This past Saturday was an insanely busy day for Asian boxing fans with more fights than you can shake a stick at....

Pattaya, Thailand
Fans in Thailand had televised action featuring a pair of former world title challengers and a very interesting all debutant bout.

One of those former title challengers was 3-time title contender Sod Kokietgym (64-3-1, 28) who was fighting for the first time since his opening round defeat to Guillermo Rigondeaux in Macau. Sod may have been blown away by the Cuban Jackal but he was successful today as he over-came the previously unbeaten Jaoquim Mahe (8-1, 4) of France. Mahe, also known as Joaquim Redbluegym, saw a run of 2 wins in Thailand come to an end with this loss.

The other former world title challenger was Samartlek Kokietgym (18-5, 5) who fought for the first time since he was stopped by Naoya Inoue in a WBC Light Flyweight title fight. Samartlek, like Sod, was facing an unbeaten visitor though managed to inflict his opponents first defeat as he out pointed Filipino Richie Behec (2-1-1, 1).

In an excellent all debutant bout Mai Lookboonmee (1-0) took a decision over Sorn Sakwaroon (0-1). Sadly for Sorn he was one of 3 debutants to suffer a defeat on this show. Another debutant who came up short was Lekkla Sor Petchwandee (0-1) who was beaten by Sayu Sor Kulawong (2-0) over 6 rounds.

The only stoppage on the card was scored by Filipino visitor Joan Imperial (11-5-6, 6) who recorded his second win in Thailand this year as he took an opening round TKO against Chaiyaphon Nupphon (0-1).

Davao del Sur, Philippines
Although there was action in Thailand much of the day's Asian action was in the Philippines as the country hosted two separate shows. On paper the best of those was n Davao del Sur on a card featuring a number of notable names.

One of those notable names was the unbeaten Adones Cabalquinto (19-0, 12) who made very light work of the horribly over-matched Denkamon Pakdee Gym (12-4, 5). Cabalquinto claimed the IBF Australasian title at 140lbs as he stopped Denkamon early in round 3.

Another of the notable fighters in action was the exciting Aston Palicte (16-1, 14) who needed just 131 seconds to dispose of Jomyuthlek Sor Narongchai (12-3, 5) and claim the IBF Youth Super Flyweight title. This was the 5th successive opening round blow out by “Mighty”, who had previously blown away the tough Gerpaul Valero, and we suspect he'll continue to impress with wins like this.

Marlon Tapales (27-2, 10) was another notable name on this show and he too scored an early win as he stopped Jecker Buhawe (16-11-1, 10) in the 2nd round. This was Tapales's 6th straight win since he was narrowly beaten in Mexico by David Sanchez and we'd not be shocked to see Tapales eyeing up a big fight at some point this year.

Yet another notable fighter on this card to score an early win was Drian Francisco (27-2-1, 21) who stopped compatriot Jason Egara (21-12, 10) in the 8th round to record his third successive win since he was beaten by American Chris Avalos last July.

It wasn't all notable names on the card, nor was it all expected results and in a notable upset fans saw Ronerex Dalut (9-15-2, 2) shock the previously unbeaten Marvilou Aballe (5-1, 2) by split decision over 8 rounds. Sadly this was the only real shock result.

A fighter who managed to keep his unbeaten record by decision on this card was Jay-ar Inson (7-0, 4) who out pointed Gabby Siempo (5-6-1, 1) over 8 rounds. Another unbeaten fighter to pick up a win in a scheduled 8 rounder was Rimar Metuda (5-0, 1) who stopped veteran Philip Parcon (26-20-3, 8) in the 2nd round of their bout. The only other 8 round bout saw the once beaten Orlie Silvestre (4-1-1, 3) force a retirement of Ryan Ralozo (8-14-2, 2) after 4 rounds.

In the sole 6 rounder Gerald Paclar (2-1, 1) out pointed the previously unbeaten Rene Mark Cuarto (3-1, 1) in what was a minor upset. The card began with a trio of 4 rounders. These included an all debutant affair that saw Ronnie Badonado (1-0, 1) stop Baltazar Susas (0-1) in the second round of their contest, in what was the only early conclusion on this part of the card. In a contest between win-less fighters we saw Jose Aballe (1-1) take a decision against the still win-less Sammy Caballero (0-2) and in a very competitive bout Aries Buenavidez (2-0) took a majority decision over Jayson Sanchez (0-3).

Metro Manila, Philippines
The other Filipino show took places in Metro Manila and, like the other card featured a few interesting names.

The most well known of the fighters on this show was former world title challenger Ardin Diale (27-9-3, 14) who made very light work of Rommy Wassar (11-18-7, 5). Wassar, who missed weight by 6lbs, lasted just 30 seconds with Diale who made a genuine statement with the speed of this win.

Diale wasn't the only fighter to blow away an opponent in less a minute as the monstrously hard hitting Richard Claveras (12-0-2, 12) blasted away Demsi Manufoe (9-4, 6) in 37 seconds to retain the WBC Asian Boxing Coubncil Light Flyweight title. Hopefully we'll see Claveras step up again next time out.

Another excellent fighter to blow an over-matched foe on this show was the excellent Michael Dasmarinas (19-2, 12) who took care of Aroel Romasasa (11-8, 5) inside a minute courtesy of a body shot. Another man to score a win with a body show was Rene Dacquel (13-4-1, 5) who took 7 rounds to see off the light punching Menard Abila (5-3-4, 1).

One of the most competitive contests saw Eric Panza (7-3-1, 1) climb up from an opening round knockdown to take a split decision over Jeson Berwela (4-19, 2) in an 8 round bout. Another close 8 rounder saw Warren Mambuanag (7-5-2, 3) upset Aljhon Osabel (9-3, 5), also with an 8 round split decision.

The sole 6 rounder on this card saw the unbeaten Fighting Heno (3-0-3) level off his peculiar record as he over-came Rommel Berwela (2-3-2) with a clear decision.

In a bizzare debut, scheduled for 4 rounds, Jestoni Caballes (1-0, 1) was decked twice in the opening round before stopping Roberto Mendano (0-3) due to a cut in the second round. . In the other 4 rounder Brando Bokingkito (1-2, 1) claimed his first win with a 3rd round TKO against the win-less Kenneth Lacdang (0-3).

Chiapas, Mexico
In Mexico we saw a rematch between unheralded Filipino Jomar Farjardo (14-6-2, 7) and former unified Minimumweight champion Francisco Rodriguez Jr (17-2-1, 11). The two men, who fought to a draw last year, began as they finished their first fight, with a very competitive opening round. Sadly for Fajardo that was his only real success as Rodriguez finally figured him out and dominated the proceeding 9 rounds to take a very wide decision

New South Wales, Australia
In Australia fans saw a pair of Asian fighters though unfortunately both came up short.

The most disappointing of those was Erick Diaz Siregar (16-21-4, 4) of Indonesian. Siregar was brought in to be blown away and that's exactly what happened with Billel Dib (16-1, 7) stopping him inside a round. This was Siregar's third success blow out defeat and he is now without a win since September 2012 and has only one win since November 2010.

The other man who came up show was Filipino Rodynie Rafol (12-6-2, 5) who gave a good effort but was clearly second best to the unbeaten George Kamboso Jr (7-0, 3). Sadly for Rafol this loss ended a 2 fight winning run and he is now 0-3 in fights outside of his native Philippines.

This past Saturday was one of the busiest days in Asian boxing with fights taking place all over the globe. In fact it have been one of the busiest and most varied days since we started this site.

Macau
The biggest show the day was in Macau as Top Rank returned to the Special Administrative Region of China and show cased a number of promising fighters. Whilst it wasn't the best Macau card we've seen it really did have a bit of everything.

The opening bout saw Olympic champion Egor Mekhontsev (4-0, 4) defeat brave Filipino Mike Mirafuente (2-1, 2). In terms of skills the bout was a mismatch but Mirafuente did try and make a fight of things by trying to catch the much bigger Mekhontsev with hayemakers, unfortunately for the Filipino the shots just bounced off the giant Russian.

The second bout on the show was the most confusing as the world ranked Filipino Mark Anthony Geraldo (31-4-3, 14) saw his bout with Mexico's Efrain Perez (17-5, 12) cut from 8 rounds to 6 rounds with out the fighters being informed. For Geraldo it was possibly a lucky escape as he was beginning to look ragged but the Filipino looked genuinely sensational in the first 3 rounds. Hopefully we get to see a rematch but if not we want to see a lot more of both fighters who both look good to watch for very different reasons. Geraldo looks sensationally skilled and has some of the prettiest boxing we've seen since we last saw Jorge Linares, for Perez his toughness will always make him fun to watch. Well done to the match makers for putting these two together.

In the third bout we saw a crushing body shot as Brian Viloria (34-4-0-2, 20) stopped the game Jose Alfredo Zuniga (11-6-1, 5). Viloria is trying to work his way towards another world title fight and was given a very good test here by Zuniga before pulling out a tremendous body shot to send the Mexican fighter down for the count. It really was one of the best fights on the card in terms of competitive action.

The first of the "Chinese" fighters in action was Hong Kong's highly entertaining Rex Tso (14-0, 9) who put on a very decent showing to finish off Indonesian John Bajawa (12-7, 6). The fight, thought to be a stay busy fight for Tso ahead of a possible world title fight in November, saw Tso showing improved movement though we still question his power and defence and although he stopped Bajawa in 5 rounds he never really seemed to hurt the Indonesian.

Whilst Tso is always entertaining we dare say he was over shadowed by the all action Ik Yang (16-0-0-1, 11) who dismantled Thailand's Rachamongkol Sor Pleonchit (14-9, 6) in fantastic fashion. Yang dropped Rachamongkol inside the open round and then rocked him in the second before finishing him off to score his 3rd stoppage in 4 bouts in Macau. Although not the most skilled Yang has all the traits of a fan friendly fighter and hopefully he will be given more exposure. Ranked #1 by the OPBF a fight between Yang and OPBF champion Masayoshi Nakatani would certainly be on out list of fights we want to see.

The final bout on the internationally streamed under-card saw Kuok Kun Ng (5-0, 2), AKA "The Macau Kid", put on a solid performance against the game and previously unbeaten Beau O'Brien (4-1-1. 1). The performance may have only resulted in Ng taking a decision but he continued to interest us and we're really looking forward to his development and in all honesty we think he may be the most interesting of the "Chinese" youngsters on the show.

Following the under card we then moved onto the main card which was kicked off, surprisingly, with a world title fight. Unfortunately however it was a bout shrouded in controversy as Cuba's talented Guillermo Rigondeaux (14-0, 9) appeared to finish the fight with a cheap shot over Thailand's Sod Kokietgym (63-3-1, 28) who had been stunned by a nasty headclash just moments earlier. The bout, for the WBA "super" and WBO regular Super Bantamweight titles was expected to be a dud though actually got the internet community chatting, en masse about the ending, something we didn't expect when the bout was announced.

The penultimate bout on the card didn't feature an Asian fighter but did feature the very exciting Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez (29-0, 23) who just destroyed Junior Talipeau (20-3-1, 7) inside a round. Talipeau was dropped 3 times in what was, on paper, a decent test for Sanchez.

In the main event we saw a polished effort from Chinese double Olympic champion Zou Shiming (5-0, 1) who went 10 rounds and claimed a clear decision over former world title challenger Luis De la Rosa (23-4-1, 13). De la Rosa managed to give Shiming some issues, especially in round 3, but it was a clear win for the Chinese fighter who is now being linked to world title fights and in fact a fight with former amateur foe Amnat Ruenroeng looks to be on the cards for either the end of this year or, more likely, the start of next year. We know some fans hate Shiming but this really was a great performance and showed that he is developing a real professional style.

Wonju, South Korea
Korean fans got to see the return to the ring of Japan's Takuya Watanabe (21-5-1, 9) who made light work of Thailand's Yodpichai Sithsaithong (10-12, 4) and claimed the vacant IBF Asia Featherweight title as a result. The result, recorded as a KO at the start of round 7, was a happy return to Korea for the man who lost a lot of blood last time he fought in the country. 

For those who haven't seen Watanabe's previous fight in Korea, a bout that saw him battling Jaesung Lee, we advise you give it a watch and it will almost certainly be the bloodiest bout of the year.

Guerrero, Mexico
In Mexico and live on WBCboxing.tv fans got to see Mexico's Nery Saguilan (30-4-1, 11) stop former Japanese Super Featherweight champion Seiichi Okada (18-5, 11) in 8 rounds. The loss was a painful one for Okada who has now got to seriously consider his future in the sport. This was his 4th stoppage loss in 6 fights and his glory days are long gone.

For Saguilan this result may set up a fight with another Japanese fighter, Takashi Miura. Miura, the WBC Super Featherweight champion, would make for a great fight with Saguilan and has a reputation for beating up Mexican so both camps could sell this one as a nationalistic revenge contest making it very easy to market.

Western Australia, Australia
Australia played host to two cards featuring Asians. In Western Australia we saw a trio of Asian's losing.

In the main event Indonesia's Roy Tua Manihuruk (15-11-2, 11) came up short against the unbeaten Clint Hosking (10-0, 2). The bout, fought for the WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council Lightweight title,  saw Manihuruk going the distance but he always needed a knock to get a win.

Lower down the card we did see a knockout in a bout involving an Asian, sadly however it was a knockout loss for Thai female Kaenpetch Superchamps (6-9-1) who was blasted inside a round by Erin McGowan (16-2, 9). Things weren't much better for Baikon Lokromklao (1-4) who was shut out by Jacob McBride (1-1).

Queensland, Australia
The second Australia show saw Arnon Yuchareon (0-4) suffer a clear loss to the debuting Miles Zewski (1-0). Zewski dropped Yuchareon in round 3 to secure a 40-35 victory on all 3 cards.

Also on this card Jerry Nardo (19-5, 10) suffered a 7th round technical decision loss to Brett Williams Smith (19-2-1, 9). The bout saw both men cut from head clashes though they seemed to just occur and occur despite both being warned.

(Photo courtesy of Sumio Yamada)