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)

Firstly we need to apologise for getting these results late, the JBC have unfortunately not updated their results in the last few days leaving us all, ourselves and boxrec among others, in the dark. Hopefully they will manage to post the official results in the coming days

Osaka, Japan
The biggest show this past Sunday was at the Sumiyoshi Ward Center in Osaka. The card wasn't a long one but it was an intriguing one with several bouts of note on it including a Japanese title fight between two world ranked fighters and a bout between two former world title challengers each fighting for their career.

We'll begin with the title fight which saw Yuki Nonaka (27-8-3, 9) successfully retain his Japanese Light Middleweight title with a very competitively fought split decision draw against former champion Takayuki Hosokawa (26-10-4, 9). The bout was a nip and tuck affair through out with Nonaka having a close lead at the mid way point. The second half of the fight saw Hosokawa fighting back though not quite doing enough to reclaim a title he vacated last year after illness. Following he bout both spoke of a rematch and given the result it would make a lot of sense to have that later this year.

In one of the supporting bouts we saw former 2-time world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai (11-3-2, 1) manage to out point fellow former world title challenger Konosuke Tomiyama (24-8-1, 8). Mukai got his jab going from early in the bout and seemed to be the clear winner, despite a few competitive rounds. Sadly for Tomiyama this defeat was his 3rd in 4 bouts and it's hard to see where he goes from here. As for Mukai this was a good step forward but he's still a long way from being a title contender, even domestically.

A second supporting bout saw former OPBF and Japanese title challenger Valentine Hosokawa (19-4-3, 9) take a well earned decision victory over the heavy handed but limited Jumbo Oda Nobunaga Shoten Petagine (9-3, 7). This was Hosokawa's third win since being stopped by Min Wook Kim in an OPBF title bout back in August 2013, as for Petagine this was a second loss in 3 bouts.

In a 6 rounder fans saw Tom Yankun Tsukamoto (6-4-1, 2) score a rare stoppage over the fragile Yuta Matsuda (9-12-2, 4). This was Matsuda's 10 stoppage loss and he lasted less than 2 rounds here.

In a 4 rounder fans saw Masahiro Sakamoto (2-0, 1) score his first stoppage as he over-came Yoshihisa Inoue (2-4, 1) in the final minute of their scheduled 4 rounder.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

It's rare for a Tuesday to be a big day in boxing but this past Tuesday was a major day in Asia with a trio of title fights and two major shows.

Bangkok, Thailand
The first of the shows was in Thailand and televised, at least partly, on Thai Channel 7.

Not only was the Thai card the first show to get under-way but in terms of significance it also had the "biggest" bout of the day as WBA "interim" Flyweight champion Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep (34-2, 20) defended his title for the first time. Yodmongkol had genuinely impressed when he won the title ripping it from the hands of Japan's exciting but limited Koki Eto. Unfortunately though this time he disappointed us. Fighting against Takuya Kogawa (22-4, 13) we knew this was set to be a good fight and proved every bit as good as anticipated though it was Kogawa making much of the action and bringing the fight with amazing combinations and bundles of energy. Unfortunately for him however the judges weren't impressed and it was Yodmongkol, pictured, who controversially retained his title.

Whilst Kogawa had impressed there was some suggestion after the fight that he's considering retirement. We're really hoping that he doesn't as he proved himself here and he belongs in other top fights amongst some of the best at 112.

Another man who impressed on the show was Thai novice Palangpol CP Freshmart (2-0, 2) who scored a hugely impressive stoppage over Indonesia's experienced Jack Amisa (20-30-2, 14). Whilst Amisa is beatable and has regularly lost through his career he rarely gets stopped and very rarely gets beaten by such a novice. Excellent win by Palangpol.

The only other bout on the show that we have the result for saw former world title challenger Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym (39-2, 22) stopping Rick Paciones (6-17-2, 3) in 3 rounds.

Tokyo, Japan
Over in Japan we had two national fights on an excellent domestic show. The first of those title fights saw the excellent and unbeaten Hiroki Okada (8-0, 7) managing to over-come his toughest so far. Okada, fighting against Masayoshi Kotake (9-8-1, 5), was taken the distance for the first time though did more than enough to secure the Japanese Light Welterweight title.

The second title fight saw a slight upset as Tadashi Yuba (45-9-2, 32) lost his Japanese Light Middleweight title to Takayuki Hosokawa (25-10-3, 8)  via a majority decision. Yuba, aged 37, now seems likely to retire and hang up his gloves after a memorable and historic career.

As well as the title fights there were a further 5 bouts on the card. These included a 6th round KO victory for Masahiro Ishida (14-5-2, 8) who saw off the over-matched Ryuta Wakamatsu (9-9, 6). Ishida's victory was one of two stoppages on the card alongside one scored by Hideto Miyoshi (7-2-1, 5) who stopped Hitoshi Ando (4-6-1, 3).

The biggest name on the under-card was Dai Iwai (14-3-1, 5) who managed to win a competitive 8 round decision over Shogo Ishikawa (10-6, 3). Another victory on the under-card was scored by Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (7-3, 3) who managed to score a 5 round victory over Ryuto Araya (5-2-1).

The only other bout on the show show saw Mitsumasa Takahashi (8-4-1, 2) fighting to a draw with Takeshi Goda (7-2-1, 2).


(Picture courtesy of WBAnews.com)