This past Sunday was a busy day for Asian boxing with a trio of shows.

Fukuoka, Japan
The most notable of the shows, at least in our eyes, was in Fukuoka where a number of interesting fighters were in action.

One of those was world ranked Minimumweight Takumi Sakae (13-0, 8) who recovered from a knockdown to defeat Munehito Kijima (6-8-1). The knockdown, which came early, was a real surprise given Kijima's lack of power but it was just a flash one and Sakae recovered excellent to score his own knockdown en route to a clear win.

Another of those notable fighters was Welterweight puncher Yuki Beppu (10-0, 10) who continued his destructive form as he stopped Indonesian Yasmet Star (3-5, 3) in just 70 seconds. Beppu, who won Rookie of the Year last year, dropped Star twice with Star staying down for the 10 count after the second knockdown.

A third notable fighter was former amateur stand out Yuki Konami (1-0, 1), who we had previously referred to as Yuki Koha, who made very light work of Indonesian visitor Rian Cobra (2-2, 1).

It wasn't all good for unbeaten fighters however with Kotaro Ishibashi (3-1-2, 3) suffering his first loss courtesy of an opening round TKO defeat at the hands of Shota Aikawa (5-4-2, 2).

The under-card here featured 5 bouts. One of those saw Daichi Ono (4-2, 3) score an opening round KO win against Kazuya Fukai (0-1), it took Ryusuke Ushihara (1-0-1, 1) two rounds to see off Kazuhiro Ota (0-3) and Ryuji Kido (2-0, 2) scoring a 4th round KO of Takahiro Maeda (1-3, 1). In bouts that went the distance Takeshi Oishi (2-4) took a razor thin win over 17 year old Tomoyuki Saita (0-1) whilst in an all debutant bout Yutaka Hasegawa (1-0) took a decision over Yuta Otsubo (0-1).

Osaka, Japan
Another Japanese show took place in Osaka.

In the most significant bout of the show fans saw former WBC Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (42-13-5, 20) score his second win in Japan as he stopped Shota Kawaguchi (18-7-1, 8) in a second meeting between the two men. They had fought, earlier this year, with Jaro taking a narrow win in a bout that he failed to make weight for, this time however there was no controversy with Kawaguchi simply being beaten up with the Filipino.

Although Jaro was the name that many fight fans would have heard of, he wasn't the main event. Instead that honour was given to Shingo Kawamura (11-2-1, 6) who scored a 7th round TKO win against Shun Ishibashi (10-18-1, 4). This was Kawamura's second win since he was beaten by Kongthara KKP in what was, at the time, an eye opening win for the Thai.

The only 8 rounds on the show saw Kazuhiro Nishitani (15-3-1, 7) take a decision win against Junki Oura (6-7, 2). Interesting since the result it's been announced that Nishitani will challenge for the Japanese Lightweight title in December against Kota Tokunaga in what will be seen as a huge step up on class.

The only female bout on the card saw Shione Ogata (5-5, 1) defeat Cesar Manopgym (0-1) with a 4th round TKO, in a bout scheduled to be the show's only 6 rounder.

The undercard here consisted of 5 bouts all scheduled for, and all going, the 4 round distance. These included a debut win for Naoki Minami (1-0), who beat Kodai Yamamoto (0-1) and Daichi Kato (1-0) who kicked off his career with a decision win over Masanari Iwane (1-6). It wasn't all good news for debutants however as Yuya Watanabe (0-1) suffered a debut defeat to Koichi Sumiya (1-2-1) and Riki Kakazu (0-1) was beaten by Daiki Tomita (3-0, 1). The only opening bout on this card not to feature a debutant saw Ryuji Hayashi (3-4) beat Yasutaka Yamaguchi (0-4).

Metro Manila, Philippines
As well as the action in Japan there was also a show in the Philippines.

The main event here was a relative mismatch that saw Monico Laurente (27-12, 6) defeat Prell Tupaz (8-29-5, 1) with a 10 round decision. Another 10 round decision saw Glenn Suminguit (17-2, 9) take a majority win over Edison Berwela (13-32-8, 3).

In an 8 rounder Wilbert Berondo (8-0, 3) scored a decision over Roy Lagrada (3-11-1, 3) to continue his perfect record.

Much of this card was scheduled for 6 rounders. One of those bouts saw Rene Patilano (14-1-2, 7) take a decision over journeyman Arjet Caballes (6-35-5, 3), another decision saw Jetlee Formentera (5-0, 1) defeat the tough Dodoy Alapormina (1-25) with a split decision.

In the other 6 rounders Raymond Yanong (5-1, 4) scored a stoppage win over Daffy Dempo (3-5, 2) whilst another saw Marlon Paniamogan (4-0, 3) stop Diover Mangayaay (1-8-1).

In 4 rounders Arvin Yuroung (4-0, 1) beat Jerry Kalaw (0-3) whilst Bryan Ascano (5-0-1, 1) fought to a draw with Robin Dingcong (1-3-2, 1).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

There wasn't much action this past Wednesday despite there being 3 Japanese shows.

Osaka, Japan
For fans in Osaka they were treat to two shows in the same venue, the Sangyo Shingo Center. The first of those cards was a low profile affair though did feature a notable fighter in the main event.

The notable fighter was former WBC Light Flyweight title challenger Atsushi Kakutani (16-4-1, 9) who made light work of Indonesian visitor Hengky Baransano (11-6, 4) who was stopped in the 2nd round of the bout. Kakutani, who is best known for dropping Adrian Hernandez, has won his last 3 by stoppage and is now looking for a more notable bout, possible for an OPBF title.

In the chief support bout fans saw Filipino fighter Ronelle Ferreras (14-8-3, 6) return to Japan and get widely out pointed over 8 rounds by Ryuya Yamanaka (9-2, 2).. This was Ferreras's first bout in Japan since he was beaten by Kosei Tanaka in March 2014 and unfortunately th e Filipino is now 1-3-1 in his last 5. For Yamanaka however this is the best win of his career so far and he is now 2-0 since being beaten by the upset minded Roque Lauro last August.

A third 8 rounder saw Yuichi Arai (10-8-1, 3) score a 7th round TKO against the limited Takashi Nishimura (8-14-1, 1), who suffered his 9th stoppage defeat. This was a 4th straight loss for Nishimura who has won just 1 of his last 11 bouts! On paper Arai appears to be on a career resurgence with 4 straight wins.

In the sole 6 rounder Ryota Shimizu (4-5-2, 1) took a competitive decision over Takaaki Kitagawa (5-4, 2) in a minor upset.

Both of the scheduled 4 rounders finished earlier. One of these saw Yuki Iriguchi (2-0, 1) score his first stoppage courtesy of a 2nd round TKO against debutant Rakimu Ichikawa (0-1) whilst the other saw Shu Takeuchi (1-0, 1) take a 3rd round TKO in an all debutant bout against Satoru Hyodo (0-1).

Osaka, Japan
The second Osaka show came in the same venue as the previous card and featured a former world champion and a current world champion. Sadly for Japanese fans neither of the local fighters managed to over-come their visiting opponents.

The main event was one sided as Anabel Ortiz (17-3, 3) easily retained her WBA female Minimumweight title with a wide decision victory against previously unbeaten Japanese fighter Nana Yoshikawa (4-1, 2). Yoshikawa, challenging in her first world title bout, was out fought from essentially the first round and was a wide loser on the cards with the only thing going in her favour being a point deduction from Ortiz in round 9 for low blows.

The chief support bout saw former WBC Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (40-1-5, 28) take a majority decision over Shota Kawaguchi (18-6-1, 8) in a very competitive 8 round bout. This win for Jaro sees him scoring his first win in Japan after a trio of successive defeats in the country whilst Kawaguchi has now lost 2 of his last 3 bouts.

The most competitive bout on this card ended in a draw as Takeshi Sone (5-3-3, 1) failed to over-come Il Che (7-8-5, 1) in a really close 6 rounder. The bout, scored a split draw, saw all 3 cards coming back close and there was little real complain about the result.

In the opening bout of the show Ryuji Hayasho (2-4) claimed a rare win as he easily defeated Michio Mizuno (1-3-1).

Kagoshima, Japan
Outside of Osaka the only action came from Kagoshima in a very low profile and low quality card with no one of real note on the show. Despite the “low” quality it dd give us some competitive action,

The main event was a sole 6 rounder that saw Naoya Haruguchi (7-5, 2) take a clear decision over Takayuki Teraji (5-8-1, 3). This was Haruguchi's second straight win after being beaten in last year's Rookie of the Year whilst Teraji has gone 1-5 in his last 6.

The rest of the card was 4 rounders with 7 bouts scheduled for the short distance. Of the 7 contests only 3 went the schedule with all 3 of them being really competitive bouts. One saw Tsunehiko Aitoku (2-3-1) score a surprise win over Shinichi Nomoto (4-6-3, 2) with really close scorecards turned in by all 3 judges. Another of the competitive bout saw the unbeaten Genyu Nakano (0-0-2) score his second career draw as he was held to split decision draw by Ryusuke Ushihara (0-0-1). A second draw saw Kana Fukuda (3-1-1, 1) fight to a split draw with Yuki Henzan (1-4-2, 1) in the shows only female bout.

On paper a well matched bout doesn't always end up being the most competitive and that was seen when Koichi Uryu (4-2-1, 3) blew away Daichi Ono (3-2, 2) at the very end of the opening round, with an official time of 3:08. A even shorter bout saw Mitsuyoshi Fujita (4-2, 2) defeat Ryo Ota (2-1, 1) in just 55 seconds.

Another even looking bout saw Kensuke Minato (2-0, 1) defeat Tsuyoshi Matsuda (1-1) in the middle of round 3 whilst the remaining bout saw the debuting Takashi Matsugano (1-0, 1) score a 2nd round TKO against the win-less Ryuta Kozasa (0-4).

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Sunday was an interesting day but not a hugely significant one in Asian boxing

Angono Rizal, Philippines
The main Asian show this past Sunday was in the Philippines where fans got a show with an international flavour courtesy of several Japanese, Indonesian and Korean fighters. They also got explosive action and a number of competitive bouts.

The main bouts were relative stitch ups. One of those saw Japanese Heavyweight Rio Hidaka (11-2, 9) blew away Indonesian foe David Koswara (11-13-2, 4) in just 61 seconds to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Heavyweight title. It took even less time for Takamori Akita (10-4-1, 8) to blow away Desson Cag-ong (14-13, 8), in fact it took only 40 seconds here for Akita to claim the WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental Light Welterweight crown.

Sadly the chief support bout was also over before it really got going as Sonny Boy Jaro (39-13-5, 28) blasted out Albert Alcoy (14-22-7, 4) partway through the 2nd round.

Whilst many of the top bouts ended in blow outs not all of them did and surprisingly Kyota Otsuka (5-0-1, 3) was held to a split draw by Jeven Villacite (3-3-4, 1) in an 8 rounder that perhaps exposed Otsuka as not that good of a prospect, at least not yet. On the other hand Villacite is an under-rated fighter who could well have been 10-0 and appears to be the sort of Filipino who will never be easy to beat.

Much of this card consisted of 6 rounders and it was here that we got competitive action as Moon Sun Jung (3-4-4) fought to a split decision draw with Danny Manosa (2-3-3, 1). We also saw a technical draw in a bout between the experienced Danilo Pena (26-21-4, 11) and Pablito Canada (4-5-2, 1) after Pena suffered a nasty cut from a headclash.

It wasn't just the draws that were close but also a number of the decisions. These included a 6 round split decision win for Danny Tampipi (5-4-2, 3) who just over-came Ji-Hwan Lee (5-5-1, 2) in a bout that saw Tampipi score a knockdown in round 2 before being deducted a couple of points in round 4. Another close decision saw Vincent Bautista (2-2-2-) claim a majority decision over Da-Won Suh (3-5-1, 1).

The only other decision saw Kenichi Yamaguchi (18-3-2, 4) take a decision over Indonesia's Hendrik Barongsay (28-21-3, 17) with Barongsay being dropped in the opening round.

One of those bouts that failed to go the distance saw Roman Canto (10-5-2, 5) force the retirement of Marco Niones (3-14, 1) at the end of the second round. Niones had been down in rounds in each round prior to his retirement. Things we're equally as bad for Cris Leon (7-12-4, 3) who was stopped with a body shot in the final seconds of the 2nd round by Ardie Boyose (14-0-1, 10).

Failing to get out of the first round on this undercard were Ryan Soliveres (4-25-1, 1), who retired at the end of the opening round against Benjie Suganob (9-3-1, 5) and Remus Orcada (2-4-2) who was stopped at the 2 minute mark of the opening round by Crisanto Contemprato (4-1-1, 3)

Jakarta, Indonesia
The sole professional bout on an Indonesian show saw the experienced but some what limited Roy Tua Manuhuruk (17-12-2, 13) take a 9th round TKO against the light hitting Philipus Rangga (8-9, 1) to successfully defend his IBC Light Welterweight title. Prior to the stoppage Rangga had been dropped in the opening round and the 7th round of what was a relatively impressive display of power by Manuhuruk.

This past Sunday was a busy day in Asia with cards across the area. Sadly however whilst we had a lot of fights we haven't yet got all the result.

Wuhan, China
In China we had a major eye opening result as unbeaten Chinese Heavyweight Zhang Junlong (8-0, 8)* stopped American veteran Jason Gavern (26-18-4, 11) in 2 rounds in what was a very one sided bout prior to the stoppage. The win for Junlong was by far his notable and was an especially impressive one given that Gavern managed to go 4 rounds with future world title challenger Deontay Wilder. 

Also on this card was a win for David Gegeshidze (14-7-1, 3) defeat Stacy Fraizer (16-16, 15) to claim the the CPBF Heavyweight title.

(Information here courtesy of Brent Bowers, the trainer of Zhang Junlong)

Rizal, Philippines
The most notable show in the Philippines came from Rizal as we had several note worthy fighters in action and a pair of title bouts.

One of the most interesting men in action on this card was former WBC Minimumweight title challenger Denver Cuello (35-5-4, 23) who scored a “gimme” win over the over-matched Ardi Tefa (4-2, 3), who appears to have been a late fill in for busy journeyman Sammy Hagler. Cuello, who is hunting a second shot at a world title next year, stopped Tefa in the 3rd round of their scheduled 10 rounder.

The other major name on this card was former WBC Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (38-13-5, 27) who managed to take a decision win over Danilo Pena (26-21-3, 11). On paper this result looks relatively poor however Pena was a Featherweight on the scales whilst Jaro was fighting at Super Bantamweight, a weight well above that which we usually see Jaro fighting at.

In terms of title fights Yuya Nakamura (2-1, 2) claimed the inaugural WBC Asian Boxing Council silver Bantamweight title as he over-came Rochmad Santoso (11-5, 6) in the 2nd round of their bout. The other newly crowned champion was Kenta Ide (2-1-1, 1) who stopped Edsil Jungco (1-8-5) with a body shot in the 3rd round to claim the PBF Welterweight title.

Nakamura and Ide were2 of 3 Japanese fighters on this card with the other being Kyota Otsuka (5-0, 3) who stopped local fighter Ricky Oyan (4-23-2, 2) in the 3rd of a scheduled 8 rounds.

Lower down the card fans saw the quick finishes with debutant Arnel Baconaje (1-0, 1) scoring the quickest of them as he easily dispatched Jonathan Pedrosa (0-7-1) inside a round. It took 4 rounds for another debutant, Lawrence Ladrada (1-0, 1) to see off Maurito Placios Jr (0-3). The once beaten Crisanto Contemprato (3-1-1, 2) scored a body shot stoppage over Remus Orcada (2-3-2) in round 3 whilst Roman Canto (9-5-2, 4) stopped Jonel Borbon (1-15-1, 1) in the 3rd round.

Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines
A second Filipino card came from Zamboanga del Sur and was a much smaller card than the one in Rizal.

The main event here saw Dexter Alimento (7-0, 5) score a 4th round KO against the limited but experienced Jherom Tuyor (6-20-2, 3), who suffered his 10th stoppage. Another stoppage saw Ryan Ralozo (8-15-2, 2) being stopped in the 7th round by the light punching Jaysever Abcede (6-3, 2) whilst Jhon Rey Lausa (9-9-3, 4) forced the 9th round retirement of Rogen Flores (13-26-5, 6).

The only bout on this show that actually went the distance saw Elvis Bicoy (5-2-1, 2) taking a split decision over the previously undefeated Freddie Bisande (5-1-2, 2).

Ishikawa, Japan
Results from Japan are few and far between at the moment though we do have two results from the Ishikawa card.

On the under-card unbeaten Filipino prospect Neil John Tabanao (10-0, 7) made light work of Thailand's win-less Tiendchai Sor Kanitsorn (0-4) with an opening round KO. This was Tabanao's 5th win of the year and his first outside of his native Philippines, it does however look like he's ready to step up significantly.

In the main event the once beaten, though still promising, Daryl Basadre (14-1-1, 10) claimed a WBC Youth title as he stopped Thailand's previously unbeaten Yodsingdaeng Jor Chaijinda (6-1, 4) with an 8th round TKO. Basadre is now 5-0 (4) since being stopped in 6 rounds by the world class Suriyan Sor Rungvisai in September 2009.

Another Filipino in action on this card was Mark Gil Melligen (21-4-1, 12) who also managed to stop his over-matched Thai foe, Apichat Kangkan (0-1) inside a round.

The remaining 5 bouts on this show saw Chinese fighters battling against Japanese locals and included a pair of female bouts.

The most notable of those 5 contests saw Yukiya Hanabusa (7-2-2, 1) taking a 6 round decision victory over the win-less Cai Xuyuan (0-2). It wasn't all good for Japanese fighters however as Cai Zongju (2-1, 1) stopped Japan's previously unbeaten Miki Matsumoto (2-1) in the most notable of the female bouts.

The other female bout saw Asami Jinnari (2-0) out point Bi Xinyue (0-1).

The remaining contests on this show saw Yohei Fukui (2-0, 1) score a 3rd round TKO against Zhang Fangyong (1-1) and Katsuteru Yoshifusa (3-0) extend his winning record with a shut out decision against Hou Tinglong (0-1).

Kagoshima, Japan
On the other Japanese show fans got 7 bouts, albeit at a very low level. The most notable of those 7 bouts saw Naoya Haruguchi (6-5, 2) take a clear decision over the limited Takeshi Nakayama (3-7-2, 1) in one of the 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds. The other 6 rounder was unfortunately ended partway through round 3 resulting in a technical draw between Tomohiro Nagakari (6-2-1, 1) and Takuya Taniguchi (4-5-2, 1).

The only stoppage on the card saw Mitsuyoshi Fujita (3-2, 1) take a 3rd round TKO against the debuting Kento Iha (0-1).

In more competitive action Genyu Nakano (0-0-1) fought to a 4 round split draw with Yuta Motoyama (1-3-1) whilst Junya Mishima (3-7-1, 3) also fought to a draw Yudai Yamakawa (2-3-1, 1).

The remaining bouts both saw winners. These included Kota Hama (2-0, 1), who out pointed Takayoshi Kurokawa (1-1-1, 1) as well as Kensuke Minato (1-0) who won a debutant show down with Yusuke Tominaga (0-1)

We'll be hoping to get the rest of the results from China shortly.

*We were told earlier this year that Junlong was 17-0 (17) so we now assume he is really 18-0 (18)

On a busy Saturday in the boxing world there was more fights of note than we usually. Amongst the action was a trio of Filipino shows .

Nebraska, USA
The key fight, for us, on Saturday night was in the US as unbeaten Middleweights collided. This bout saw the talented but frustrating Russian Matt Korobov (24-0, 14) out point Venezuelan prospect Jose Uzcategui (22-1, 18). Korobov managed to drop Uzcategui twice in round 7 but failed to finish him in what was essentially another performance that did Korobov little favours in regards to fans who seemed to view him worse after the win than they did before he got in the ring.


Davao del Sur, Philippines
The most well known name in action amongst those Filipino shows was former WBC Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (37-13-5, 27) who made relatively light work of Tanzanian visitor Ichal Tobida (10-12, 8). Tobida, who had travelled to Davao del Sur from his homeland, tried to give Jaro a fight but in the end the tough and heavy handed Filipino managed to stop Tobida in the 5th round to capture the Asian Boxing Federation Super Flyweight title.

Jaro's bout wasn't the only one involving a title as the unbeaten Adones Cabalquinto (16-0, 9) retained his GAB Light Welterweight title with a stoppage against the over-matched Giovani Rota (7-7, 4). This was the 6th stoppage loss for Rota and suggests that he wasn't really suitable opponent for Cabalquinto who was, not too long ago, linked to an OPBF title fight. Hopefully Cabalquinto will drop the GAB title sooner rather than later and focus on fighting for the OPBF belt with fights against the likes of Ja Ik Goo, Shinya Iwabuchi, Min Wook Kim and Hiroki Okada all out there for him.

The rest of the results on this card are scarce though one of the bouts saw Genesis Libranza (3-0, 2) stopping Jessie Suacasa (2-3, 1) to maintain his unbeaten run whilst in another bout the debuting Renemark Cuarto (1-0) took a 4 round decision victory over Rodante Suacasa (1-7-2, 1).

We're hoping to get the rest of the results from this show over the next day or two.

Lanao del Norte, Philippines
Whilst Jaro was the biggest Filipino name in action he was far from the only notable one and in Metro Manilla fans got to see the very promising Marlon Tapales (26-2, 9) defeat the limited but determined Fadhili Majiha (15-4-4, 7). Tapales dropped Majiha once in the bout as he retained his WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight title and moved one fight closer to a WBO title show down.

Tapales was the main attraction on this show and in fairness many of the other fighters on the card were somewhat unknown outside of the Philippines. These included the hard hitting Jenny Boy Buca (8-1, 8) who stopped Raymond Dayham (5-2, 4) in the 8th round of a scheduled 10 rounder. The only other 10 rounder saw Edward Mansito (10-1-2, 5) taking a decision over over Alvin Makiling (10-10-3, 3).

In the only 8 rounder on the show Belmar Plaza (3-1-3, 1) took an 8 round unanimous decision over fellow novice Jaysever Abcede (3-3, 1). 

All 6 of the other under-card bouts also went the distance. These included only one close contest as Jonathan Francisco (6-3, 2) took a split decision over Jonas Sultan (4-2, 2) in a 6 rounder. Another of the 6 rounders saw Jhon Rey de Asis (5-1, 3) taking a decision over the experienced Michael Bastasa (6-14-3) whilst the the unbeaten Dexter Alimento (3-0, 1) managed to out point Kim Dangan (2-3, 1). The most notable of the 6 rounders however was the that of promising debutant Bryan Capampangan (1-0) who over-came Michael Acevido (2-6-1, 1).

Capampangan wasn't the only debutant and in a 4 rounder Jaylord Montesa (1-0) defeated Eric Mansira (1-14, 1) whilst in the other 4 rounder Reynold Valencia (3-7-1, 1) over-came Joy Joy Formentera (2-2).

Metro Manila, Philippines
The third Filipino show was in Metro Manila and was headlined by the world ranked Renan Trongco (15-4, 9) who made very light work of Jopher Marayan (6-5-2, 2) who was stopped in the second round of a bout that really was a mismatch.

Whilst Trongco is potentially a rising star in the Philippines he wasn't the most well known fight on the show, that was former WBC Super Flyweight title challenger Silvester Lopez (22-7-2, 16) who managed to take out domestic journeyman Arjet Caballes (6-31-5, 3) in the second of a scheduled 6 rounder. 

As with the card in Lanao del Norte much of the card was 6 rounders, in fact 8 of the 13 bouts were 6 rounders, including the aforementioned Lopez fight. Amongst the others was an opening round victory for the promising Cris Paulino (14-1, 4) who took out Lowell Saguisa (7-16, 3) in double quick fashion, 4th round TKO for Jon Jon Estrada (4-1-1, 3) who stopped Valeriano Gabriel (2-6) and another 4th round TKO for Junjie Lauza (5-10-1, 2) who stopped Zoren Pama (5-11-3, 2).

Another of the 6 rounders which failed to go the scheduled saw Eric Panza (5-2-1, 1) defeat Joel Lagusan (3-10, 1) via a technical decision. 

In bouts that did go the 6 round distance fans saw Dennis Tubieron (18-3-1, 8) surprisingly struggle to over-come Rey Ramos (6-6-2, 3) in a bout that very surprisingly finished in a split decision. Another decision saw the unbeaten Jonathan Dela Cruz (4-0, 1) defeat Danny Manosa (2-3-2, 1) whilst Bryan Macamay (9-2-2, 5) defeated Menard Zaragosa (6-18-1, 4).

In 4 rounders Mark Baribar (1-0-1) fought to a draw with the debuting Vic Magdayao (0-0-1), the unbeaten Cris Ganoza (3-0) took a decision over Roberto Mendano (0-1), whilst Anthony Villanueva (1-0, 1) stopped the win-less Alberto Pentecostes (0-3) in the second round whilst the debutant Alvin Medura (1-0, 1) took out Oscar Lim (0-1) inside a round.

Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic
We'll go full circle here and whilst we started this with an unbeaten Russian, Korobov, we will also end it with an unbeaten Russian, this time Fedor Chudinov (11-0, 9) who dominated the previously unbeaten Andy Perez (19-1, 18). Perez was down in rounds 1,2 and 3 before finally being stopped by the rampaging Chudinov who, on this performance, looks a more exciting talent than Korobov. 

(Image, of Korobov, courtesy of toprank)

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
The first OPBF title fight of the new year took place today and saw a new champion crowned as Masayoshi Nakatani (7-0, 5) managed to claim the biggest victory of his career. Nakatani, stepping up big time to challenge Yoshitaka Kato (26-5-1, 7) for the OPBF Lightweight title, may have been viewed by many as taking the fight too soon though showed exactly why so many rate so highly.

Despite coming in to the bout with just 21 rounds of career experience Nakatani looked like a veteran at times. He made the most of his sizable reach and height advantages to make Kato fight from range and also made the defending champion pay for his lack of accuracy in the later rounds with great counters.

With this victory we expect Nakatani to move into the world rankings. Prior to the bout Kato was ranked by both the WBC and WBO (#10 in both) and it'd not be a shock if Nakatani moved into a similar position when the rankings for those organisations were updated. Sure he's not ready for any of the active world champions but he's certainly a man who we think will be fighting on the world stage over the following few years. With his size, power, skill and developing experience this kid will be going a very long way.

In the chief support bout, at least in terms of professional contests, there was a rare stoppage victory for the promising Yukinori Oguni (12-1, 3). Oguni, a former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion, took time to get going though didn't really struggle with Yuki Fujimoto (7-3-1, 2) who suffered his first stoppage loss via an 8th round stoppage. Although Oguni was stopped last year by Shingo Wake we've no doubt that this young kid has the potential to make his mark on the world stage.

The least surprising result on the card saw Yusuke Sakashita (11-4-2, 7) take a stoppage over Thai tomato can Petchek Sithkorpolkanpim (0-12) who suffered his 11th career stoppage via this second round loss.

In a disappointing result the highly touted Kenji Kubo (3-2-1, 1) fought to a split decision draw with Kota Sato (9-5-1, 4). Kubo, who began his career with a very impressive decision over Nouldy Manakane, appears to have flopped and is now starting to look very unlikely to ever live up to his potential. Of course credit needs to go to Sato here though in all honesty it's hard to hide our disappointment over Kubo's career.

If Kubo suffering a draw was disappointing then it's fair to say that Yusuke Suzuki (4-1, 3) scoring a 3rd round KO over Takaaki Ishikawa (10-5, 5) was a delightful surprise. Of course Ishikawa hasn't got the greatest chin, suffering 5 stoppage losses now, but it was still a very solid win for Suzki who is still a novice himself.

As well as the competitive bouts on the show there was also the Heavyweight spar of Nobuhiro Ishida (25-9-2, 10). Ishida, a former Japanese Light Middleweight champion, shared the ring with Yamato Fujinaka (4-3, 1) and seemed to do relatively well. There were issues with his sparring but it's expected that he will be given a Japanese ranking and he will be able to challenger Kyotaro Fujimoto on April 30th. It's not yet confirmed but indications are suggest that the JBC ranking committee WILL grant Ishida a Heavyweight ranking.

Barangay. Namayan Basketball Arena, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines
As well as the show in Tokyo there was also action in the Philippines thanks to Aljoe Jaro. This card, which had made headlines before it had even started, turned out to be a pretty interesting one for numerous reasons.

With 13 fights on the show, yes, you read that right 13 fights, it was bound to have talking points and that's certainly what we got.

The lowest level bouts on the card were a trio of 4 rounders. These saw Joel Tamayo (1-1) taking his first victory courtesy of a 4 round decision over the debuting Jeromias Aguinaldo (0-1); Joyjoy Formentera (2-1) winning a tight split decision over Jeffrey Alejandre (1-2) in an excellently made bout, and a good stoppage victory for the promising Rolly Sumalpong (3-0, 1) who stopped Rodney Ramirez (0-1-1) in the 4th and final round.

The card amazingly had 7 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds. Surprisingly only 3 of those bouts actually went the distance. These distance bouts saw Rowel Rosia (6-2, 3) score a very credible win over Lionel Legada (11-6-1, 5) with a unanimous decision, Danilo Gabisay (5-2, 3) scoring a narrow victory over Regan Delos Santos (2-2-1, 2) with a majority decision whilst the unbeaten Joey Canoy (4-0-1, 3) was unexpectedly held to a draw by Felipe Cagubcob Jr (1-1-4) who is starting to become an expect in scoring draws.

Of the other scheduled 6 rounders the longest lasted 5 rounds as Jonathan Francisco (5-3, 2) struggled to finish off Mac Mac Canisio (2-4-1). This was somewhat the opposite of Lloyd Jardeliza's (5-0-3, 4) 159 second blow out of the fragile Marco Niones (3-11-1, 1) who suffered his 9th stoppage loss.

For us some of the most noteworthy results came in the other 6 rounders. One of those was a 3rd round victory scored by the very promising Neil John Tabanao (6-0, 5). Tabanao, fighting Warren Mambuanag (6-4-2, 3), showed why he is so highly regarded as he dropped Mambuanag in the opening round before finishing him in round 3.

The second noteworthy result in the 6 round bouts saw former IBF Minimumweight champion Florante Condes (26-8-1, 22) stopping journeyman Marzon Cabilla (9-11-1, 4). On paper this shouldn't be noteworthy though it is for several reasons. Firstly this was Condes's first bout in well over a year and his first win since 2010. Both interesting facts, though the key is that Cabilla was supposed to be a better opponent, despite being a very late replacement, than Condes's original opponent Rey Morano who the GAB refused to sanction for the bout. If Cabilla, who lasted just 133 seconds, was better then just how bad do the GAB think Morano is?

In the shows sole 8 round bout, the unbeaten Ardie Boyosi (9-0-1, 6) stopped the experienced Prell Tupaz (8-23-4, 1) in just 111 seconds as he showed off why his is touted as a really credible prospect. Tupaz might have collected losses but he has rarely been stopped and actually came in to this bout following an 8th round technical decision loss to one time world title challenger Sylvester Lopez.

We believe the card had 2 bouts scheduled for 12 rounds. One of these saw Jomar Fajardo (13-4-1, 6) claim the new Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) Light Flyweight title courtesy of a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Robel Villegas (9-8, 3), whilst the other again brought question marks to the GAB.

Former WBC and Linear Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (35-13-5, 25), originally scheduled to fight Pit Anacaya, instead took on Charlie Cabilla (13-13-4, 2) and took him out inside a round. Cabilla, a late replacement for Anacaya who the GAB said was an unfit opponent for Jaro, was also unfit though with the matchmaker given less than a week to sort out an opponent it's questionable as to what the GAB expected.

Auditorio Benito Juárez, Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
In Mexico things went as expected for a trio of Filipino's who were thrown in hard and expected to sink.

Things for Vergel Nebran (11-7-1, 7) went exactly as most would have expected, with the Filipino being stopped by former WBC Super Flyweight world champion Tomas Rojas (42-14-1-1, 28). In fact if anything was surprisingly here it was how long Nebran lasted, refusing to be stopped early on he survived until round 8 against the rangy Mexican fighter.

Rojas wasn't the only former world champion beating up on a Filipino foe as Ramon Garcia Hirales (19-4-1, 12), the former WBO Light Flyweight champion, over came Lionel Mark Duran (11-10-2, 5) in what looked like a mismatch on paper. Although the expected winner won Duran impressed by refusing to be stopped

The closest a Filipino came was Adones Aguelo (20-9-2, 12) who gave Mexico's Nery Saguilan (27-4-1, 10) a good run for his money in a competitive 10 round bout. Aguelo, who was narrowly beaten, proved he was on an even keel with Saguilan and a rematch in a neutral venue may well see the decision reversed.