Friday was a busy day throughout the Asian boxing world with fights in Thailand, Japan and Russia. Although it was busy it did seem to lack genuine competitive bouts though plenty were at least a little bit interesting for one reason or another.

Surat Thani, Thailand
In regards to rankings the most important action was in Thailand where a world ranked fighter was in action and we got a title fight.

The main event saw IBF Asia Super Flyweight champion Rusalee Samor (23-5-2, 10) defend his title against the previously unbeaten Indonesian Espinos Sabu (11-1-1, 5) with a 12 round decision victory. For Samor, who is ranked in the top 15 by the IBF this was a hugely important victory and one that could help him climb up the rankings, towards a world title fight with the winner of the upcoming Teiru Kinoshita/Zolani Tete bout.

In other bouts on this show we saw two stoppages. One of those was Japan's Takamori Akita (9-4-1, 7) stopping Indonesia's Muhammad Imam (9-4, 3) inside a round whilst the other saw Patomsith Pathompothong (9-1, 4) stopping journeyman Rommy Wassar (8-16-7, 3) in 4 rounds.

The only other bout on the show saw Thai veteran Fahsai Sakkreerin (41-5-1, 22) take a 6 round decision over the even more experienced Rivo Rengkung (32-19-5, 12) who has now lost his last 3. For Sakkreerin, who had lost 2 of his previous 3, this was a much needed win and whilst he's unlikely to ever get another world title eliminator his career can continue with him hoping to get back in the rankings and maybe even get a voluntary title fight down the line.

Unfortunately for Indonesian fighters they went 0-4 on this show with all the losers being from Indonesia.

Osaka, Japan
In Japan we had a small, and somewhat over-looked, show at the brilliant Bodymaker Colosseum. 

The main event on this Japanese show so former world title challenger Junichi Ebisuoka (23-17-6, 10) fight to an 8 round majority draw with Tetsuya Hisada (21-8-1, 11). The draw, whilst awful for Hisada, saw Ebisuoka ending a 4 fight losing streak dating back more then 2 years. Although Hisada's record might not illustrate it these two were well matched and had previously fought in a close bout that saw Hisada taking a very narrow split decision way back in 2008. Surely this won't lead to Hisada Vs Ebisuoka III, will it?

In another 8 rounder form this card we saw a relative one sided bout as Yuki Takemoto (15-18-2, 7) used his experience to over-come Yoshihiro Kinjo (7-19-2, 2). As with Ebisuoka, Takemoto is much better than his record indicates and this was his third successive win.

As well as the pair of 8 rounders we also had a pair of 6 rounders. These included an expected result as Ryuji Kanza (7-1, 5) used his heavy hands to stop Takayuki Morimoto (5-8, 3) in 2 rounds and also saw an upset as Junya Nishikawa (7-4-2, 2) over-came Shogo Hayashi (5-2-1, 3) in a split decision.
On the lower part of the card we had a trio of 4 rounders. These saw just a single stoppage as Yudai Yamashoji (2-1, 2) stopped the debuting Ryo Nishikawa (0-1) in the third round.

Of the decisions both were very competitive. The closest saw Takahiko Nakajima (3-4-1) taking a split decision over the previously unbeaten Masatetsu Hirano (1-1, 1) whilst in the other bout Yuki Takahashi (3-0) take a very narrow, albeit unanimous, decision over Marcos Sogabe (3-9-1, 3).


Krasnodar, Russia
As well as the Indonesian show we also had some pretty interesting action from Russia. 

In the main event fans got to see the unbeaten Aik Shakhnazaryan (12-0, 5) score an impressive victory over journeyman Felix Lora (18-11-5, 9) who has one of boxing's more misleading records. Although Lora is usually a good test for a young and upcoming prospect he was easily beaten here by Shakhnazaryan who scored 2 knockdowns on route to taking a near shut out victory over 12 rounds.

Shakhnazaryan wasn't the only impressive prospect in championship length fights on the show as the once beaten David Avanesyan (17-1-1, 9) took a 12 round decision over former world title challenger Kaizer Mabuza (25-11-3, 15) of South Africa.

The only 8 rounder on the show saw the once beaten Felix Amoev (8-1, 4) take a very clear decision over the tough Volodymyr Borovskyy (21-57-2, 10) who was dropped early on but made his way to the final bell..

Cruiserweight-come-Heavyweight Ruslan Faifer (3-0, 1) also managed to extend his winning run as he over-came Ibragim Khalilov (4-2-2, 2) via a 6 round decision.

For us the most interesting bout was that of the Uzbek Uktamjon Rahmonov (3-0, 1) who scored the only stoppage on the show as he beat Gegam Mkrtchyan (2-2) via a 3rd round retirement. Rahmonov looked pretty good at the Olympics before being beaten, in the quarter finals, by the eventual gold medal winner.

Indiana, USA
Russian Heavyweight Andrey Fedosov (25-3, 20) returned after 10 months out of the ring and scored a straight forward stoppage over the limited but experienced American Maurice Harris (26-19-2, 11) who was stopped in the second round.

New York, USA
In New York fans got to see the unbeaten Simeon Hardy (12-0, 9) made light work of the Uzbek born Azerbaijani Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (9-15, 7) who has now lost his last 6 dating back over a year.


(Image courtesy of http://www.kiatkreerin.com)

When Chris John lost to Simpiwe Vetyeka we were expecting Indonesian boxing to be on it's last legs. This past Saturday however proved that the sport is alive, even if it is just at a low level. We all know that it could take a long time for the country to develop their next star but this weekend seemed like it was the first step towards finding the next Indonesian boxing icon.

Jakarta, Indonesia
Whilst the card in Jakarta, Indonesia, was only a small one with just 6 total bouts it was one that caught out eye with several interesting results coming from it.

The highest profile result was a small upset with Gaspar Ampolo (2-21-2, 1) scoring his first win in over 8 years. Ampolo, who had gone 0-17-2 in his last 19 bouts, managed to out point Madit Sada (5-13-15, 1). Sada, whilst not a great fighter himself, had mixed in great company and it was expected that his high level of experience would help him over come Ampolo, instead however it seems that Sada is a man who may be looking at calling it a day on his career.

Whilst Ampolo/Sada was the biggest profile bout of the card it was far from the only one taking place.

One of the others on the show saw Johnny Purba (1-0, 1) making a debut to remember as he stopped Marius Mabel (1-2). On paper this looked a decent meeting but Mabel had been inactive since 2009 and Purba's victory probably said just as much about Mabel's ringrust as anything else.

Purba was one of 6 debutants in action and one of just 2 to record as stoppage. He was joined by Adrian Owfen (1-0, 1) who took his victory in an all debutant contest against Ocol Speed (0-1). 

Speed and Purba were joined by Azril Wenda (1-0) as fighters who won on their debut. Wenda mamanged to take a split decision in his contest defeating Simon Tadeus (0-1) who was yet another debuting fighter.  Another debuting fighter in action was Eben Selmetan (0-1) who was beaten, via a majority decision, by novice Silem Serang (1-1).

The only other bout in Indonesia saw Vincent Olin (2-3-1, 2) stopping the previously unbeaten Mohammed Harun (1-0-1).

Tashkent, Uzbekistan
As well as the action in Jakarta there was also fights in the Uzbekistan capital city of Tashkent. 

The main event of this show saw Sherzod Husanov (19-0-1, 8), pictured, in action. Husanov, whose only set back came in a very controversial draw in Russia to Timur Nergadze, managed to record his 6th straight victory as he out pointed Carlos Adan Jerez (38-17-3, 18).

With this victory Husanov claimed the previously vacant IBF International Light Middleweight title and may well find himself rewarded with an IBF ranking when the organisation next do their updates.

Husanov's bout was one of 7 contests on this card, though was easily the stand out contests in terms of what the bout means on the wider boxing world.

To open the show we had a 4 rounder which saw the debuting Farruh Faiziev (1-0) score a solid victory over Mohir Yuldashev (3-2). This was swiftly followed by more under-card action including a bout for novice professional Uktamjon Rahmonov (2-0) who managed to over-come the much more experienced James Onyango (16-9-1, 14). Although Onyango had the edge in experience he was no match for Rahmonov, who reached the quarter finals in the 2012 Olympics. We'd really advise fans to keep his name in their memory for the future.

Although Rahmonov failed to score a stoppage several other bouts did fail to go the distance. These included Isroil Qurbonov's (8-8-1, 3) bout with Abror Oripov (4-4-2, 1), which saw Ourbonov stopping his rival in 4 rounds, Aik Shakhnazaryan's (10-0, 3) contest with George Owano (11-10-1, 2), which saw Owano stopped in 2, and the very exciting looking contest between Ravshan Hudaynazarov (17-0, 13) and Mustafa Katende (9-1, 7) which saw Hudaynazarov scoring a 4th round TKO.

The only only other bout on the show saw Bahyt Abdurahimov (11-8, 5) getting upset by the less experienced Ruslan Berchuk (8-2, 4) over the 8 round distance.

Davao del Sur, Philippines
Over in the Philippines we had more Asian action, some of which featured the very recognisable name of Pacquiao.

The main event here saw Marlon Tapales (24-2, 10) defeating Indonesian Galih Susanto (7-3, 1) in what looks to have been a bit of a mismatch. Susanto was a late replacement for Tapales though he never really had much of a chance to win the contest against the very talented, and world ranked, Tapales. 

In the co-feature we had a much more competitive contest as Rey Las Pinas (18-8-5, 11) twice picked himself off the canvas to score a draw with Jhon Gemino (10-2-1, 4). The bout, at it's core, proved that Pinas was nothing great and doesn't have much in terms of a chin despite having only been stopped twice.

We had expected the unbeaten "Golden Boy" Jack Tepora to be on the card. Unfortunately it seems Tepora was pulled out prior to the contest, though in it's place we got an absolute thriller as Edward Mansito (9-1-2, 5) narrowly beat Kenny Demecillo (6-2-1, 3). We had expected Tepora to take care of Mansito but instead we got a genuinely special bout with Demecillo being dropped twice, Mansito being dropped once and looking out of it before mounting a remarkable comeback. Brilliant contest!

The only other result bout from this card that we have featured Pacquiao. No, not Manny Pacquiao but his nephew Joneil Dapidran Pacquiao (3-0, 1) who swiftly took care of Jhofel Camo-Camo (4-6, 2) to extend his winning record and record his first stoppage. We're not sure on how much actual potential there is with Pacquiao but with his name and uncle it's fair to say that he will be getting extra attention and will be under additional scrutiny.