a small cut above Pankorn’s right eye and the Thai fighter, who was able to us his head movement to easily evade the punches of Fu, seemed to be taking it easy and cruising to a decision win.

The damage to the face of the Chinese fighter was starting to show and after some fierce exchanges in the eighth round his corner decided not to send him out for the ninth handing Pankorn a win which takes him to 5-2-1 while Fu drops to 1-1.

The co-main event of the card which was televised on Channel 11 in Thailand saw faded former world champion Sirimongkol Singwangcha (83-2) score a somewhat predictable third round KO win over outmatched American school teacher Jacob Martinez (0-1).

A third bout on this card saw WBC Youth Light Middleweight champion Petchsuriya Sinwancha (13-8, 7) record a 2nd round KO over the debuting Sonyang Jongren (0-1).

Tokyo, Japan
As well as the Thai card there was also a show in Japan that we have results for.

This was the second successive day of 4 round bouts on a Dangan show, Danagan 120, and although none of the names were big they were busy and action packed with 12 bouts all on the same show.

The card began with a female fight between two fighters without a win, somebodies had to go. That 0 was was of Yumiko Shimooka  (1-1, 1) who stopped the still win-less Ozora Hikaru (0-4) in the 3rd round.

The stoppages really were frequent on the card and the first 5 bouts all ended early. The second of the stoppages saw Ryoji Fukunaga (2-1, 1) defeat Seita Shimamiya (1-3, 1) in the 2nd round. The third stoppage of the show went to debutant Nao Hirahara (1-0, 1) who stopped fellow novice Mitsuo Yamagata (0-1) in the 2nd. Another debutant who began his career in style was Daiki Wakamatsu (1-0 ,1) who defeated Junpei Hakoda (0-2) in just 33 seconds. A third debutant to take a win was female fighter Ami Ujiie (1-0, 1) who stopped Natsuki Tarui (0-2) in the 3rd round.

Amazingly the first bout to go the distance was the 6th bout and this saw a really competitive match up both on paper and in the ring. The first saw Masaharu Hanaka (4-1-1, 2) take a razor thin majority decision over Raiki Kameyama (3-2, 2) in a bout that really could have gone either way and Kameyama has every reason to request a rematch given that many felt he deserved a draw at worst.

Sadly after the first competitive match up we went back to early finished for the a while with Yuichi Kitayama (2-1-1, 2) stopping Takayuki Nakaebisu (2-6-1, 1) in the second round and Kosuke Arioka (3-1, 3) stopping Kohei Hasegawa (1-2, 1), also in the second round.

We got our second decision bout in the show's 9th overall bout as Hikaru Ota (4-3, 1) out pointed Yoshiki Abe (3-3-2, 1) in another well matched bout on paper. Another decision came in the 10th bout as Akihiro Yashiro (2-1-1) defeated Tesu Narisawa (1-3) in another very competitive match up. Unsurprisingly however we could finish the card with out another early ending which came courtesy of Tsubawa Koura (2-0, 2) who stopped Naoyuki Tsukada (3-3-1, 2) in the penultimate contest of the show.

In the final bout Yuku Nagayoshi (4-6, 1) took a competitive decision win over the win-less Satoru Araki (0-2).

(Image courtesy of James Goyder)

Osaka, Japan
The run in to the new year is a packed one and this past Saturday we saw just how busy it was with 4 separate Asian cards, the most notable of which was in Osaka.

The headline bout here was a major Heavyweight bout on the Japanese domestic scene as former Light Middleweight champion Nobuhiro Ishida (27-10-2, 11) continued his assault on the Heavyweight division. Ishida, fighting for the third time as a Heavyweight, managed to record his first stoppage in the division as he forced the retirement of former Japanese title challenger Kotatsu Takehara (10-11-3, 4). Takehara had had his face busted by the shots of Ishida which were landing clean from the opening round. For Ishida this win is likely to get him his long desired Japanese title fight and give him a chance at becoming a 2-weight Japanese champion, and amazing achievement for the 39 year old from Osaka.

In the chief support bouts fans saw Kazuki Hashimoto (10-4, 6) make light work of Thailand's Petchklua Tornattasak (0-1), with an opening round blow out, and Shun Ishibashi (9-16-1, 4) score an upset win over Satoshi Ozawa (9-6-1, 2), with Ozawa retiring after round 3. Amazingly Ishibashi's win was just his second in over 6 years and ended a run of just 1 win in 11 bouts!

In the sole 6 rounder fans saw Ryota Yada (6-3, 4) take a very narrow decision over Yuta Maruoka (9-3, 4). The bout was razor thin with Yada taking a majority decision by a a single point on 2 cards.

To begin the show fans had a pair of 4 rounders. One of these saw Naotoshi Nakatani (4-0, 3) take a hard fought and narrow unanimous decision over Tesu Kanayama (2-1) whilst the debuting Akito Terada (1-0) claimed a split decision over Ryosuke Nasu (1-1-1).

Haikou, China
As well as the show in Japan there was also a card in China with title implications.

The main event of this card saw China's very own Xian Wei Qian (6-4-1, 1) successfully defend the WBC Asian Boxing Council Featherweight title with a 10th round stoppage against Thailand's Thewa Onesongchaigym (5-2, 1). This was a rematch of Thewa's only previous loss and resulted in his first stoppage defeat.

Another rematch saw Xiang Jing (8-3-2, 1) narrowly over-come Filipino visitor Ben Mananquil (10-1-2, 2) with a split decision win to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title. The two men had fought to a draw earlier this year but this time around Mananquil came up short. Prior to he bout Mananquil had unfortunately missed weight and was unable to win the title even if he had won the fight.

A third title fight saw Andrey Kalyuzhnyy (6-1, 4) score an 8th round TKO over Thailand's Kajornsak Sithsaithong (7-4, 7) to claim the IBF Youth Super Middleweight title. This was the second meeting this year between the two with their first bout resulting in a 32 second blow out win for Kalyuzhnyy.

On the undercard fans saw several bouts with inexperienced fighters. One of those was Lightweight hopeful Sun Xiang Xiang (3-0, 1) who recorded his first stoppage as he over-came Thailand's Phompetch Twins Gym (6-2, 3) with a 3rd round TKO.

The other two bouts with novices featured female fighters with Chen Jiayu (1-0) claiming a win in an all debutant contest against Wang Congcong (0-1) and Cai Zongju (3-1, 1) taking a decision win over Ma Li (0-1).

Thailand
The details we have from Thailand at the moment are very limited though we have been told that former world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (82-2, 53) managed to record his 53rd career stoppage as his opponent refused to come out for round 3. Prior to this stoppage this had been a 1-sided beat down by Sirimongkol who is now unbeaten in 39 fights!

On the same Thai card fans also saw the heavy handed Chalermpol Singwancha (11-0, 9) score a chilling KO against Filipino fighter Nelson Gulpe (8-4, 3) who went left in a heap.

Padang, Indonesia
In Indonesia we had yet more action.

Included on this show was a 12 round decision victory for Sandi Korga (4-6, 1), who over-came the limited Yosmar Kefi (3-6, 3). The other bout on this show saw Afrizal Tamboresi (3-0, 1) over-come the win-less Yudi Saputra (0-2) with an 8 round win.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Today was an interesting day in Asian boxing with two cards that were notable for very different reasons. In Japan we had a very interesting card with a number of solid match ups whilst in Thailand we had a few bouts of interest.

Tokyo, Japan
The big show of the day came from Tokyo where Kyoei put on an excellent show that really should have applied to every type of boxing fan out there, of course barring those that ionly care about the big PPV stars.

The show began with a 4 rounder as Kohei Hasegawa (1-1, 1) scored a 3rd round TKO over the debuting Junpei Hakota (0-1). This was the only 4 rounder on the show and was one of 5 stoppages from the show.

A second stoppage occurred in the second bout of the show as female model-come-boxer Tomomi Takano (6-1, 5) stopped hapless Thai Dokmaipha Kiatpompetch (0-5) in the 4th round of a scheduled 6 rounder. This was Takano's first bout since being stopped by Kai Johnson and although this was a win it was hard to really tell how much the queen of weigh-ins had actually improved given that Dokmaipha and Johnson are from very, very different levels.

The only bout that actually went the distance saw Ryo Narizuka (7-4) take an incredibly close decision over Kazuaki Moriya (11-6, 1) in an incredibly competitive 8 rounder. Although the Narizuka/Moriya was the only one to go the distance it wasn't the only bout that that didn't end in a stoppage as fans saw Toyoto Shiraishi (24-8-2, 11) fight to a second round technical draw with Mako Matsuyama (7-8-2, 3), a real disappointment for Shiraishi who will still be eyeing another title fight in the next year or two.

In a major upset fans saw Kenta Toi (4-4, 1) score a shocking stoppage over Mikihito Seto (34-12-3, 18) in the second round. The 34 year old Seto hasn't been in great form recently but had challenger for a Japanese title less than 2 years ago, giving Hidenori Otake a very tough bout. For Toi this is a a career changing win, it may not net him a title fight but it's still huge and will almost certainly put him in the Japanese rankings.

On paper the best bout was a Super Featherweight bout between unbeaten men. That turned out however to be a short bout as Japanese based Filipino Johnreil Maligro (12-0, 9) quickly wiped out the touted Kazuma Sanpei (11-1, 4). This was an amazing bout on paper but Maligro's power was the difference and Sanpei was unable to take it for long, a real shame in some ways, but something that could boost Mailigro towards a Japanese title shot. 

The main event here saw OPBF Featherweight champion Hisashi Amagasa (28-4-2, 19) retain his title for the 3rd time, but only just, as he over-came a very spirited challenge from the under-rated Ryo Takenaka (11-3-1, 6). Takenaka gave Amagasa absolute hell, and was in the lead going into the final rounds. Sadly for the challenger however he was unable to stay the course and was stopped in the final round of a real tear up. Real credit needs to go to Takenaka for putting up a great effort whilst Amagasa dug hard and deep for this win. It was every boxing fans could possible wish for.

Bangkok, Thailand
In Thailand fans got a small cards but one with some title implications.

The main event of the card saw veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (81-2, 52) take a 12 round decision to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Light Middleweight title. Sirimongkol, fighting against Filipino Dan Nazareno Jr (20-12, 16), took his time and fought very patiently to take a clear win though it did appear like he was deliberately fighting for 12 rounds rather than upping the pace.

Another televised bout from this card saw the heavy handed but very limited Chalermpol Singwancha (11-0, 9) take a 4th round win over a fighter we've been told was Kevin Solimani (0-1) in what was described as a massive mismatch.

A third bout from this card saw Kalae McShane (1-0, 1) score a 1-round blow out over Petch Twins Gym (1-5) with Petch being dropped 3 times in just 114 seconds. 

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Pathum Thani, Thailand
There wasn't a lot of action earlier today but there was some pretty interesting action in Thailand as former 2-weight world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (80-2, 52) continues one of the most remarkable winning runs in boxing. Sirimongkol scored his 37th successive win by stopping Tanzania's Omari Ramadan (11-7-1, 7) in 3 rounds to claim the WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight title. The win isn't one of the most impressive of Sirimongkol's long career but's it's his 8th win in less than 12 months, an amazing level of activity even at this very low level.

Whilst Sirimongkol is the "past" in many ways there was "the future" on the same show as the talented and promising Chalermpol Singwancha (9-0, 7) continued his fine run. The 25 year old Chalermpol made light work of the debuting Valentine Tino (0-1) with a 3rd round stoppage and scored his 8th win in 12 calendar months! Like Singwancha this level of activity is great and it would be nice to see more fighters coping with a fight every 6 weeks or so.

The show didn't go all as expected and in a notable shock Manopnoi Singmanasak (12-19, 8) stopped the previously unbeaten Pankorn Mor Poowana (3-1, 3) in the second round. 

On the same we also saw Khunkhiri Wor Wisaruth (15-8-1, 10) take out the debuting Petchmorakot Sor Visetkit (0-1) in 2 rounds and in an all debutant contest Fapetch Manopchaigym (1-0) took a 6 round decision over fellow Yodkwan Bangmod Sport (0-1).

Although Tuesday's aren't typically big boxing days this Tuesday was an exciting day with fights in both Japan and Thailand with some big names, big action and promising youngsters all coming together to give us a day to remember in the boxing world.

Tokyo, Japan
For us the most notable of the two shows was in Japan as the Korakuen Hall played host to "Dangan 104" a show that was co-promoted with Shirai Gushiken Sports Gym.

The card began, like most cards, with a low level bout between novices. This saw the 21 year old Minimumweight prospect Naoki Morooka (2-0, 2) scoring his second successive stoppage as he took out the win-less Naoki Yoshimura (0-1-1) in the second round. This was followed by another low level undercard bout as the debuting Kiyoshi Utsumi (1-0) over-came Oshima Keigo (0-5). Keigo came close to securing a draw but couldn't quite to enough losing 38-37 on all 3 cards. Utsumi wasn't the only successful debutant on this card and the much touted Higa Daigo (1-0, 1) made an almost instant impact on the sport as he stopped his Thai opponent, who we believe was Saengkeng Saknarong (0-1) inside a round. Daigo was a stand out amateur and from what we've been told there is a lot of expectation on this youngster who could be one of the hottest teens in Japanese boxing. The expectation seemed to take over Daigo a little bit as he looked nervous but he ended the bout with a crushing body combination KO. For those wanting to see this fight, in full, it's featured on our new video section.

The 4th bout from this show saw Fujikita Seiya (7-1, 1) out point Koya Sato (7-2-1, 1) in a narrow contest that was decided by just a point on all 3 cards. It was a highly competitive contest between two men who both came to win and we'd certainly not complain about a rematch being made later this year. Although the Seiya/Sato bout was competitive another of the mid card bouts really wasn't as Tatsuro Kawabata (6-5, 2) dominated Hideo Mikan (6-7-1, 2) over 6 pretty 1-sided rounds.

The first ranked fighter in action was Valentine Hosokawa (17-4-3, 8) who helped his chances of getting another title fight as he over-came Toshihiko Adachi (13-8, 6) in an 8 round contest. Hosokawa had lost back to back titles fights prior to this contest, coming up short in a Japanese title fight to Shinya Iwabuchi and an OPBF title fight with Min Wook Kim, despite those losses he did look like a fighter who is hungry for a third title fight. The second ranked fighter in action was Yasuhiro Okawa (12-11-3, 3) who continued his hunt for an unlikely title bout as he over-came Takuya Fujii (6-5, 2). Although Okawa doesn't have a pretty record he is a capable fighter, as seen in his victory over Hidekazu Matsunobu, just sadly he's had inconsistent results which have lead to his relatively poor record.

The main event of this card was an OPBF fight that may well be included in the end of year conversation for FOTY. The bout, for the OPBF Flyweight title, saw Koki Eto (15-3-1, 11) and Ardin Diale (23-9-3, 10) put defence to the back of their mind as they proceeded to beat 6 shades out of each other in a bout that really showed how fun boxing can be when you have two equally limited and equally braves fighters in there together. Eto, a former WBA interim world champion, was dropped twice before mounting a major comeback in round 8 and eventually stopping an exhausted Diale to complete a real really major turn around and once again prove what a warrior he is. Unfortunately the repeated wars that Eto has been in will take it's toll on him sooner rather than later and he may never be the same fighter after this one, likewise Diale probably won't be the same either. As with Daigo Higa's debut we've managed include this bout in our video section with the video ready to be watched here.

Samut Sakhon, Thailand
As well as the show in Japan we also saw action in Thailand as Naris Boxing Promotion put on a show. 

Like the Japanese card this show was also headlined by a title bout as the unbeaten Chalermpol Singwancha (8-0, 6) retained his ABF Welterweight title with a surprisingly competitive victory over Filipino journeyman Amor Tino (14-17-4, 4). Although Chalermpol retained his title many fans were less than impressed with him and the score cards, which were 116-112, 118-110, 118-110 were said to have been very generous. Chalermpol started like a house on fire but slowed drastically and whilst the fight was close in the end we're suspecting that it'll serve as a great lesson to the Thai prospect who will build from the experience.

Chalermpol had two stable mates on the same show who were also successful. These included veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (79-2, 51) who saw off the debuting Victor Nunez (0-1) in the 4th round. The other Singwancha fighter was Petchsuriya Singwancha (10-8, 5) who took a 6 round decision over the debuting Petchpalangchai Sor Saksriprai (0-1). For Petchsuriya this was little more than a warm up before his arranged fight, in Japan, with Ryosuke Maruki on July 20th.

The only other bout on this card saw Mohamadreza Hamze (4-5-1, 1) stopping Kongsuk Patanakan Gym (3-2-1, 1) in the third round of a scheduled 6.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.com)

This past Wednesday was a somewhat busy one across the Asian boxing world with fights taking place in Thailand and Japan as well as Asian's competing in Australia. Some of the bouts of course has little real significance, otherwise however were important bouts or featured somewhat important fighters.

Ang Thong, Thailand
For us the key show was in Thailand and was televised on Thai Channel 9. Although it was only a small card it had on 3 of the bigger names that were in action including veteran former world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (77-2, 49). Although Sirimongkol is set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his debut he isn't letting up on collecting wins and scored his latest with a second round KO over the debuting Barak Sithyodthong (0-1).

Barak wasn't the only debutant on the card as Oddneo Puptista (0-1) also had a losing debut. Oddneo took on the promising Ratchasak Kokietgym (21-2-1, 10) and although he went the distance with Ratchasak he didn't come close to winning.

The best fight on the card, by some margin, was the 12 round affair between fast rising Welterweight KO artist Chalermpol Singwancha (6-0, 5) and tough Filipino Dan Nazareno Jr (19-11, 15). Nazareno managed to take the power of Chalermpol and fire back in some great exchanges though few would debate the winner with Chalermpol really deserving the W.

Whilst some will look at Nazareno's record and dismiss him as a "bum" he's an incredibly tough fighter and in the last 7 years he has only been stopped once, by the then OPBF champion Min Wook Kim. That's despite fighting Aslanbek Kozaev, Prawet Singwancha, Teerachai Kratingdaenggym-twice and Adones Cabalquinto. Might not mean a lot to some but this was a genuinely great win for the Thai puncher.

Tokyo, Japan
Whilst the Thai card was certainly notable so too was the Japanese card that took place at the Korakuen Hall.

This card was headlined by Ryuichi Funai (21-6, 14) who narrowly over-came the upset minded Akinori Hoshino (11-6-1, 8). Hoshino gave as good as he got and had a round swung the opposite way this bout would have been a split decision draw showing just how competitive the action was despite that fact Funai was heavily favoured.

Another notable bout on this card saw Hiroki Sato (8-4, 5) take a very good decision over Ryutaro Taira (8-4-1, 3). Although Sato doesn't have the greatest of records on paper he is a very capable fighter and we'd be very shocked if he doesn't claim a notable title of some sort in the next few years.

In an 8 rounder we saw the hard hitting Taiki Minamoto (9-3, 8) take out the more experienced Seizo Kono (14-6-1, 9) in 6 rounds. This loss for Kono was his third in just 4 fights and may well spell the end of his dreams of picking up a title of any variety.

A fourth notable bout, at least domestically in Japan, on this show saw Yusuke Tsukada (6-4, 3) take a very narrow and extremely hard fought decision over the more experienced Masaki Saito (10-10-3, 2).

The other bouts on this show all ended inside the distance. These included a 5th round victory for Gaku Aikawa (5-1-1, 1), who stopped Hyuma Fujioka (4-3-1), to claim his first stoppage victory.

The other stoppages on the show saw Daiki Chinen (2-1, 1) take out Yutaka Motoyoshi (3-8, 3) in 3 rounds and Shogo Yonenaga (3-1, 2) stopping Kazuma Ishikura (2-3, 1) in 4 rounds.

New South Wales, Australia
In Australia things weren't for Asian's as a foursome of Thai all suffered defeats.

The quickest of the defeats was for Thongthai Rajanondh (16-18, 4) who failed to last a round with the unbeaten George Kambosos Jr (5-0, 2). It was a little surprising to see the Thai stopped so quickly. It didn't take Ahmed Dib (13-0, 8) too much longer to stop journeyman Dennapa Bigshotcamp (12-31, 4) who was stopped in round 2. It wasn't great for Dechapon Suwunnalird (6-27, 2) either as he was stopped in 4 by Renold Quinland (8-0, 4)

The only Thai to survive the distance was Pramool Boonpok (0-4) who went 6 rounds with the unbeaten Cameron Hammond (9-0, 4) in a second meeting between the two men.

(Picture is courtesy of boxingnews.jp and is from the Sato-Taira bout)

It's not often the boxing world turns it's attention to China though that's exactly what happened today with the only genuinely notable action of the day taking place over their. Unfortunately for Chinese fighters it was a day to forget whilst for critics from the West it was a day to celebrate as they seemed to get their way.

Haikou, China
The main event on the card, televised by CCTV5 in China, saw the unpopular Xiong Zhao Zhong (22-5-1, 12) dethroned as the WBC Minimumweight champion. Zhong, China's first male world champion, became the first Chinese male to lose a world title courtesy of the bigger and stronger Osvaldo Novoa (12-5-1, 8).

Whilst Zhong was never the premier fighter at 105lbs he had never been stopped before so the fact Novoa defeated him in 5 rounds is impressive though sadly the fact China no longer has a world champion could see the country almost relying on Zou Shiming for an injection of life.

Novoa's victory does leave us with some interesting match ups including a bout between Novoa and WBC #1 challenger Wanheng Menayothin though for now we expect Novoa to make an easy defense at home whilst Zhong ponders his future in the sport.

Zhong wasn't the only Chinese fighter on the card to lose. Another who lost was the inexperienced Yang Xing Xin (6-3-2, 4) who was defeated by Thai veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (76-2, 48). This victory, the 33rd straight victory for Sirimongkol, saw the Thai defending his WBC Asia Council Continental Welterweight title for the 3rd time.

Although some of the home fighters did lose, it wasn't all bad for Chinese boxers. The one shining light was Qiu Xiao Jun (11-2, 4) who unexpectedly defeated Australian visitor Jason Cooper (8-2-1, 4). Although the scoring did leave a bit too be desired it's fair to say that China needed a victory and Jun, who defended his WBC Youth World and WBC Asia Council Continental Super Bantamweight titles, could well become a Chinese fighter to keep an eye on. Of course he will need some developing but there is some decent foundations there to build on if he can catch the eye of a top quality trainer.

Another shining light was female fighter Xu Chun Yan (4-3, 1) who managed to take the scalp of the highly regarded Lindsay Garbatt (8-7-2, 3) and claim the International female Featherweight title in the process. We're unsure how the bout went though a victory, even if it was a little suspect, over Garbatt is a big deal and could land Yan another major fight somewhere down the line