This past Monday was a busy day in Asian boxing with notable fights taking place in both Japan and Korea. Osaka, Japan The most of two Japanese shows came from Osaka as Osaka Teiken put on a very notable 9 fight card that showcased prospects and domestic contenders as well as novices. The most promising fighter in action was Japanese youngster Sho Nakazawa (7-0, 4), who scored his biggest win to date as he out pointed former world title challenger Silvester Lopez (24-10-2, 18) over 10 rounds. The Japanese 22 year old was dropped early in the fight but then found his groove and took a comfortable decision win over Lopez. Following this win Nakazawa seemed to suggest that he was eyeing up a Japanese title fight with Yukinori Oguni. Another of the main bouts saw tough Flyweight contender Myung Ho Lee (19-4-1, 6) take a clear decision win over Akiyoshi Kanazawa (12-4-4, 6), as Lee continued his hunt for a title fight of his own. Talking about title fights it's now clear that Kenichi Horikawa (29-13-1, 6) will be fighting Shin Ono for the Japanese Light Flyweight title later in the year. Horikawa booked his place in that fight by scoring an 8th round TKO win here against Il Che (7-9-5, 1), who was stopped for just the second time in his career. Although a number of bouts were notable in and around the title level there was one, major bout, that wasn't even close to being relevant at the top of the domestic level. That bout saw Juiki Tatsuyoshi (2-0, 2) continue his career with a 2nd round KO win against Naoki Okamura (1-4). Tatsuyoshi, the son of the charismatic Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, already appears to be a huge draw despite facing poor opposition and it's clear that his team are going to make the most of his surname. In low level action we had a number of novices all facing off. The most notable of those bouts was a split decision win for Toshiki Kawanishi (3-4, 1), who over-came Yosuke Taniguchi (3-4). Another split decision saw Shintaro Ukezono (2-0) over-come the debuting Masayuki Kuroko (0-1). In competitive decision bouts Hayate Ikuta (2-0) out pointed the win-less Wolf Nakano (0-1-2) and Kazunori Harima (1-1-1) over-came Ryo Inagaki (1-1, 1). There was also a blow out on this opening portion of the card as Ryuta Miyoshi (1-2, 1) stopped Kenji Okawa (0-2) in just 129 seconds. Fukuoka, Japan A second Japanese show took place in Fukuoka where fans got an 8 bout card. In the main event of this show we got a mild surprise as Satoshi Ozawa (10-6-1, 2) claimed a split decision win against the much more experienced Yoshihiko Matsuo (18-6-6, 3). The co-feature also ended in a split decision as Koki Ono (8-3, 4) out pointed Aki Koto (8-3-1, 4), though the judge scoring in favour of Koto does seem to have gotten this one wrong. Another very competitive match up here saw Yusuke Sekido (9-11-2) take a majority decision win over Takanori Hayashida (5-10-3) in a very well matched bout. The remaining bouts here were all 4-rounders. These included a female bout that saw Maika Fukuzaki (1-1) claim her first win as she out pointed Arisa Iwanaga (0-2), a very competitive win for Tsunehiko Aitoku (3-3-1), who out pointed the previously unbeaten Yukinori Yamaguchi (4-1-1, 2) and a wonderfully competitive split decision draw between Kaito Akiyoshi (1-0-1) and Akito Terada (1-1-1). The only one sided bouts among these 4 rounders, other than the female bout, was a clear decision win for Shuma Nakazato (3-0, 2) who impressed en route to out pointing Hiromichi Kurokawa (4-3-1, 1) and a 4th round TKO win for Fumiaki Sueyoshi (2-0, 2), who stopped Takafumi Uryu (0-2). Interestingly Nakazato is the son of former OPBF champion, Shigeru Nakazato, who was a multi-time world title challenger. Ulsan, South Korea The only show outside of Japan came from South Korea where fans had televised action under the KBF banner. The show featured a couple of televised international bouts and a number of others bouts, though only one of the bouts on the show has been included on the boxrec.com database. The one bout that is on boxrec is an IBF Asia Super Bantamweight title fight that saw defending champion Ye Joon Kim (12-1-2, 6) retain his title with a 7th round retirement of Japan's Yoshihiro Utsumi (12-7-3, 7), who suffered his first stoppage loss. The talented Korean was in fine form to defend his belt for the first time though now needs to look towards making a mark on the world stage. Another international bout on this show saw Sa Myung Noh (8-2-1, 1) take a narrow decision win over Filipino fighter Jaymart Toyco (15-8, 11) in a very hotly contested 8 round bout that could easily have gone Toyco's way. Frustratingly there was one other televised bout on the show, though we're unsure who was involved. The bout was a 6 round that saw a now 6-1-1 (1) fighter taken the unbeaten record a fighter now 5-1 (1). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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All Japan Rookie of the year Finals set, Osawa scores a quick one and Ye Joon Kim takes another win!11/10/2014 This past Sunday was a hectic day in Asian boxing with numerous cards held on the same day including the final set of Rookie of the Year regional finals which have now set up the All-Japan finals and interesting card in Korea. Osaka, Japan The biggest show this Sunday was in Japan as fans saw the second of the Rookie of the Year semi final shows. The show, which decided the west representative at this year All-Japan Rookie, featured 12 bouts and was really great throughout. The winner in the Minimumweight division was Reiya Konishi (6-0, 4) who narrowly over-came Jun Takigawa (5-1, 3) in a battle of unbeaten men. The bout was genuinely close through out with Konishi taking the decision with scores of 47-45, 46-45 and 46-45. The win for Konishi secures him a fight with Yuki Kubo in the All-Japan final. At Light Flyweight Seita Ogido (6-1-1, 1) fought to a draw with the still unbeaten Seigo Yuri Akui (2-0-1). Although the bout was a 4 round split decision draw we've been told that Ogido qualified for the All-Japan final who will now find himself up against Kenji Ono in that contest. In the Flyweight contest the unbeaten Shun Kosaka (9-0) took a very clear decision win over the experienced but limited Naoki Shoda (4-8-1). The bout was scored 50-44 by all 3 judges as Kosaka progressed to the All-Japan final where he will fight against Kenya Yamashita in a very interesting battle of unbeaten men. The bout at Super Flyweight was won by the very promising Ioka gym hopeful Masayoshi Hashizume (6-0, 4) who made surprisingly light work of the previously unbeaten Eita Sakurai (4-1, 1) with a win after 2 just minutes of the bout. The win netted Hashizume a place in the All Japan final against Shogo Yonenaga and also earned him the MVP for the card adding to his West Japan MVP award. We've got to be honest and say that this kid looks a little bit special and we think he'll prove that in his upcoming bout. At Bantamweight there was another stoppage as Keisuke Tabuchi (8-1-2, 5) took the unbeaten record of Morihisa Iju (5-1, 4) courtesy of a 2nd round TKO. Tabuchi's All Japam Rookie of the Year final bout will see him up against Ryohei Takahashi in what should be a thrilling encounter given how good Takahashi looked in his East Japan Rookie of the Year final last weekend. One of the show's closest bouts saw Shohei Kawashima (8-0-2, 1) take a split decision over the heavy handed Shisato Okuma (8-2-2, 6) in a bout scored 48-47 by all 3 judges. As a result of this win Kawashima will battle against Yuki Matsudo in the All Japan final. In a relatively one sided bout Kyohei Tonomoto (5-1, 2) clearly over-came the previously unbeaten Takashi Igarashi (5-1, 1) in a clear cut bout at Featherweight. Tonomoto will be fighting Reiya Abe in the All Japan final in what looks a great contest in the making. In the Super Featherweight division we had a razor close bout that ended in a split decision draw between Masashi Wakita (4-2-1, 2) and the unbeaten Yuya Shimakura (3-0-1). The draw will see Wakita moving on to the next round where he will fight against the very exciting Yuichiro Kasuya who won the MVP from the East Japan Final's last weekend with a thrilling win over Yutaka Ekawa. In a battle of unbeaten fighters at Lightweight fans saw Shogo Yamaguchi (6-0-1, 3) took a decision over Takahiro Shinoda (1-1, 1). This win sets up a really intriguing final bout between Yamaguchi and the highly touted Andy Hiroaka. The Light Welterweight division saw the heavy handed Tetsuya Morisada (4-3, 4) scoring a very quick victory over Chocoboy Oizumi (4-3-2, 2), with the bout lasting less than a minute. The win for Morisada will see him fight Naoharu Kida in the All-Japan final. The heavy handed Yuki Beppu (7-0, 7) continued the very impressive start to his career as he claimed a place in the All-Japan Welterweight final with a 53 second victory over Shota Yamamoto (5-2, 3). Beppu will now risk his unbeaten record, and KO streak, against fellow unbeaten Hironobu Matsunaga in a bout that looks like a real highlight for the All Japan Rookie of the Year. At Middleweight Toshihiro Kai (4-6-2, 1) scored his first stoppage win as he stopped Ryota Ikawa (1-6) in the third round to set up a very tough bout for himself against Hisao Narita. For those wondering about the All Japan Rookie of the year Finals they will happen on December 21st at the Korakuen Hall. Osaka, Japan A second show in Osaka was headlined by former OPBF Featherweight champion Hiroshige Osawa (26-3-5, 15) who predictably made light work of the horribly over-matched Nongdear Sor Bangkhru (0-5) who suffered his 4th stoppage loss. For Osawa this was too easy however it was his first bout since changing gyms earlier this year and it seems that his new gym just wanted to give him a work out more than anything else. In the sole 8 round contest fans saw a much more interesting looking contest as Kosuke Saka (9-3, 6) scored an 8th round TKO against Tetsuya Nishinaga (11-10-1). It wasn't the greatest match up but it was significantly better than the main event of the card. Although Osawa was the biggest name on the show we were mostly interested in Ioka youngster Takeru Kamikubo (7-0, 4) who did what he had to do to shut out the tough Masaki Hirai (4-12-3, 2) over 6 rounds. For the 18 year old Kamikubo this was a perfectly good test and it seems that Ioka have a real diamond on their hands here if he's developed properly, like we suspect he will be. The other 6 rounder on the show was just as interesting as the unbeaten Terumi Nuki (5-0, 2) took a hard fought decision over Kai Johnson (5-7-3, 2) who's win over Tomomi Takano now looks like it was a long, long time ago. In 4 rounders on this card fans saw two men record their first career wins. One of those was Katsuhito Kudo (1-2, 1) who took his first win with a 96 second KO against Keisei Nishiwaki (0-3-1) whilst the other was Keita Yamamoto (1-2) who took a very close decision over debutant Hikaru Iwasaki (0-1). The only other undercard bout saw Takuya Yamamoto (4-3, 2) take a clear win over Noriyuki Imamura (2-3) Hiroshima, Japan A third Japanese card came from Hiroshima and it's fair to say this was the smallest and least interesting of the three Japanese shows. Of the 9 bouts on this card 6 of them were 4 rounders and interesting only a single one of them failed to go the distance. The one bout that failed to go 4 completed rounds saw Takahiro Morisaki (2-1, 1) take a 3rd round technical decision over the debuting Tasuku Matsunoshima (0-1) with the bout called after 92 seconds of round 3. The other undercard bouts all went the scheduled and saw some very interesting and competitive bouts including a a majority decision draw in an all debutant bout between Toshiya Kawauchi (0-0-1) and Tomoya Yonehara (0-0-1). We weren't far from getting draws with Riku Inokuchi (1-0) narrowly defeating Takahiro Maeda (1-1), the limited Hinonori Miyake (3-3, 1) only just out pointed Yuya Kondo (2-1, 1) and Masashi Kamon (1-1) defeating Yoshiki Tatsukami (0-1) in a third bout that could easily have ended up in a draw. The only clear undercard bout here saw debutant Tamaki Miwa (1-0) clearly beat Maito Fujii (0-3) in a hotly contested bout, though one that was a clear win for Miwa on the cards.. The card, advertised as being a triple main event show, saw the 3 main bouts lasting just 13 rounds. The shortest of those bouts was a second round blow out win for Ryuji Ikeda (8-2-1, 4) who made light work of Thailand's Eaksayarm Mor Krungthep Thonburi (0-2), it took just 1 round longer for Yuya Okazaki (11-7-1, 4) to see off Shinichi Tsukaha (8-7-3, 3). The remaining bout saw Koji Itagaki (13-9-2, 6) struggle to see off Yamato Uchinono (5-3-5, 3) in the most competitive and interesting of the 3 main events. Seoul, South Korea In a small, and supposedly "unsanctioned" South Korean show fans saw several Korea Vs Japan bouts. The main event from the show saw WBC Youth Super Bantamweight champion Ye Joon Kim (10-1-2, 5) stopping Yoshiyuki Takabayashi (4-5-3) in the 7th round of their contest. Kim, the star of South Korean boxing, appears to be on a great roll at the moment and has now scored 4 successive stoppages. In the co-feature Nak-Yul Park (6-2, 3) scored a 6 round split decision over Kentaro Endo (4-5, 3) in a very closely scored bout. We've been informed that Japanese boxers on this show went 0-6 however we've not managed to get all the results from it unfortunately. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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