Tokyo, Japan
In Tokyo Japanese fans had a bit of a treat with with some matched bouts, at least on paper, and some big name fighters.

In one of the two main events fans saw former world champion Akifumi Shimoda (30-4-2, 13) beat Filipino Jerry Nardo (21-7, 11) in 5 rounds. This was one of Shimoda's best performances and he looked sharp from the opening bell. Whilst it's hard to see him winning another world title we really couldn't fault his performance.

The other main bout was a total mismatch and saw Yoshihiro Kamegai (26-3-1, 23) make very light work of Nelson Gulpe (8-6, 3) with a 3rd round KO. This bout was a mismatch, there's no two ways about it, however it was Kamegai's return to Japan after 3 bouts in the US.

On of the better matched bouts saw Kenya Yamashita (8-1, 5) score a 6th round TKO win against Musashi Suzuki (11-4, 4). Coming into this one Suzuki was ranked by the JBC and Yamashita had lost his previous bout, so this result will shake up the domestic rankings.

Another bout that looked good on paper saw Junki Sasaki (14-3, 5) take a shut out win against Yuki Ozawa (10-5, 2). This one looked good on paper but proved to be one-sided.

Another 8 rounder on this card saw the promising Masaru Sueyoshi (10-1, 6) take a clear win over Roman Canto (10-8-2, 5), with Filipino visitor Canto doing enough to survive but failing to win a round.

On the under-card Ryota Toyoshima (3-1-1, 2) defeated Kazumichi Ishizawa (3-6, 1) with a near shut out over 4 rounds whilst the debuting Yamato Hata (1-0,1) stopped Thailand's Muangpol NP Boxing Gym (0-1) in the second round.

Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
In the main event fans saw the talented Paipharob Kokietgym (31-0, 24) continue staying active with a 2nd round win against out-matched Filipino Jopher Marayan (7-8-2, 3) in a bout that saw Paipharob retain his PABA Light Flyweight title.

Also on this card fans saw former world champion Kompayak Porpramook (54-5, 38) continue his career with a 4th round TKO win over Indonesian journeyman Ichal Tobida (12-17, 8). Although not the fighter he once was Kompayak still has far too much for fighters like Tobida.

Also on this card fans saw the unbeaten Manachai Banchamek (8-0-1, 6) extend his perfect record with a decision win against Boonmieng Laos PDR (0-1).

California, USA
In the US fans saw popular Filipino Mercito Gesta (29-1-2-1, 16) claim a narrow run over Miguel Angel Mendoza (22-7-2, 21). Gesta was dropped early in the fight and was said to have been fortunate to get the decision here.

New South Wales, Australia
In Australia fans had a chance to see a number of Thai's in action, sadly however it wasn't a good day for them.

The most notable of those Thai's was former world champion Denkaosan Kaovichit (63-6-1, 26) who was stopped in 5 rounds by the fast rising TJ Doheny (13-0, 9), who has seemingly shown that he's heading to bigger and better things than a PABA title, one of which he defended here.

Another was Mongkolchai Lookmuangkanch (12-5, 7) who was stopped by another former world champion, Vic Darchinyan (41-8-1, 30) in just 2 rounds. Despite the fact Darchinyan was 39 this always seemed like a serious mismatch.

Another man who picked up a loss was Denkamon Pakdee Gym (22-7, 13) who was stopped by Olympian Cameron Hammond (14-0, 8). Interestingly this result was originally reported wrong in what would have been a huge upset.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Friday was a busy day for Asian boxing with fighters in action in both the west and the east, including two Thai shows.

Bangkok, Thailand
In the most significant of two Thai shows fans got the chance to see some of the more notable fighters from the Nakornluang stable of fighters.

The most notable fighter in action was former WBC Super Flyweight world champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (33-4-1, 30) who made light work of the horribly matched Madit Sada (9-21-1, 3). Sada was the proverbial lamb to the slaughter, and like a lamb he put up little resistance before being stopped in the 3rd round by Srisaket, who did little more than sharpen his tools.

Another somewhat notable fighter on this card was Kongfah Nakornluang (20-0, 12) who retained his WBC Youth silver Super Flyweight title as he easily beat Indonesian challenger Ricky Morales (4-1-1) who looked under-sized, inexperienced and was generally no match for Kongfah. As is common Kongfah looked huge in comparison to his foe and we really are curious as to how he makes Flyweight

Another early finish on this show saw Denchai Por Korbkua (2-2, 1) score his first stoppage win as he took out Petchboon Sithsaithong (2-2, 2) in the 3rd round. This was a high tempo and enjoyable affair though Petchboon seemed unable to cope with the pressure and aggression of Denchai, who was sloppy but fun to watch.

The only bout on the show that went the distance saw the previously win-less Toto Lookmuangbangklang (1-1) over-come the debuting Songkramchai Etinakorn (0-1) over the 6 round distance.

Chachoengsao, Thailand
A second Thai show, televised on Channel 11, featured a couple of unbeaten Tor Buamas prospects who both continued to advance their perfect records.

One of those prospects was Kaewfah Tor Buamas (18-0, 12) who over-came Indonesian visitor Boido Simanjuntak (18-28-1, 7) in 4 rounds of their Lightweight encounter. Simanjuntak has now lost 10 in a row and is win-less in more than 2 years however he is the best fighter Kaewfah has beaten so far. Although unbeaten Kaewfah has had a very uninspiring career thus far, and it's time he kicked on and stepped up a level.

The other prospect was Pharanpetch Tor Buamas (15-0, 11) who defeated the Chaosamut Padjaigym (0-1) in 3 rounds. Pharanpetch has faced better opponents than his stablemate but, just like Kaewfah, he really needs to begin stepping up his opposition as bouts like this are relatively pointless for such a talented fighter.

Chiba, Japan
In Japan we had an equally low level show in Chiba where fans had 7 bouts, unfortunately though only one of those bouts had any noteworthy quality.

That one notable bout saw Japanese hopeful Tsukasa Saito (20-3, 15) make light work of Thailand's win-less Fasanghan Or Benjamad (0-8) who continues his run of stoppage defeats. Fasanghan was stopped in the 2nd round by Saito who will be hoping to move towards a Japanese title fight later in the year.

In the main support bouts fans had a couple of 6 rounders. One of those saw Corrales Kawashima (5-5-1, 2) level off his record with a 2nd round stoppage win against Hiroshi Miwa (4-7, 2) with Miwa suffering his 7th stoppage loss. The other 6 rounder sadly ended in unsatisfactory fashion with a 2nd round technical draw in a bout between Haruka Itakura (4-1-1, 1) and Katsunori Imai (5-6-2).

The 4 under-card bouts here were all 4 rounders. One of those bouts saw Yoshihiro Furukawa (1-1, 1) claim his first win as he stopped the still win-less Kazuya Nomura (0-4-1) in the 3rd round. Another early win was scored by Ken Matsuzawa (1-0, 1) who stopped Hiroki Arakawa (0-2) in round 2 of their contest. A more competitive bout saw Toshiaki Akimoto (1-0) take a narrow win over Mirai Imagawa (0-1) whilst Atsuhsi Suzuki (0-0-1) and Yuki Ishikawa (0-0-1) fought to a split decision draw in an all debutant affair.

California, USA
The most significant bout of the day was also the last and came in the US where the popular Yoshihiro Kamegai (25-3-1, 22) battled against former world title challenger Alfonso Gomez (25-6-2, 12) in a bout that was highly entertaining and action packed. Early on Gomez was too smart and won a number of early rounds on his movement. As the bout progressed Gomez slowed and Kamegai managed to come back into it. Sadly for Kamegai much of his efforts were ignored by the judges who had the bout scored far too wide.

Victoria, Australia
In Australia there were several Asian fighters in action, including an all-Asian fight.

That all-Asian bout saw Australian based Filipino Czar Amonsot (27-3-3, 17) over-come Thai visitor Padjai Yongyuthgym (18-2-2, 12) in a 6 round bout. The world ranked Amonsot was effectively staying busy here though hopefully next time out he will face a stiffer opponent.

The other Asian on this card was Filipino journeyman Rodynie Rafol (12-7-2, 5) who lost a 6 round bout against the popular though faded Michael Katsidis (31-7, 24). Although Katsidis won he did struggle and it's clearer than ever that he needs to walk away from the sport before he gets beaten by a fighter at this level.

This past Saturday was a busy day in the world of boxing with fights all over the place involving some wonderfully talented fighters.

Nevada, USA
On a Golden Boy Promotions show in Nevada we had two Asian fighters in action and both had lost there most recent bout.

The first in action was OPBF Welterweight champion Yoshihiro Kamegai (25-2-1, 22). Kamegai was fighting for the first time since his all action loss to Robert Guerrero in June and managed to make very light work of the over matched Oscar Godoy (13-4, 6). Godoy was down several times before eventually being stopped by Kamegai who is now 2-2-1 (2) in the US. Kamegai was watched by fellow Teiken fighters Takashi Miura and Shinsuke Yamanaka who were in attendance for the contest.

The other Asian fighter was former WBA Light Heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10) who stopped Bobby Thomas Jr (14-3-1, 9). Shumenov was fighting as a fully blown Cruiserweight for the first time and although he is ranked #2 by the WBA it's hard to see him winning a world title at his new weight.

Nevada, USA
On a Top Rank promoted show, also in the US, we had two Russian's in action.

The first of those was Denis Shaifkov (35-1-1, 19) who over-came the heavy handed Miguel Angel Mendoza (21-5-2, 21) in an entertaining contest. The fight was shown on Toprank.tv and seemed to be about keeping Shafikov busy ahead of a possible world title fight in early 2015.

The other Russian was former amateur standout Matt Korobov (24-1, 14) who was stopped in 6 rounds by Irishman Andy Lee (34-2, 24). The bout, for the WBO Middleweight title, was one of the worst of the weekend with a very slow start, consisting of 4 rounds of the two men failing to engage. When the two did start to come to blows at the start of round 6 they hurt each other with Korobov failing to recover before Lee wailed away and forced referee Kenny Bayless to step in and stop the previously unbeaten Korobov.

Nuevo León, Mexico
In Mexico fans had the opportunity to see former IBF Light Flyweight champion John Riel Casimero (21-2, 13) in action, albeit not for long. Casimero, fighting in an IBF Flyweight eliminator, destroyed Armando Santos (14-4-1, 8) in just 2 rounds. Santos was dropped in the opening round by a huge left hand before being dismantled at the start of round 2 by the Filipino road warrior who will now be looking for an opportunity to become a 2-weight world champion.

Osaka, Japan
In Osaka fans got the chance to see a small card which was headlined by Satoru Sugita (9-2-1, 6) who scored a 5th round TKO against Akira Shono (7-7-2, 4) with a devastating flurry of shots.

In the chief support bout fans saw a decision win for the light hitting Il Che (7-8-4, 1) who easily over-came Tomonori Ota (6-5, 4). Che used excellent movement and was a run away winner in a bout that was surprisingly 1-sided given the records of the two men involved.

The other notable supporting bout saw the light hitting Tatsunori Fukunaga (5-5, 2) score just his 2nd stoppage win in 10 bouts as he over-came the debuting Anucha Sor Soda (0-1) from Thailand.

The 6 under-card bouts here were all 4 rounders and many were close, in fact only 1 of the under-card bouts failed to go the distance as Maya Uegaki (1-0, 1) began her career with a 2nd round KO of fellow debutant Shizuka Nakamura (0-1).

The closest of the under-card contests saw Masaru Hasegawa (0-2-1) fighting to a draw with Kewpie Tsubawa (0-1-1) though there nearly a second draw as Takashi Okura (3-3, 1) take a majority decision over the win-less Daiki Haraguchi (0-8). Ryo Ishida (2-1, 1) narrowly escaped with a win as he over-came Shota Oka (1-1) with a razor thin decision and Koji Nakamura (4-6) took a close one over Ryuto Araya (2-7-1, 2). The only clear cut decision here saw the unbeaten Takuya Uehara (3-0, 1) clearly beat Thai visitor San Saknarong (0-1).

Metro Manila, Philipines
Filipino fans got a rather interesting domestic card from Metro Manila which featured several interesting contests.

The most interesting of those was one of two GAB title fights on the card. This one in particular saw Benezer Alolod (16-5-5, 5) narrowly over-come Renren Tesorio (13-6-3, 4) to retain the GAB Light Flyweight title. Alolod scored the win with a split decision but it could easily have gone the other way.

The other title fight on this show left nothing to chance as Dan Nazareno Jr (21-12, 17) showed off his power and retained his GAB Welterweight title with an opening round blow out against Dennis Padua (9-10-2, 4) in what always looked like a mismatch.

Both of the chief support contests ended in the 9th round. The most entertaining of those was a knock-down filled Super Bantamweight bout that saw Danilo Gabisay (6-3, 4) stopping the Angelito Merin (7-5-3, 1). Merin was down 4 times as Gabisay battered his light hitting foe. In the other support bout Ernesto Saulong (16-1-1, 6) stopped Jimmy Aducal (8-4-2, 6) dropping Aducal prior to the stoppage.

Lower down the card Toto Landero (4-0-1, 1) narrowly kept his unbeaten record intact with a narrow majority decision win over Jeven Villavite (3-3-3, 1). We had a minor upset as Julius Bala (4-2, 1) dominated Arnil Caoctoy (5-3, 2) en route to scoring a 2nd round TKO. We also saw a female contest as former world title challenger Jessebelle Pagaduan (7-1, 4) took a clear decision over the debuting Florivic Montero (0-1)

Eastern Cape, South Africa
Staying with Filipino's it's fair to say one of them won't be happy in the run up to Christmas. That will be Michael Dasmarinas (18-2, 11) who will have felt the judges gave a gift to South African Lwandile Sityatha (18-3-1, 7). The Filipino went to Sityatha's homeland in an attempt to claim the IBO Super Flyweight title but was “beat” by split decision with score cards that were all over the place.

On the same card Marbon Bodiongan (11-2-2, 9) came up short against Xolani Mcotheli (11-1, 8) in a bout scored a clear win for the South African fighter, who won the IBO Inter-Continental Super Featherweight title. From what we're been told this was a near shut out by the South African fighter.

Kiev, Ukraine
In Ukraine fans saw unbeaten Kazakh Roman Zhailauov (13-0, 8) continue on his winning ways with a stay busy bout against the win-less Artem Komar (0-3). We like Zhailauov but cannot understand why 2014 has been such a write off for such a young and talented boxer who could have achieved so much more this year.

Victoria, Australia
In Australia fans saw Thailand's Terdkiat Siththeppitak (1-9) suffer his 9th straight loss as he was out pointed by the debuting Kayne Pettifer (1-0) in a 4 round contest.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp and Sumio Yamada)

Sometimes a day in boxing is insanely busy with fights coming thick and fast with bouts taking place all over the world. This past Saturday was one such day with notable fights taking place in the USA, South Africa, the Philippines, Belgium and Switzerland. If we say it was a multi-national day it really wouldn't be a lie.

California, USA
The fight of the night, at least as a spectacle, was in the US as Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-2-1, 21) and Robert Guerrero (32-2-1-2, 18) fought a bloody, violent phone booth war that lived up to the tag of being the "main event" on a major show. The two men seemed to cast aside defence and boxing and instead just stood in front of each other, breaking each other up to the body and smashing each others faces.

Despite the effort of Kamegai the judges all saw Guerrero taking the win. At the end of the day though the fans were the winners and hopefully the action and style of this fight will see Kamegai brought back to the US sooner rather than later. There are lots of fights Stateside for a guy like Kamegai to be involved in and plenty of them could be made easily and be just as entertaining as this one was.

Mote Carlo, Monaco
Whilst the fight in the US was the best of the day the "most significant", at least in the division it was fought in, was in Monaco as South Africa's popular and talented Hekkie Budler (26-1, 8) defended his WBA Minimumweight title with a stoppage of Thailand's experienced Pigmy Kokietgym (52-7-2, 22). Pigmy tried to take out Budler with big right hands though at the end of the day the South African was too sharp, too accurate and too big for the Thai who struggled to get close. Although competitive at stages Budler finished the fight in style with a devastating body attack that dropped Kokietgym for the count in round 8.

The win for Budler makes a dream fight between himself and Katsunari Takayama seem like a real possibility for either this year or early next year as long as Takayama can overcome Francisco Rodriguez Jr on August 9th. If things go as planned a bout between Takayama and Budler would be a triple title unification with the IBF, WBO and WBA belts all on the line for the winner.

Cebu, Philippines
Whilst the biggest fights too place outside of Asia there was still some action closer to home with an explosive ALA show in the Philippines.

The show was headlined by the Pagara brothers who both scored notable stoppage victories and wowed fans with their aggression and power. 

The first of the Pagara's in action was the unbeaten "Prince" Albert Pagara (21-0, 15) who made very light work of the over-matched Hugo Partida (21-5-2, 16). Partida was drown 3 times in quick succession and referee Bruce McTavish was forced to stop the bout. It was clear from the first right hand that Pagara landed that this wasn't going to last and that proved to be the case with Partida completely unable to take his power. The win for "Prince Albert" helped him claim the IBF Inter-Continental Super Bantamweight title and may well have helped the younger Pagara to a world ranking at last.

For Albert Pagara the bout was about winning a new title, for his brother Jason Pagara (34-2, 21) the fight was all about defending his WBO International Light Welterweight title, which he did with ease dropping Mario Meraz (20-4, 16) twice and forcing the referee to wave of the bout at the end of the 4th round.

The Pagara's wren't the only men to score stoppages and earlier on the card there was also a stoppage victory for the former world title contender AJ Banal (31-2-1, 22) who had to get off the canvas in the first round stop Indonesia's Defry Palulu (10-1, 9) in the second. Palulu's power looked genuine but there is still serious work to do for him however the body shot that Banal landed was a beauty and and very few would have taken it well.

The only disappointment on this show saw Jimrex Jaca (39-7-4, 22) and Masayoshi Kotake (9-8-2, 5) fighting to a 3rd round technical draw. The bout had the potential to be a show stealing war but a head clash put paid to that and the bout simply couldn't go on.

Glattbrug, Switzerland
In what, on paper, looks to have been an upset Japan's Aniya Seki (24-3-2, 2) was stopped in the second round by Mexico's Judith Rodriguez (7-7, 5). Unfortunately this bout really showed the difference between the two women despite the records suggesting the opposite. Rodriguez, despite her scratchy record, had only lost to world champions, and had often run them close. Seki however was somewhat untested and it showed when Rodriguez took the fight to her and used his very genuine power and strength.

The loss for Seki, just her second stoppage loss in 29 fights, saw her losing the WBC female Silver Super Flyweight title and quite probably her dreams of a world title fight.

Vienna, Austria
Female action wasn't just in Switzerland but also in Austria as two Thai fighters took on European opponents.

The less competitive of the bouts saw Buangern OnesongchaiGym (11-7-1, 2) suffer her third stoppage loss so far this year. Buangern was fighting against the unbeaten Oezlem Sahin (18-0-1, 6) and was stopped in the 6th round in what was a battle for the WIBF, WBF and GBU female Minimumweight titles. The loss, more than anything, summed up that Buangern isn't a championship level fighter and, rather than getting beaten again, she needs to go back to the gym and work on her skills. We all know she's not tough enough to survive with a decent fighter so will her team please stop throwing her to the wolves!

In a much more competitive contest Nonggift Onesongchaigym (6-2-1, 1) gave a great account of herself despite losing a decision to home town fighter Eva Voraberger (18-3, 9). Voraberger is a fighter we've been told was very good prior to this fight so we'd assume that Nonggift, at just 18, has a very bright future and it would be far from a surprise to see her picking up a title of some type in the near future. This bout, for the WIBF and WBF female Super Flyweight titles, might be a set back but we honestly think this loss could the the making off the Thai youngster.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Sometimes we need to apologise for being late with results and this is one of those times. Unfortunate fights from both Saturday and Sunday were very late to reach us in full. We're sorry for this and hope it won't affect us on a regular basis.

Tokyo, Japan
In terms of Asian cards the most notable was the Teiken promoted show at the Korakuen Hall which features a total of 9 bouts including a notable title bout and a former Japanese national champion.

The notable title bout was a contest for the OPBF Welterweight title as the hard hitting and genuinely fun to watch Yoshihiro Kamegai (24-1-1, 21) successfully defended his belt for the first time. Kamegai was matched somewhat easily however as he took on the limited Korean champion Jung-Hoon Yang (8-6, 2) who simply couldn't cope with Kamegai's power and was stopped in 4 rounds.

Kamegai's was a mismatch but so too was the chief support bout which pitted former Japanese Middleweight champion Tomohiro Ebisu (12-3, 12) who made very light work of Indonesian import Satria Antasena (6-6, 2), scoring a 3rd round KO with out even breaking sweat.

One of the few competitive bouts on paper turned out to be equally as uncompetitive as Yota Hori (11-2-2, 6) manage to take a wide decision over Kenta Okumura (11-2-1, 2). On paper this was competitive though in actuality Okumura struggled to win a single round of the 8 round contest.

Of the other 6 bouts on the show only one actually went the distance and that was the only competitive bout on the show as Ryuya Kaji (2-0, 1) out pointed Ryusei Ishii (2-1, 1) in a narrow 4 rounder.

Of the 5 remaining bouts 3 of them only went in to the second round. These saw the debuting Sho Nagata (1-0, 1) stopping the still win-less Hiroki Imamura (0-2), the win-some lose-some puncher Heisuke Ono (4-2-2, 4) took out journeyman Taro Mochizuki (4-8, 4)  and unbeaten puncher Masaya Tamayama (3-0, 3) stopped Kotaro Sasa (1-5).

Both of the other bouts went 4 rounds and these saw Shingo Kusano (8-3-1, 4) stopping Tsubasa Matsuo (8-3, 4) and the unbeaten Teppei Kayanuma (2-0, 2) defeated fellow novice Tateo Saito (2-2).

Kanagawa, Japan
A second show in Japan took place at Camp Zama, the third major show in recent times at the military base. This time around however there was no Charlie Ota, unfortunately, but their was an appearance by OPBF Super Middleweight champion Yuzo Kiyota (25-4-1, 23). Kiyota won a none-title fight as he defeated Mexico's Victor Manuel Palacios (10-6-1, 7) in 5 rounds.

As with the Korakuen Hall card the chief support bout there was also one sided with the experienced Yuta Nagai (28-9-4, 19) taking care of Korean Kyung-Jin Son (6-11-2, 4) in 5 rounds.

Further down the card we saw Naoto Fujimoto (6-3-1, 3) scoring a 6th round KO against Tetsuya Koyama (5-6, 2), who was stopped for the first time, Naoya Sato (1-0) score a debut victory over fellow rookie Norihito Ouchi (0-1) and two female bouts. These female bouts saw Momoko Kanda (5-6-2) take a decision victory over Carol Castro Madrid (5-4, 2) in a 6 rounder and Chisa Tanaka (1-1, 1) score an opening round victory over the debuting Yumiko Shimooka (0-1).

Baja California, Mexico
In the biggest shock of the weekend hard hitting Filipino prospect Rogelio Jun Doliguez (18-1-2, 14) was out pointed by Mexican journeyman Gabriel Francisco Pina (11-11-1, 4). We've heard some very mixed reports about this bout ranging from Doliguez having an off night toe the Filipino being robbed. The only thing that we're sure of though is that Doliguez doesn't like Mexico where he is now 0-1-1 from 2 bouts.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)