This past Sunday was an incredibly busy day for Asian fight fans who had a bit of everything. Osaka, Japan In the most significant bout of the day, at least the most significant in Asia, fans got a treat as a determined Takahiro Yamamoto (16-4, 13) stopped Yu Kawaguchi (23-7, 10) to claim the OPBF Bantamweight title. The two men, traded shots earlier this year in a 12 round split decision, engaged in one of the most entertaining bouts of the year here with Yamamoto scoring a knockdown in round 2 before being dropped in round 3. Despite trading knockdowns it was cuts to Kawaguchi that forced the bout to end, with the defending champion looking a bloody pulp by round 7 when the referee eventually called a halt to proceedings. Although Kawaguchi was easily stopped it wasn't a bad day for his fast rising gym mate Kazuki Tanaka (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thai visitor Kamraiyok Orwandavee (0-3) who was blitzed inside a round. Interestingly Kamraiyok had taken Yamamoto 3 rounds at the end of last year and whilst it may be too early to talk about Tanaka Vs Yamamoto it does seem to be a possibility for the future. Another stablemate of Kawaguchi's to taste victory was was Takayuki Okumoto (15-6-2. 6), who took an 8 round decision win over Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-20). Sadly though another fighter at the Greentsuda gym, Shohei Kanemoto (9-10-1, 3) was on the losing end of a decision as he was out pointed by Kazuyasu Okamoto (10-4, 3). In a Light Middleweight bout Ryota Yada (8-3, 6) scored a 4th round TKO against the limited Marcos Sogabe (6-11-1, 5) as he recorded his 5th straight victory. Lower down on this card fans saw Genki Maeda (2-0, 1) takes a 6 round decision win against San Saknarong (2-4) whilst a 4 round decision saw Ryosuke Nasu (2-1-1) defeat Seita Mochizuki (3-8). Also on this show was the retirement ceremony of Nobuhiro Ishida who waved good bye to professional boxing life. Osaka, Japan Another Osakan show was just as interesting, even though it lacked a title bout, though it did feature a title prelude. That title prelude was at Middleweight where Koki Tyson Maebara (9-1-1, 9) blew away Thailand's Kungsuk Sor Sompong (0-2) in just 2 rounds. Following this win Maebara announced that he was going to be challenging for an OPBF title in December, in what will be his first title bout, and a major step up in class. Another notable name in action here was former Japanese Light Middleweight champion Takayuki Hosokawa (27-10-4, 9) who took an unexpectedly close decision win over Jung Hoon Yang (9-7, 2), himself a former OPBF Welterweight title challenger. Hosokawa had been told to retire if he lost this bout though the uninspiring win may well send him into retirement anyway. Another bout that went the distance saw Ryuya Yamanaka (10-2, 2) take a wide 10 round decision win over Yoshinori Wakahara (7-6, 4) in what is a solid win for the 20 year old Yamanaka. Although not the most talented youngster in Japan we do expect to see Yamanaka compete at title level in the near future. An all Japanese based Filipino bout saw veteran Jonathan Baat (30-6-3, 14) take a wide decision win over Dado Cabintoy (15-5-2, 8), sadly for Cabintoy this loss sees a 5 fight winning streak, dating back more than 2 years, come to an end. For Baat this win secures him an October 19th bout with the much touted Hikaru Marugame (5-0, 3) in what looks like a really good looking match up. Another Japanese based Filipino picking up a win here was Mark John Yap (22-12, 10), who out pointed Shun Ishibashi (10-17-1, 4). One judge had this one far too close, scoring it 77-76, but Yap did get a well deserved unanimous decision win. In a bout scheduled for 6 rounds fans saw a blow out as Yuki Nagashima (6-2, 33) swiftly dispatched of Jaroenlek Chaiyonggym (0-2). The only other under-card bout saw the debuting Akio Furuya (1-0) take a split decision over the win-less Sumeeman Shoki (0-6). Aichi, Japan The least significant of 3 Japanese shows came from Aichi where much of the action was based around Middle Japan Rookie of the Year finals. The main event of the show was one bout which part of the Rookie tournament. This bout saw Kazuya Maruki (19-3, 12) take a dominant decision win over Indonesian visitor Heri Andriyanto (21-19-2, 10). This was a very one sided bout, though Andriyanto did make things interesting at times. The lowest weight of the Rookie of the Year bouts was at Light Flyweight where Hiroki Yajima (5-5, 3) scored a 2nd round KO against Tomohiro Shimokata (1-2-1, 1). Another stoppage occurred in the Flyweight final as Katsuteru Yoshifusa (4-0, 1) blew away Hiroshi Tanase (2-6) inside a round. At Super Flyweight we saw another unbeaten man pick up a win as Takuma Matsushita (3-0, 1) claimed a split decision win over Ryo Shibata (3-2, 2). Another unbeaten man who picked up a win here was Takuya Mizuno (6-0-1, 6) who took a 3rd round KO win over Yusuke Kubota (3-3, 1). It wasn't all great for unbeaten fighters however as Michitaka Umemoto (1-1, 1) suffered a split decision loss to Masatsugu Ito (3-2-1, 1) in a very competitive match up. At Featherweight Japanese based Peruvian Kevin Mendoza (2-0, 1) scored a blow out victory over Naoki Masukawa (3-3). Another stoppage occurred in the Super Featherweight bout as Yuya Shimakura (5-0-1, 2) stopped Kazuaki Okada (3-5, 2) in the 4th round of their bout. At Lightweight the promising 19 year old Daiki Ichikawa (5-0, 3) took out Kohei Furusawa (4-6) in the 2nd round. At Light Welterweight Tetsuya Yamaguchi (3-2-2, 2) took a 4th round TKO against Eisuke Hara (4-2, 3). The remaining bout was at Welterweight where Shingo Saiki (2-0, 2) stopped Masanori Kawai (1-3-1, 1) inside a round. Florida, USA Sadly in the US we saw Filipino veteran Dennis Laurente (49-6-5, 30) lose a wide decision to the faster, younger and more skilled John Jackson (20-2, 15). Laurente did his best to force the action but was also two steps behind Jackson who looked bigger and faster throughout. Despite the loss Laurente managed to maintain of never being stopped, an impressive feat given the power of Jackson who did drop in round 3 but never came close to stopping him. Lanao del Norte, Philippines As for actual action in the Philippines there was two bouts in Lanao del Norte. One of those saw Joel Dela Cruz (19-23-3, 7) take a decision victory against journeyman Dondon Lapuz (19-48-7, 7). The other bout on this card saw former OPBF title challenger Jovylito Aligarbes (12-3, 6) score a 6th round TKO against Edil Bastian (4-4-1, 1). This was Aligarbes's second stoppage win since he was stopped, 18 months ago, by Shingo Wake and it seems like the youngster is slowly rebuilding his career. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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This past Sunday was an incredibly busy day in Asia with 3 notable Japanese cards and another show in the Philippines. Not only was there a lot of action but there wa s alot of notable action with OPBF title fights, former title holders and prospects all on show. Osaka, Japan The most notable of two separate cards held at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium was promoted by Shinsei promotions and featured 7 bouts in total. Among those bouts was an OPBF title contest and a couple of former world champions, alongside with 4 low level undercard bouts. The main event here saw the talented Masayoshi Nakatani (10-0, 5) successfully defend his OPBF Lightweight title for the 3rd time as he easily out pointed the over-matched Accel Sumiyoshi (4-4-1, 1). The bout was one-sided but Nakatani did admit he was disappointed with his performance and he seems to have felt as if he should have gotten Sumiyoshi out of there. One of the former world champions was former WBC female Flyweight champion Shindo Go (15-3, 10) who made light work of the over-matched Tantip Sithsaithong (0-2). Tantip was stopped in the 3rd round of their scheduled 8 rounder and never looked like she was going to be competitive with the power former champion. Go has now said that she wants a fight with either Susi Kentikian or a rematch with Arely Mucino, both of which would be fantastic match ups. The other former world champion was former WBA female Minimumweight champion Etsuko Tada (14-2-2, 4) who finished off Chamagorn Sithsaithong (0-2) in the 6th round. Chamagorn had been dropped numerous times before finally being stopped by Tada who has said she's wanting a big fight with anyone from 102lbs to 108lbs. The under-card here featured a couple more female bouts. One of those saw the debuting Eiko Shirouchi (1-0) claim a shut out against the over-matched Sae Ichimura (0-1) whilst the other saw Wakako Fujiwara (1-1-1, 1) claim her first win with a 4th round TKO against the debuting Tomoko Okuda (0-1). The other under-card bouts saw the debuting Ryuya Yanagida (1-0, 1) scoring a quick blow out win against Kiyonori Matsumoto (2-5) whilst the unbeaten Tetsu Araki (2-0-1) took a competitive decision over Tatsuki Yamamoto (1-1) Osaka, Japan The other show at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium saw another OPBF title fight along with the second match up in the career of a very exciting prospect. The OPBF title bout here saw Yu Kawaguchi (23-6, 10) claiming the previously vacant OPBF Bantamweight title as he scored a thin split decision over the heavy handed Takahiro Yamamoto (15-4, 12) in what was a very competitive match up that saw both men landing their share of leather. At the end of the bout however it seems that Kawaguchi's higher quality of experience, including a Japanese title fight with Kentaro Masuda, was the difference. Kawaguchi had said the he was going to retire if he lost but it's fair to say this win will keep his career alive whilst Yamamoto will certainly come again. In the chief support bout fans saw the much touted Kazuki Tanaka (2-0, 2), a former amateur stand out, score a highly notable victory over Kaname Tabei (10-9-2, 7). Tabei, who had only been stopped once, was taken out in 4 rounds by Tanaka who has now stated that he would like to get a fight with a Japanese ranked for by the end of the year and appears to be set on being fast tracked. Another of the supporting bouts here saw Ryo Kosaka (9-3-1, 4) take a slightly surprising victory over former Japanese title challenger Satoshi Niwa (16-19-3, 2). The loss for Niwa was his 4th in 5 bouts and seems to spell the end to his title dreams whilst the win for Kosaka was, by far, the best of his career thus far. A supporting bout that went the way we expected saw Takayuki Okumoto (14-6-2, 6) claim a 7th round technical decision win over Yuta Saito (7-6-2, 6). The bout was more competitive than the records of the two men may suggest but neither of these two will be going far. A remaining 8 rounder saw Takahiro Murai (10-6-2, 4) take a 5th round retirement victory over Tomonori Ota (6-6, 4). In the show's sole 6 rounder fans saw Kenta Matsui (6-3, 1) take a decision over Michitaka Muto (4-2-1). The undercard here feature a trio of low level bouts. The shortest of these saw Naotoshi Nakatani (5-0, 4) score an opening round victory over Thailand's Noppakao Sankarong (0-2). Another Japan Vs Thailand bout saw Genki Maeda (1-0, 1) take a 2nd round TKO against Paengchai Soonkilabangmod (0-1). The other under-card bout he also failed to go the distance as Tomoaki Matsumura (3-0, 2) claimed a technical decision win over Tesu Kanayama (2-2). Osaka, Japan A third show in Osaka came from the Sumiyoshi Ward Center where there were several notable fighters in action, ranging from a very exciting Middleweight prospect to a former OPBF title holder. In the main event fans saw Middleweight hopeful Koki Tyson Maebara (8-1-1, 8) score his best win to date as he stopped former Japanese Middleweight champion Sanosuke Sasaki (11-4, 5) in the 7th round. This was a big step up in class for Maebara though it does seem like there is still a long way to go before he'll be ready for a shot at OPBF/Japanese champion Akio Shibata. Another interesting prospect on this card was Cyborg Nawatedani (9-2-2, 4) who recorded his 6th straight win with a 6th round TKO against Hiroki Taniguchi (6-6-1, 2). After starting his career 1-2-1 Nawatedani has improved markedly and the 26 year old is showing signs of becoming a domesic contender in the coming years. Another domestic hopeful in action was Yuki Strong Kobayashi (9-4, 5) who took a 5th round TKO win against Hikaru Matsuoka (8-2-3, 1). This was a much needed win for Kobayashi following a loss in December to Satoshi Niwa. As for Matsuoka this was a surprising defeat that brought an end to a 7 fight undefeated run. Another really notable bout on this card saw former OPBF Super Featherweight champion Masao Nakamura (19-3, 19) end a 2-fight losing streak as he blew away Patomsak Sithsaithong (2-1). Nakamura, also known as the “KO King”, really needed a win here to and although it was a mismatch it was the sort of confidence building victory that will do him the world of good. In a 6 rounder fans saw Masashi Wakita (5-3-1, 2) take a very narrow decision over Shachihoko Dragons Keita (4-4-1, 1). On the under-card fans saw the unbeaten Kaminoko Okamura Kentokid (4-0-3, 2) take a 4 round decision over Shoji Nakamura (1-1-1, 1) and Ryusei Kitamura (3-1, 1) take a shut out decision win over Naoya Hamaguchi (4-3-1, 1). Fukuoka, Japan A final Japanese show took place at the Kokura Kita Gym and featured 7 bouts, most of which were low level contests. The main event saw Yoshihiko Matsuo (18-5-6, 3) claim a narrow decision win over Tatsuya Miyamoto (11-13-1, 7) in what was a very competitive match up between two men with huge different records. Although the records of these two are different the two men are well matched and actually fought to a draw last year. In the chief support bout, a 6 rounder, fans saw Sho Yamamoto (5-5-1, 2) narrowly over-come Yuta Nakashima (7-8, 2) with a majority decision. Although neither of these bouts were “big” the fact they were both competitive suggests that the match maker deserves a real pat on the back. On the under-card we had 5 bouts all scheduled for 4 rounds. From those 5 bouts we again had a very close one as Yoshiki Tatsukami (1-1) claimed his first win with a very thin decision win over Sho Sakota (0-1). Tatsukami's win was one of two decision on the under-card with the other being a shut out win for Kaito Akiyoshi (1-0) who over-came fellow debutant Ryuji Takada (0-1). In another all debutant contest Kenta Komatsu (1-0, 1) scored a 4th round stoppage against Yu Shoko (0-1). The other bouts both ended in the opening round. One of those saw female fighter Sana Hazuki (2-0, 1) blow away Arisa Iwanaga (0-1) in 100 seconds whilst the other saw the debuting Shuma Nakazato (1-0, 1) take out Takanari Hamamura (2-5, 2). Davao Del Norte, Philippines As well as the 4 shows in Japan there was also action in the Philippines with an MP promoted card. In the main event here fans saw the unbeaten Jayar Inson (8-0, 5) continue his winning run as he scored a 4th round KO of the limited Elmer Legaria (13-9, 4). Although this looked like a mismatch on paper it was a significant step up for the 24 year old Inson who now seems ready to be matched with progressively more testing foes. As for Legaria, this was his 7th stoppage loss in 9 defeats. In one of the chief support bouts fans saw Ryan Lumacad (8-0-1, 4) over-come Dondon Navarez (12-20-6, 3) with a 10 round decision. This was Lumacad's first 10 round bout and although he was up against a limited foe the experience will do him the world of good. Unfortunately however it's hard to know how good Lumacad is given his competition so far. Another of the support bouts saw the highly touted Harmonito Dela Torre (15-0, 10) demolish the horribly over-matched William George (10-22, 3) in just 138 seconds. This was a stay busy fight for Dela Torre, who hadn't fought since last September, but the bout was a meaningless one for the exciting youngster who has now stopped his last 5 foes. The sole 6 rounder on this card saw Rene Mark Cuarto (4-1, 2) score a 2nd round win over Brobro Languido (5-17-2, 1). On the under-card there was 4 bouts with 3 of those going the distance. One of those saw the debuting Daniel Lim (1-0) over-come fellow debutant Eljun Salva (0-1), another debutant picking up a win here was Jhon Rex Ginang (1-0) who defeated the win-less Jayson Sanchez (0-4). It wasn't all good for debutants however as Ronnie Baldonado (2-0, 1) defeated Rolly Bersabal (0-1) with a decision and Guida Vera (0-1) was blasted out in a round by Jose Aballe (2-1, 1). (Image courtesy of www.boxingnews.jp) The year of 2014 ended in a bang with 2 major cards on the final day of the year. In some ways they were very frustrating cards for westerners who struggled to get live streams of them but on the other they further proved what we all knew, boxing fans can never have enough. Hopefully the struggles to get streams will help Western TV realise what we already know, there is a huge demand to watch fights from the east. Osaka, Japan Of the two cards the most interesting came from Osaka where we had several bouts of note, including one bout that really was a bout that fans wanted to watch, and that ended up being a little special in some ways. Rather notably it was also the last bout of the year. That bout saw Cuban boxer-come-TV exile Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10) successfully defending his WBA “super” and WBO Super Bantamweight titles in what was an entertaining, up and down contest. Rigondeaux was fighting against Japan's Hisashi Amagasa (28-5-2, 19), a man best known for being a very lanky Featherweight, the OPBF Featherweight champion in fact. The fight saw the challenger set off as he meant to go on and really tried to take the fight to Rigondeaux who was simply too good for him early on however 2 knockdowns by Amagasa in round 7 suddenly got everyone excited and the biggest upset looked on, at least for a few moments. In round 9 it was Amagasa who was dropped and over the following 2 rounds his face began to fall apart which what looks to have been a broken jaw and a broken orbital bone. Those disfiguring injuries eventually forced him to retire from the bout. For Amagasa this performance is likely to have made him an over-night name for the hardcore international fans whilst Rigondeaux's victory proved that he can be in exciting, entertaining and vicious bouts as well as the proving he is vulnerable. Another world title bout on this show saw Katsunari Takayama (28-7-0-1, 11) create his own moment of history as he became the first Japanese fighter to claim a version of all 4 major titles. This happened when he won the WBO Minimumweight, along with the IBF version of the belt, to complete a career grandslam. Takayama won both belts when he forced the referee to save the brave but exhausted and Go Odaira (11-4-3, 1), who suffered the first stoppage of his career. A third bout featuring a world class fighter on this show saw former 2-weight world champion Kazuto Ioka (16-1, 10) score a sensational KO against former WBA interim Flyweight champion Jean Piero Perez (20-8-1, 14). For almost 5 rounds Perez gave as good as he got in what was a free swinging effort but a single right hand in the final minute of round 5 dropped him hard and never managed to recover. In a Japanese title fight fans saw the talented Sho Ishida (18-0, 10) successfully defend the Super Flyweight title for the first time with a 5th round TKO over the over-matched Masato Morisaki (9-4-1, 5). The undercard portion of this show was a bit of a farce if we're being honest with 6 bouts which saw Japanese fighters battling against Thai opposition. The Thai's failed to win a fight, in fact only 1 of them managed to see out the schedule. The one that did was Rannada Sor Vorasing (0-1) who was shut out by boxer-model Tomomi Takano (7-1, 5) in one of two female contests. The other female contest was a blow out as Terumi Nuki (6-0, 3) blasted away Petchluksor Sor Praithong (0-1) in just 107 seconds. Nuki's quick blow out was one of 3 opening round blow outs on this undercard which also saw Ryuto Maekawa (10-0, 6) take care of Chanachai Sor Siamchai (0-2) in 133 seconds and the brilliantly promising Takeru Kamikubo (8-0, 5) wipe out Phetsaifar Lukmaelamperigym (0-6) in 158 seconds. Another mismatch saw former world champion Ryo Miyazaki (22-1-3, 13) take care of Kajonsak Nattapolgym (0-1) in round 3 whilst another 3rd round victory saw Takahiro Yamamoto (15-3, 12) take care of Kamraiyok Or Wandavee (0-1). Tokyo, Japan The other show took place in Tokyo where we had a trio of world title bouts which all had their own story to tell. The most interesting of those stories was that of the heavy handed Takashi Uchiyama (22-0-1, 18) who retained his WBA Super Featherweight title with a 9th round retirement victory over Argentina's game Israel Perez (27-3-1, 16). The bout was Uchiyama's first in exactly a year and saw him looking the boss in what was an interesting contest with a man who had come to win. The bout saw Perez try and win but eventually he retired as Uchiyama began to shake off the ring rust and go for the kill. From what we understand a post-fight story here revolved around the scoring, particularly by Gustavo Padilla who is reported to have had the bout even at 85-85, a frankly puzzling score card, though not his worst of the night... ...Padilla's worst score came in the WBA Super Flyweight title fight that saw Kohei Kono (30-8-1, 13) retain his title with a split decision draw against Norberto Jimenez (20-8-4, 10). The bout, scored a split draw, saw Padilla handing in a ridiculous 115-112 card in favour of Jimenez, a card so ridiculous that someone needs to look into him, especially given what he did in the Uchiyama/Perez bout. This contest was close, and a draw wasn't an awful result, though we did feel Kono deserved the win, however that card is just wrong. In the ring Jimenez used his movement and speed to keep Kono from unloading on him and exposed some flaws in the champions armour however he failed to really capitalise. The other world title bout on this card saw a new champion being crowned as Ryoichi Taguchi (21-2-1, 8), a man previously best known for taking Naoya Inoue the distance, scored a clear 12 round win over Peruvian Alberto Rossel (32-9-0-1, 13) to claim the WBA Light Flyweight title. Taguchi started slowly but ran out a clear winner, dropping Rossel twice to cement his win. The under-card here was much more interesting than the under-card in Osaka with bouts that weren't all mismatches and blow outs. One of the few stoppages saw Chikashi Hayashizaki (6-4-1, 2) score an unexpected stoppage of Takahiro Araki (5-4, 3), in the 4th round of a scheduled 6, whilst another stoppage on this card saw Minoru Iizuka (4-2, 4) score a 3rd round KO over the previously unbeaten Ryusei Nakajima (2-1, 1), in a scheduled 6 rounder. The most competitive of the undercard bouts resulted in a 6 round split decision draw between Masayasu Nakamura (4-1-1, 4) and Takahiro Kinoshita (5-3-2, 2) in a bout that saw all 3 cards looking very similar to each other. Another very competitive but saw Shun Shimazaki (6-6-1) narrowly defeat Hisasho Owada (5-9-1) in another 6 rounder. In the 4 rounders on the card fans saw the debuting Kazumasa Akagi (1-0) score a narrow decision win over Yukihiro Kaneko (0-3) whilst Kazuhiro Baba (1-2) claimed his first win with a razor thin win over Kazuki Aso (0-2). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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