This past Thursday was a great day for Japanese fans who had two shows with a lot of action and a number of interesting match ups.

Osaka, Japan
The bigger of the two shows, by far, came from Osaka where fans got a bit of everything. They got a world title fight in the main event, they got the next fight in the development of a brilliant young prospect, they got the debut fight of a former amateur standout, they got a huge debut involving the son of a true legend and they also got a minor upset. All in all fans in Osaka got value for their money.

The main event saw the hugely popular and destructively hard hitting Shinsuke Yamanaka (23-0-2, 17) continue his impressive reign as the WBC Bantamweight champion as he easily disposed of the horribly over-matched Diego Ricardo Santillan (23-1, 15). The Argentinian challenger had come to the ring with an unbeaten record and a lot of confidence but was dominated by Yamanaka who dropped in rounds 6 and 7 with the Argentinian staying down following the second knock-down. In some ways this was the perfect performance by the champion though in other ways it was disappointing to see such a poor challenger thrown in with Yamanaka.

In the chief support bout fans saw the talented youngster Sho Nakazawa (6-0, 4) take a wide 8 round decision win over the game but relatively limited Alexander Cazares (9-4, 3) of Mexico. The young Japanese fighter did have some issues, more than he'd had in his previous 5 bouts, but nothing major in what was a routine win. It now sees like Nakazawa will begin the hunt for titles.

In another of the major support bouts we saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi (1-0, 1) batter Tadao Iwaya (1-3) in just 2 rounds. Juiki is the second son of the great Joichiro Tatsuyoshi and at times showed some of his father's traits though it's going to take a very long time for him to develop into a fighter like his father. It was an impressive debut but it did come against a very over-matched foe.

Another debutant on this card was the touted Shuya Masaki (1-0, 1) who made very light work of Phanthong Por Panya (1-2, 1). Masaki, who has a solid amateur pedigree, stopped Phanthong after just 134 seconds of their scheduled 6 rounder.

It was all perfect for the touted Japanese fighters on this card however as for Rookie of the Year winner Tatsuya Ikemizu (12-1, 5) suffered his first defeat. The youngster was out gunned and out gritted by Japanese based Filipino Mark John Yap (20-12, 10). Yap took a very close 8 round decision over the youngster though it was a bout that Ikemizu will have learned a lot from, a “good loss” if you will.

As well the higher profile bouts this card featured 3 relatively low profile 4 rounders. One of those was over in just 26 seconds as Takaaki Maeda (3-1, 1) blew away Takuya Olivia Hase (2-1-1, 1) in double quick fashion. The other contests were both razor thin decisions with one of those seeing Kenji Kihisa (3-2, 1) over-coming Akito Terada (1-1) whilst the other saw Kazuma Fukuyama (4-4-3) defeat Ryuta Miyoshi (0-2), both of those were majority decisions.

Tokyo, Japan
Whilst the big show of the day was in Osaka there was also some highly entertaining action in Tokyo where fans had 3 bouts of note as well as an interesting and well matched under-card.

The most competitive of the main bouts saw former Japanese champion Koji Umetsu (22-16-3, 10) battle to a split decision loss against Kazunori Takayama (21-8-4, 4) in a bout that really could have gone either way. Umetsu, who was the Japanese Featherweight champion back in 2006, has had an up and down career but at 38 years old he has got to be considering retirement. Takayama on the other hand may be able to work himself towards a title fight later in the year. Incidentally this was the third meeting between the two men.

Another exciting main bout saw the heavy handed Akinori Watanabe (32-4, 27) take a rare decision win as he over-came the teak tough Arnel Tinampay (22-17-1, 8), a Japanese based Filipino tough-guy. This looked like a great bout when it was signed and it prove to be enthralling in the ring, though it was a worthy win for Watanabe who stated that he'd like a fight with Yoshihiro Kamegai after the fight.

The third notable bout proved to be a bit of a mismatch as Takeshi Inoue (3-0-1, 2) made light work of Thai foe Kriburee Sithniwat (0-3-1). The Thai was stopped in the 2nd round of the scheduled 8 round bout. According to boxrec.com this was Kriburee's first bout in almost 6 year, though as with many Thai's it's hard to verify the record one way or another.

In the sole 6 rounder we again saw a Thai being stopped early as Takuya Yamaguchi (9-9, 7) saw off Pornsak Chomram (0-1) at the very end of round 3, technically scoring the KO at 3:09 of the 3rd round.

The card featured 5 bouts scheduled for the 4 round distance. Of those only a couple went the completed schedule. One of those that went the distance saw Daichi Honma (1-0) claim a debut win as he over-came Akihiro Yashiro (2-2-1) in a wide decision win, the other ended in a split decision as Yutaka Uemura (3-2-1, 2) just out did Tomoki Takada (1-1-1). One bout that almost made it to the final bell saw Shunta Terai (1-2-1, 1) take a 4th round TKO against Ryusuke Arai (0-4-1).

The other two bouts lasted less than a completed round. One of them saw Shu Muramatsu (1-1, 1) blow away Masahiko Abe (2-2-1, 2) in 74 seconds whilst the other saw Fire Terakado (1-1, 1) defeat Keisuke Imabuchi (0-1) in 98 seconds.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Kochi, Japan
This past Sunday in Kochi boxing fans saw a small show courtesy of Osaka Teiken. The show wasn't one that many would even find more than slightly interesting though we do suggest fans keep an eye on the young man who won the main event.

That young man was the unbeaten and very promising Tatsuya Ikemizu (12-0, 5) who recorded his 4th win of the year as he stopped Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (8-7-1, 4) in the second of a scheduled 8 rounds. The 21 year old Ikemizu may not be getting raved about on a regular basis but this has been a second great year for the youngster who we suspect move onto the title stage in the next year or two.

In the chief support Takaaki Kitagawa (5-3, 2) narrowly over-came Yusuke Sekido (8-11-2) to claim a 6 round majority decision and record his third win of the year.

The rest of the card consisted of a trio of 4 rounders, all of which were very competitive and close. The "most" clear saw Tetsu Araki (1-0-1) claim his first win as he over-came Koichi Uryu (3-2-1, 2) with an incredibly competitive unanimous decision, scored 39-38 by all the judges. A bout between Tatsuya Sakamoto (4-5, 1) and the win-less Takuya Sumiyoshi (0-5-1) saw Sakamoto claim a split decision whilst Yu Konomura (4-2-1) also claimed a split decision as he over-came Go Mitaka (2-5-2)

Some days in boxing are important with out making international headlines and that's exactly what happened this past Sunday with several notable bouts, only one of which would have made a dent on the international boxing circuit.

Grozny, Russia
The one major bout that we had a turgid Heavyweight affair as an out of shape Ruslan Chagaev (33-2-1, 20) fought a lackadaisical Fres Oquendo (37-8, 24). Chagaev managed to claim a victory in the end, taking a majority decision, but not with out some cheer leading from the Chechen president who offered words of encouragement toe Chagaev between rounds. Unfortunately not only was the bout an awful contest in terms of a spectacle but it was made even worse by the fact it was dressed up as a world title fight and now, as a result , Chagaev is a 2-time Heavyweight world champion.

On paper this should be a great result for Asian boxing, after all the Uzbek born Chagaev is now a 2-time Heavyweight champion from Asia, but in all honesty it's yet more proof of the mess the Heavyweight division sits in.

Whilst Chagaev was less than impressive there were some good wins for several unbeaten fighters on the show. They included Viskhan Murzabekov (9-0, 4) who managed to take a solid 10 round victory over Igor Faniyan (14-9-2, 7) to claim the WBC Youth Intercontinental Welterweight title. Murzabekov, dubbed "Little Tyson" looked like an interesting prospect with his victory but there is still a lot to work on.

Another unbeaten prospect on this show was Apti Davtaev (7-0, 7) who scored a sensationally quick blow out against Oleksandr Nesterenko (9-3, 4), needing just 12 seconds to score the win. A third unbeaten man in action here was Movsur Yusupov (7-0, 3) who took a 6 round decision over the more experienced Aliaksandr Sushchyts (16-3-1, 9).

In other bouts of note for ourselves Arbi Madaev (5-1-1, 2) managed to take a 5th round TKO over Chupaki Chipindi (13-7, 8) whilst Apti Ustarkhanov (6-1-2, 1) beat the win-less Gor Akopyan (0-5) in a 6 rounder.

Osaka, Japan
Whilst the results in Grozny may have received some international attention the results from Japan probably didn't despite filling 3 shows of fights.

The most notable bout on those shows took place in Osaka as former title challenger Kenichi Horikawa (26-13-1, 4) over-came fellow Japanese ranked fighter Naoki Matsumoto (9-8-2, 2) in an 8 round majority decision. The bout may not decide the next Japanese Minimumweight title challenger but Horikawa will certainly be hoping to get another chance at the title following this victory.

On the same show there was also two very interesting bouts involving unbeaten Japanese prospects. One of those saw the hard hitting Ryuto Kyoguchi (12-0-1, 9) taking out Kenta Takahashi (10-8-3, 3) in the 5th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. The other saw Tatsuya Ikemizu (11-0, 4) defeating recent Japanese Bantamweight title challenger Satoshi Niwa (15-18-3, 2) in a very competitive 8 rounder. We did expect Niwa to give Ikemizu a tough test and although the veteran came up short he used his experience to great effect to really push Ikemizu.

Lower down the card fans saw an upset as Tomonori Ota (6-4, 4) stopped Shoya Kawashimo (6-3, 1) in 4 rounds and Kosei Toyoda (2-1-1, 1) over-came the limited Kenji Nakayoshi (2-3, 1) in a 4 round decision.

Fukuoka, Japan
On a second show in Japan fans got to see 8 bouts in Fukuoka. The main event of this show saw  the experienced Yosuke Kirima (19-4-2, 13) defeat the previously unbeaten Takahito Osaka (6-1-2, 4) via an 8 round majority decision. It was competitive though Kirima managed to come out on top by relying on his extra experience.

It wasn't all bad news for unbeaten fighters and Takumi Sakae (9-0, 5) extended his winning run with an 8 round unanimous decision over Indonesian visitor Boy Tanto (6-15, 9). Sakae went 8 rounds for the first time though we tend to feel he needs more bouts at this level before he steps up to thinking about title action.

In a female bout Satomi Nishimura (7-1, 1) took an 8 round victory over Thailand's win-less Saosukhothai Por Preechagym (0-2). The bout did feature some competitive rounds though was a clear victory for Nishimura on the cards as she bounced back from her sole loss, a stoppage to Saemi Hanagata more than a year a go.

Oddly a good chunk of this card resulted in draws, in fact 3 of the 8 bouts saw no winner rendered. These draws included a 6 round unanimous draw for the experienced Yoshihiko Matsuo (17-5-6, 3) who fought a very even bout with Tatsuya Miyamoto (10-12-1, 6). In 4 rounders J Soul Maeda (1-1-2, 1) fought to a split draw with Bejita Ishikawa (2-6-2, 1) whilst the unbeaten Kotaro Ishibashi (2-0-1, 2) fought to a draw with Tsunehiko Aitoku (1-2-1).

In the opening 4 rounders of the show Satoshi Yamamichi (3-3, 3) wiped out Hikaru Nagamine (0-2) at the end of the second round and Yusuke Yamanouchi (5-1-1, 2) took a decision over Kazuyuki Hirayama (4-3-1, 3).

Aichi, Japan
The third Japanese show as at the Aioi Hall in Aichi. 

This show had a surprisingly competitive main event which saw Yuji Shimizu (16-8-1, 1) narrowly out point Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (1-4) in an 8 round split decision. On paper it was a mismatch with Yamaguchi ending a 7 year break from the ring though it turned out being incredibly tight with Shimizu being pushed all the way.

In another surprisingly competitive contest Shinji Takayama (22-3, 11) narrowly over-came Shota Okuda (4-2, 2) in a 6 rounder. In all honesty much of the card was competitive with many of the 4 rounders on the card being nip and tuck. These included a draw between Reiko Sugiyama (3-4-3, 2) and the unbeaten Takuya Mizuno (2-0-1, 2) and another draw in a bout between Akihisa Buma (1-0-1, 1) and Kyosuke Takaoka (2-3-1, 1).

Another of the 4 rounders saw Daiki Yamamoto (1-0) winning a majority decision over fellow debutant Takashi Kagamihara (0-1) whilst Kenta Matsui (4-2, 1) took a split over Hiroki Yajima (1-5, 1).

Not all the bouts were competitive however and we saw 3 stoppages on the show. One of those saw the hard hitting Daisuke Hayakawa (7-2, 6) taking out the usually durable Kenta Sugimoto (6-7-1) in the 5th round of a scheduled 6 rounds and another saw Shuichi Ingaki (1-1, 1) blast out Tatsuya Shibayama (0-2) inside a round.  

The most notable stoppage however was scored by the promising Genki Hanai (2-0, 2) who made light work of Thailand's Fahrung Porsuwangym (0-1) with a second round KO. Although Hanai's opponent seems to be unproven Hanai himself has been in 2 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds and was a former amateur standout. From what we understand the plans are huge for this youngster and hopefully we'll see him in with a decent opponent sooner rather than later.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp was taken during the Horikawa bout)

Kyoto, Japan
In this sport there are fighters destined for greatness. Fighters who has such unreal natural talent that they are viewed as blessed. One such fighter who falls in to that category is Japanese Middleweight sensation Ryota Murata (4-0, 4) who scored his 4th stoppage earlier today with a very straight forward victory over Mexico's Jesus Angel Nerio (12-3, 6).

The bout started with Murata in charge, with him coming forward, showing off lovely variety in his work and generally showing that the two men were in completely different leagues. This continued through to the end of round 4 with Murata hardly breaking sweat whilst dominating the bout with accurate and heavy handed attacks. 

In the 5th round the Japanese fighter began to up his work rate and he seriously rocked Nerio after connecting with a huge head shot. He was unable to put the Mexican down in a follow up attack, with the bell coming just before Nerio was knocked down, but the damage had been down with gust busting body shots and vicious head shots, The minute break between rounds wasn't so much respite for Nerio but more a case of delaying the inevitable which came in round 6 after Nerio suffered a second knockdown in the round and decided to stay down for the count. It was clear the Mexican was done though it hardly looked like Murata had even began in a very impressive performance,

Murata's bout was the headline contest, the main event, though it wasn't the only bout on the show. 

Earlier on the card had featured several other bouts.

For Japanese based Filipino Malcolm Tunacao (34-3-3, 20), the former WBC Flyweight, things were tough but successful as he out pointed South Korea's very tough Joo-Hyun Jung (6-3-1, 2). Jung put up an excellent effort and gave Tunacao the type of work out that he'll have wanted despite the fight being tougher than anyone would have expected.

Tunacao's former rival Christian Esquivel (27-5, 20), a man Tunacao stopped in 7, had a nightmare showing as he was stopped by Japanese youngster Shohei Omori (12-0, 7). Omori, a relative unknown in international boxing circles, was thoroughly impressive and could, or rather should, find himself in the next WBC world rankings considering that Esquivel was the #9 ranked Bantamweight prior to this bout.

Incidentally both Tunacao and Esquivel had been stopped in recent WBC title fights by the sensational Shinsuke Yamanaka. Omori however stopped Esquivel quicker than Yamanaka in a performance that really should open the eyes of a lot of fans.

Tatsuya IkemizuOmori was one of 3 highly regarded man on the under-card. Another one of those men was Sho Nakazawa (4-0, 4) who, like Murata in the main event, scored his 4th successive stoppage. Nakazawa made very light work of Indonesia's Gun Tinular (11-17-1, 6), and ended the bout with a nasty body attack as he continued to impress fans with his speed, skills and power.

The other highly regarded unbeaten prospect on the card was Tatsuya Ikemizu (10-0, 4) who stopped Oke Haryanto (5-2-1, 2) inside a round as he put on one of his most impressive performances so far.

(Image, of Murata landing a body shot, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)