Tokyo, Japan
The first show involving Asian fighters this month came from the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo where fans get a genuine treat that combined a a trio of notable main bouts as well as some early blow outs on the under-card. We won't pretend it was the most competitive card of all time but the local fans certainly enjoyed what they saw, as did fans watching tape-delayed footage on Fuji TV.

The show began with a series of 4 rounders, from those bouts only one went the distance as Seiyu Gunji (1-0-1, 1) fought to a majority draw with Shinya Ito (3-1-1). The other 3 bouts over the shorter distance ended in clear fashion. The shortest saw Kazuto Nakane (3-2, 3) scoring a 2nd round KO against Chikashi Takahashi (0-2), whilst Yuichi Kiyama (3-1-1, 3) scored a 3rd round KO against Raiki Kameyama (3-3, 2) and Mao Kawanishi (2-1, 1) scored his first stoppage, also with a 3rd round KO, against Takahiro Onjuku (2-4, 1).

In the sole 6 round on the card fans saw the 2014 Bantamweight Rookie of the Year Ryohei Takahashi (6-1-1) easily out point Hokuto Sakata (5-5-1, 3) with a dominant 1-sided decision. Despite the early career stoppage loss on his record we've been impressed with Takahashi and hope to see him step up through the ranks this year as it's clear he has talent, even if he does lack power.

The first notable name in action was former WBC Minimumweight and former WBC Flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi (21-5, 11) who made the move up to Super Flyweight following a less than successful campaign at Light Flyweight last year. The extra weight didn't seem to slow down Yaegashi who made very light work of Thai foe Songsaenglek Phosuwangym (18-12, 5)*. The Thai was dropped hard at the end of the opening round before being knocked out part way through the 2nd round as Yaegashi scored a high-light real finish. This was a clear mismatch but we can forgive Yaegashi for taking an easy fight following the past few years which has seen him fight a relative murder's row.

The second major bout saw WBC Super Featherweight champion Takashi Miura (29-2-2, 22) score one of his most impressive victories and record the 4th defense of his world title. Miura was fighting former IBF Featherweight champion Billy Dib (39-4-0-1, 23) and managed to really make an impression with a 3rd round TKO that left many fans realising just how good Miura is. The fight started slowly but ended in spectacular fashion with Miura dropping Dib in high-light reel fashion. To his credit Dib did recover to his feet but was rightfully stopped and ruled unfit to continue as he stumbled across the ring.

In the main event of the show we saw Japanese Olympic gold medal winner Ryota Murata (7-0, 5) score a sensational 5th round TKO victory over world ranked Brazilian Douglas Damiao Ataide (13-2-1, 6). We thought this had the potential to be a banana skin for Murata but the Japanese fighter bided his time, applied intelligent pressure for 4 rounds and then suddenly went through the gears at the start of round 5, dropping Ataide in the opening seconds and then flooring him again before he recovered his senses. The referee then stopped the bout to give Murata one of his most noteworthy wins to date.

Las Vegas, USA
Sadly things ended badly for Teiken fighters with Takahiro Ao (27-4-1, 12) suffering his first stoppage defeat courtesy of Mexican fighter Raymundo Beltran (30-7-1, 18). Ao, fighting for the WBO Lightweight title, looked under-sized from the opening bell and it showed in the second round when Beltran dropped him hard. Ao should his heart by getting back up and continuing but Beltran smelled blood and went for the kill, eventually forcing the referee to save Ao who was out on his feet and taking bombs. Sadly the belt remains vacant due to the fact Beltran failed to make weight for the bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)


*Boxrec 's record is incomplete.

This weekend is genuinely massive with so many big fights that it's been hard to stay focused on any single fight for long. Thankfully a lot of action is great though this may have actually been overkill!

Kanagawa, Japan
A huge weekend of fights kicked off in Japan as Teiken promotions put on a solid card of fights in Kanagawa.

The show opened with the under-card which featured 5 bouts that all went to the score-cards. In the sole 6 rounder fans saw Shunsuke Fukushima (4-3-2, 2) fight to a majority decision win over Yu Kinjo (4-4, 3).

In the 4 rounders fans saw 4 very close bouts, one of which saw Rei Ichiyama (4-5, 1) claim a very close majority technical decision over Naoya Nishimura (3-7-1, 2) a second technical decision saw Yuichi Kitayama (1-1-1, 1) fight to a technical draw with the unbeaten Ryotaro Tokusa (1-0-1, 1). A second draw occurred in the bout between the debuting Ryota Toyoshima (0-0-1) and the still unbeaten Toshiro Tarumi (1-0-2, 1) where the bout ended in a split decision draw. The remaining under-card bout saw Hideaki Onuki (1-0) begin his career with a unanimous decision win over Hiroki Imamura (0-3).

The first of 3 notable bouts on this card saw the heavy handed Ryo Akaho (25-1-2, 17) score a 4th round KO over former world title challenger Antonio Tostado Garcia (14-4, 6). Garcia, who has now lost 4 of his last 7, was too small for Akaho who called out Tomoki Kameda after the fight and it now seems clear that Akaho will be hunting a world title fight in 2015. For the Japanese slugger this was his 6th win, 5th by stoppage, since losing to Yota Sato in a WBC Super Flyweight title fight back in December 2012 and it appears the heavy handed Japanese fighter has rebuilt his confidence enough to eye up the likes of Kameda who appears to be a man in demand right now.

The first of two title fights saw WBC Flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (41-0, 35) make the first defense of his title as he dominated Filipino road warrior Rocky Fuentes (35-8-2, 20) prior to stopping the Filipino hard man in the 6th round. Gonzalez, quite possibly the best fighter on the planet, was fighting just weeks after he stopped Akira Yaegashi to win the title and it now seems clear that there are very, very few who can with stand the Gonzalez offense. After the fight Gonzalez seemed to hint that he would like another fight in Japan next year against wunderkind Naoya Inoue or a second bout with Juan Francisco Estrada, both of those bouts would be great to watch though may it may be a little too early for Inoue.

Following Gonzalez's win we then saw Takashi Miura (28-2-2, 21) make the third defense of his WBC Super Featherweight as he stopped Mexican fighter Edgar Puerta (23-5-1, 19). The bout, a mandatory defense for Miura, never looked difficult for the “Bomber” who dropped Puerta in the opening round before forcing the referee to save the Mexican who was beginning to take some monster shots from the Japanese fighter. Following this fight Miura hinted that he wanted a rematch with Takashi Uchiyama and if he gets that bout he will be attempting to avenge a 2011 loss to “KO Dynamite” and be hoping to unify the WBC and WBA world titles.

Liverpool, England
In the UK we had another world title fight as former Japanese national champion Hidenori Otake (22-2-3, 9) took on WBA Bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (30-0-2, 22). Sadly for Otake he came up very short against Quigg scarcely winning a round in what was a very one sided yet entertaining fight. Otake, who entered the bout as an unknown outside of the Japanese fans left the British fans know that he was a tough guy with an incredible engine, sadly however he lacked the skills, power and accuracy to really threaten Quigg. Saying that however the British fighter was forced to work very hard, something he's not had to do in a long time.

We also suspect we'll be getting results from Thailand in the coming days, sadly however these will have to be added when we get them, which we suspect will be Monday.

(Image, of Miura landing a hard jab on Puerta, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo
Although the final boxing upset of the year occurred in Osaka that doesn't mean fans in Tokyo had any less reason to enjoy their new year's eve with a world title double header taking place at the Ota-City General Gymnasium on a show plastered with notable names.

The notable names on the show included female star Tomomi Takano (4-0, 3) who stole the headlines at the weigh-in with her wedding outfit. The former model-turned boxer showed once again that she has talent to add to her looks as she made light work of Kumi Oishi (1-3, 1) with a second round TKO. Takano, who many view as a potential starlet, may not have the talent of Naoko Fujioka but she certainly draws a lot of attention to female boxing like very few others.

Another big name on the card was former WBA Super Flyweight champion Kohei Kono (29-8, 11) who made light work of tune up opponent Daut Manopkanchang (0-1). Kono, fighting for the first time since his loss to Liborio Solis back in May, shook off his rust and kept his attention on the job here ahead of his scheduled world title bout with Denkaosan Kaovichit in March. Kono, looking to recapture his old title in that bout will be hoping for a similarly easy time with Kaovichit, though it would be unlikely.

Also on the under-card was WBC #1 ranked Super Flyweight Carlos Cuadras (29-0, 24). Cuadras, of Mexico, made very light work of Songseanglek Phosuwangym (1-10) and we now assume he's angling towards a fight with either WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai or even the winner of Kono's bout with Kaovichit.

Remaining with the "names" on the under-card the most well matched contest saw former Japanese Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (19-2-1, 8) takes a hard fought decision over Ryan Bito (22-13-3, 8). This was Taguchi's comeback fight after losing his title to Naoya Inoue in August and surprisingly he struggled here with Bito who has only won 1 of his last 6 and that came against a debutant. Taguchi needs to get back on top of things and show off the talent that saw him being world ranked earlier this year though unfortunately it could be a tough rebuilding process.

On the bottom of the under-card we had 3 much lower level bouts. These saw Noriyoshi Taki (3-4, 1) taking a 3 round technical decision victory over Yusuke Matsuda (1-2); the debuting Hikaru Komori (1-0, 1) stopping fellow debutant Mamoru Suzuki (0-1) in 2 rounds and Hideki Suzuki (4-3-1) taking a 4 round decision over Yuki Arai (3-3, 1).

Of course fans weren't really there for the undercard, even if it did have big names on it. Instead they were there for the 2 world title fights that the show had, both in the Super Featherweight division.

The first of the world title fights saw WBC champion Takashi Miura (27-2-2, 20) dominate Mexican challenger Dante Jardon (24-4, 20). This was, on paper, the fight of the day though from the first round it seemed the men were in completely different leagues and Miura just beat up and broke down Jardon who was tough but thoroughly out-classed before being stopped in round 9. The Mexican challenger, a much vaunted puncher himself, was down in rounds 5 and 8 before being stopped after a third knockdown early in the ninth.

Miura's victory was his second title defense and his third victory over a Mexican this year. With that in mind it may be fair to call him the new Mexecutioner and with that in mind he may well be thinking about bouts in 2014 with either Daniel Ponce De Leon or Miguel Berchelt, 2 of the top Mexicans in the Super Featherweight division.

The other world title fight, and for us the fight that was the best of the day, saw Takashi Uchiyama (21-0-1, 17) successfully retain his WBA title with a very hard fought decision over former Japanese national champion Daiki Kaneko (19-3-3, 12). Although the scores, which all read 117-110, made the fight look easy it was anything but as the strong and powerful Kaneko gave Uchiyama all he could handle and actually dropped the champion in round 10. The difference between the two men was the experience that Uchiyama has at the world level though with out a doubt Kaneko put himself on the map with a very strong performance that saw him really impressing in a thoroughly competitive contest. Having seen how impressive Kaneko was here we've no doubt that he has the potential to become a world champion at some point, though it may be at Lightweight and not Super Featherweight.

With Uchiyama and Miura both retaining the likeliness is that the two will fight in a unification contest in 2014. Whether that is the first thing on the agenda for them is up for debate but it's a bout both seem intent to have. This would be a rematch, with Uchiyama having beaten Miura back in January 2011, though it's one everyone seems to be calling for, including ourselves.