Tokyo, Japan On Monday Japanese fans at the Korakuen Hall had a treat as they got a number of really good match ups on the most recent of the Dangan shows. In the main event fight fans saw rising star Ken Shiro (5-0, 3) score a 10 round unanimous decision win over Filipino Rolly Sumalpong (9-1-1, 4) to claim the WBC Youth Light Flyweight crown. The bout saw Ken Shiro being dropped in round 2 before fighting back hard to claim a clear decision win over the Filipino, who was deducted a point in the final round for biting Ken Shiro. Following the win Ken Shiro announced that he would be fighting for the Japanese national title in December against Kenichi Horikawa. In the chief support bout fans saw a minor upset as Japanese based Filipino Ricky Sismundo (30-8-2, 13) took a narrow decision win over Yoshitaka Kato (29-6-1, 9). Sismundo looked better than ever as he out boxed Kato through large swathes of the bout, though was dropped in round 8 as Kato looked to turn the fight around. Despite scoring the late knockdown Kato still came up short, losing 76-75 on all 3 cards. In another supporting bout fans saw Shota Hayashi (26-5-1, 16) scored a 7th round TKO win over former Japanese title holder Koji Umetsu (22-17-3, 10), who now seems likely to retire given that he is 39 and has lost 4 of his last 6 bouts. Another of the supporting bouts was a bout between former title challengers and saw Koshinmaru Saito (22-7-1, 11) score a 5th round TKO win over Takehiro Shimokawara (19-11-3, 6). This was a third successive loss for Shimokawara who has now won just 1 of his last 6, and may well walk away from the sport. Another supporting 8 rounder saw Hayato Yamaguchi (13-6-1, 2) celebrate his 20th professional bout with an 8th round technical decision win over Seiya Fujikita (8-2, 1). This bout, a majority technical decision, was a minor upset for Yamaguchi. The first of the supporting 8 rounders was another close one as Masashi Odaira (6-4-2, 2) narrowly over-came Yuki Fukumoto (17-11, 5) with a razor thin unanimous decision win. This saw Fukumoto suffer his 5th loss in 7 bouts. The only 4 rounder on the card saw Yusuke Moriya (2-2, 1) score a 4th round TKO win against Seita Shimaniya (1-5, 1), who has now suffered 4 straight losses. The win for Moriya sees him ending a 2 fight skid. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Boy, did we ever have a busy Saturday with fights taking part all over the globe. Some were thrilling, some were close, some were one sided, some ended in upsets and some were controversial but man did we ever have a lot of action! Tokyo, Japan The first card of real significance for the month came from the Korakuen Hall where Nakaya put on a brilliant show with a trio of main event level fights. The card began with the 4 rounders that typically make up and under-card. These 4 rounders saw Sho Nagata (2-1, 1) score his first decision win as he over-came the limited Ryo Sugimoto (1-7-1) with a clear decision and Takahiro Yoneshige (2-1, 1) also claimed his first decision win as he defeated the win-less Kazuya Nomura (0-3-1). The only stoppage in the 4 rounders was scored by the debuting Shuji Kato (1-0, 1) who began his career with an opening round win over Masayuki Kondo (1-2, 1). The show's only real upset came in it's only 6 round bout as the limited Quaye Peter (6-5-2, 3) easily out pointed Japanese ranked Lightweight Kazuya Maruki (17-3, 11). This loss for Maruki ends a 6 fight winning streak whilst Peter scores his first win in in over 2 years and ends a run of 5 fights without a victory, including a loss to a then debuting Koki Koshikawa. The first of the main bouts was a truly compelling Japanese Super Bantamweight title bout between Yukinori Oguni (14-1, 4), the former OPBF champion, and Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-8, 7). The bout was close through out with neither man managing to take control of the contest. Although neither man came close to stopping the other it was highly competitive and the sort of even match up we love even if the action isn't explosive. For Oguni this sees him winning his second professional title and it appears he has eyes on a world title fight next year though in all honesty he's unlikely to beat any of the division's top fighters. In the second of the 3 big fights fans saw unified Japanese and OPBF Middleweight champion Akio Shibata (24-8-1, 10) scoring a rare stoppage as he retained his titles and forced the referee to save former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-10, 12). Fuchigami was down early in the bout and never seemed capable of really testing the champion who has now won 3 straight since being stopped a then debuting Ryota Murata back in August 2013. For Fuchigami this really could be the end and he's now 3 of his last 4, and 4 of his last 6. The highlight bout of the show wasn't a title bout but was a rubber match between current Japanese Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (29-5-1, 9) and former champion Nihito Arakawa (25-5-1, 16). The bout, fought in great spirits, saw Kato having too much for the tough Arakawa who was competitive but never seemed to be quite able to get into any sort of a groove. It's a shame that Arakawa has now lost 3 of his last 4 though we wouldn't be shocked to see him back in the ring next year against a possibly lower level opponent. For Kato this bout is a perfect ending to the year, a year that began with him losing the OPBF Lightweight title to Masayoshi Nakatani, and it could be that 2015 will see him kick on with things and possibly even work towards a world title fight. Pathum Thani, Thailand In Thailand we had two bouts, one of which was interesting and one of which wasn't interesting, at all. The less bout saw the world ranked Norasing Kokietgym (13-0, 10) make very light work of Indonesian visitor Jack Madison (2-4) in a bout that really wasn't worth making. Madison genuinely looked like someone who didn't want to be there and Norasing looked like he was embarassed by how poor his opponent was. Without trying to sound too rude we never want to see Madison fight again. The more interesting contest saw the very promising Kongthara KKP (6-0, 5) go the 12 round distance as he defended the WBA Asian Boxing Council silver Super Bantamweight title against former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane (27-16-1, 17). Manakane came in to the bout to win though was clearly beaten despite putting up a solid effort. Despite his record Manakane is a solid fighter for a prospect like Kongthara and this bout will certainly not have done Kongthara's any harm despite the fact his stoppage run has come to an end. Cotabato (del Norte), Philippines In the Philippines there was an interesting but low profile show courtesy of Sonshine Sports Management. The headline bout here saw Rolando Magbanua (25-2, 17) make light work of the over-matched JP Macaumpuis (9-5-1, 3), who has now been stopped 5 times in 15 bouts. A more interesting bout was the co-feature which saw the heavy handed Lorenzo Villanueva (27-1-0-1, 14) go the 8 round distance with the incredibly tough Jamie Barcelona (38-57-1, 10). Villanueva may have had the clear edge in power but was fortunate to come out on top here with a majority decision over the experienced Barcelona. Another majority decision went the way of Jaime Quitoriano (2-3, 1) who narrowly beat Vergel Deguma (2-2). The rest of the card was thrills and spills as prospects scored blow out after blow out on local journeymen. The most notable of those prospects was youngster Jade Bornea (2-0, 2) who dispatched Armando Yee (2-6-3, 1) in the 2nd round. Jade's brother Jake Bornea (8-1, 4) also took a win in the 2nd as he stopped Rowel Garcia (6-16-3, 1). Others to score stoppages were Roskie Cristobal (10-0, 8), who stopped Rey dela Cruz (2-8, 2) inside a round, Jelbirt Gomera (8-0, 4), who beat Dingdong Quinones (4-12-1, 2) and Michael Bravo (7-1, 2) who beat Jessie Suacasa (3-4, 2) Sonora, Mexico Possibly the most surprising performance of the day came from unheralded Filipino Joebert Alvarez (14-1-1, 6). Alvarez was, and still is, an unknown in the eyes of many but he genuinely gave a really tough test to unified Flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (31-2, 22) in a bout much, much more competitive than the score cards suggest. The bout, scored 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92 to Estrada make the bout look like an easy win for the Mexican but it was anything but easy for “Gallo”. Hopefully we see Alvarez back in the ring soon and hopefully in the mix for an OPBF title as he has the ability to go a long way though seems to lack the experience at the moment. Nuevo León, Mexico Sadly it wasn't just in Sonora where the judges failed to show their impartiality and in Nuevo León fans saw Shindo Go (14-3, 9) lose the WBC female Flyweight title to Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) with a split decision defeat. The bout, a very competitive one, was marred by the regular “WTF” card which read 99-91 in favour of the home time town fighter. The other card in favour of Mucino had the contest 96-94 whilst one judge had the contest 96-93 in favour of Go who unfortunately loses for the second time on the road. We suspect that Go's team will begin to think twice before allowing the fighter to compete outside of Japan as both of her losses on the road were controversial to say the least. California, USA In the US the ever popular Brian Viloria (35-4-0-2, 21) made light work of Armando Vazquez (21-12, 4) as he attempts to rebuild towards another world title fight. This really wasn't much of a work out for Viloria who stopped his foe in the 4th round of their contest with a left to the body. Incidentally there is now talk about Viloria getting a rematch with Estrada. On tonight's performances Viloria actually has a chance against the man that almost stopped him last year. New South Wales, Australia In Australia there was a pair of Indonesians who were both embarrassed by unbeaten Australian's. One of those was Gun Tinular (11-19-1, 6), who was announced as “Gumilar”. Tunilar was stopped inside a round by Tony Bates (10-0-1, 8), who previous to this bout had stopped a trio of Thais. The other was Elly Pangaribuan (3-5, 1) who was stopped in the second round by Ahmed Dib (15-0, 9). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Tokyo, Japan The major mid-week card this week took place at the Korakeun Hall this past Wednesday and it was genuinely a great domestic card with several notable fighters in action and 2 genuinely thrilling contests. The card began with a series of blow outs. One of these was a 33 second blow out win for Masahiko Ashiya (1-0-1, 1) who took swift care of the debuting Naoki Uebayashi (0-1). Likewise it didn't too much longer for Tomoyuki Omura (8-5, 4) to see off Makoto Hiroki (4-8, 3) with Hiroki also failing to see out a round. The first of the notable fighters in action was former Middleweight world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami (21-9, 12) who ended a 2 fight losing streak with a 2nd round stoppage against the ill matched Jamed Jalarante (23-17-1, 11). Whilst Fuchigami is best known for his loss to Gennady Golovkin in a WBA world title fight he was, previously, an accomplished domestic and regional level fighter. Now however his career seems to be on a tightrope and a loss against Jalarante would have been the end of Fuchigami's dreams to win another title. A second round win for Fuchigami here might keep his title dreams alive though in all honesty it means little due to the poor level of ability of Jalarante. The only other undercard bout saw Shohei Kikuzato (10-2, 5) scoring a 6th round stoppage over Taro Oikawa (3-3, 3). The fight, which was Kikuzato's first bout scheduled for 8 rounds, saw him picking up his second notable win in less than a year following his very good win over Yoichi Ide last year. Although the show was a double header header it was one where a title fight took second billing to non-title rematch several years in the making. The title fight in question was the 7th defence of the Japanese Lightweight title by the criminally under-rated Yoshitaka Kato (28-5-1, 9) who went toe-to-toe with the heavy handed Tsukasa Saito (19-3, 14) and came out on top with an 8th round TKO over the challenger. Saito started fast and made the action very exciting before slowly being broken down by the champion with the referee making a perfectly timed stoppage. Following the title fight we then saw Lightweights colliding against as the now world famous Nihito Arakawa (24-5-1, 16) scored a high octane and genuinely thrilling victory over Akihiro Kondo (19-4-1, 8). The bout, which saw the men fighting more than 4 years after Arakawa scored a narrow decision over Kondo, was genuinely riveting from the first round to the last with the final round being nothing short of exhilarating. Whilst it wasn't as good as Arakawa's bout with Omar Figueroa it wasn't too far behind. Rather interestingly Arakawa now seems to be in line for a fight with Kato, if the two do get it on it would be a third bout between the two and arguably the most significant with each man looking for bragging rights over the other. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) To end the month of April boxing fans all turned their attention to Japan for a show dubbed "Kamikaze 3", a show that seemed to have all the hardcore fans really interest. We'll admit it's odd for fans around the globe to even know about a Japanese domestic card but this one was different. Tokyo, Japan When a fighter scores a big win on US TV fans tend to note, fans seem to suddenly care and become interested in a fighter. This was the case when Japanese fighter Nobuhiro Ishida (25-10-2, 10) stopped the previously unbeaten James Kirkland on HBO. Kirkland was hyped a destroyer of men, a Light Middleweight who ruined anything he touched. Ishida made his name stateside by stopping Kirkland inside a round in one of the most shocking results of the last decade. The fame Ishida had from that result saw him getting big fights with Paul Williams, Dmitry Pirog and Gennady Golovkin. Although he lost all 3 of those bouts American and European fans still had an interest in him and when it was announced he'd be fighting at Heavyweight that interest grew and grew. Unfortunately for Ishida the interest from around the world didn't help him with the judges and after a very, very good performance he was narrowly outpointed by Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (9-1, 5), over 8 rounds, in a decision many have suggested was swayed by Fujimoto having a higher domestic profile. Although Ishida lost there have been calls from fans and the media to have a rematch, this time over 10 rounds and with the Heavyweight title at stake, though we have heard that Fujimoto has no interest in that and would rather fight international opponents. We're hoping that, no matter what happens, Ishida gets a chance to fight for the Japanese Heavyweight title. Whether that would be a rematch with Fujimoto or a fight for the vacant title is up for debate but we'd be happy to see either. Although the Heavyweight bout wasn't a title bout, Fujimoto would have lost the title had he been defeated. There are some suggesting that his title was "protected" so that Japan would have a Heavyweight champion though on this showing the champion really may not be worth having. Fujimoto wasn't the only reigning champion on the show and another was Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato (27-5-1, 7) who also retained his title as he stopped challenger Yuhei Suzuki (14-4, 11). The two men had fought last year to a close decision, this time around however Kato started fast and managed to stoop Suzuki in round 7 as he recorded the 6th defence of his belt. As well as the two champions the card featured a further 3 bouts. One of those three contests saw the once hotly tipped Kenji Kubo (4-2-1, 2) in action. Kubo, who beat former world title challenger Nouldy Manakane on debut, has been struggling in recent fights though showed a great attitude to stop Atsushi Hosogai (6-8) in the 7th of a scheduled 8 round bout. Both of the others went the distance. The closest saw Yusuke Sakashita (12-4-2, 7) taking a razor thin majority decision over Hideyuki Watanabe (7-6-2, 5) in a fight that could, and perhaps should, have been awarded as a draw. The other saw a genuine upset as journeyman Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-16) managed to out point Seiji Watanabe (5-4-1, 2) over 6 rounds to claim his first win over 4 years. (Image thanks to boxingnews.jp) Nakatani claims big win and Oguni scores rare stoppage in Tokyo, Condes and Jaro both score wins!1/11/2014 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
The first OPBF title fight of the new year took place today and saw a new champion crowned as Masayoshi Nakatani (7-0, 5) managed to claim the biggest victory of his career. Nakatani, stepping up big time to challenge Yoshitaka Kato (26-5-1, 7) for the OPBF Lightweight title, may have been viewed by many as taking the fight too soon though showed exactly why so many rate so highly. Despite coming in to the bout with just 21 rounds of career experience Nakatani looked like a veteran at times. He made the most of his sizable reach and height advantages to make Kato fight from range and also made the defending champion pay for his lack of accuracy in the later rounds with great counters. With this victory we expect Nakatani to move into the world rankings. Prior to the bout Kato was ranked by both the WBC and WBO (#10 in both) and it'd not be a shock if Nakatani moved into a similar position when the rankings for those organisations were updated. Sure he's not ready for any of the active world champions but he's certainly a man who we think will be fighting on the world stage over the following few years. With his size, power, skill and developing experience this kid will be going a very long way. In the chief support bout, at least in terms of professional contests, there was a rare stoppage victory for the promising Yukinori Oguni (12-1, 3). Oguni, a former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion, took time to get going though didn't really struggle with Yuki Fujimoto (7-3-1, 2) who suffered his first stoppage loss via an 8th round stoppage. Although Oguni was stopped last year by Shingo Wake we've no doubt that this young kid has the potential to make his mark on the world stage. The least surprising result on the card saw Yusuke Sakashita (11-4-2, 7) take a stoppage over Thai tomato can Petchek Sithkorpolkanpim (0-12) who suffered his 11th career stoppage via this second round loss. In a disappointing result the highly touted Kenji Kubo (3-2-1, 1) fought to a split decision draw with Kota Sato (9-5-1, 4). Kubo, who began his career with a very impressive decision over Nouldy Manakane, appears to have flopped and is now starting to look very unlikely to ever live up to his potential. Of course credit needs to go to Sato here though in all honesty it's hard to hide our disappointment over Kubo's career. If Kubo suffering a draw was disappointing then it's fair to say that Yusuke Suzuki (4-1, 3) scoring a 3rd round KO over Takaaki Ishikawa (10-5, 5) was a delightful surprise. Of course Ishikawa hasn't got the greatest chin, suffering 5 stoppage losses now, but it was still a very solid win for Suzki who is still a novice himself. As well as the competitive bouts on the show there was also the Heavyweight spar of Nobuhiro Ishida (25-9-2, 10). Ishida, a former Japanese Light Middleweight champion, shared the ring with Yamato Fujinaka (4-3, 1) and seemed to do relatively well. There were issues with his sparring but it's expected that he will be given a Japanese ranking and he will be able to challenger Kyotaro Fujimoto on April 30th. It's not yet confirmed but indications are suggest that the JBC ranking committee WILL grant Ishida a Heavyweight ranking. Barangay. Namayan Basketball Arena, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines As well as the show in Tokyo there was also action in the Philippines thanks to Aljoe Jaro. This card, which had made headlines before it had even started, turned out to be a pretty interesting one for numerous reasons. With 13 fights on the show, yes, you read that right 13 fights, it was bound to have talking points and that's certainly what we got. The lowest level bouts on the card were a trio of 4 rounders. These saw Joel Tamayo (1-1) taking his first victory courtesy of a 4 round decision over the debuting Jeromias Aguinaldo (0-1); Joyjoy Formentera (2-1) winning a tight split decision over Jeffrey Alejandre (1-2) in an excellently made bout, and a good stoppage victory for the promising Rolly Sumalpong (3-0, 1) who stopped Rodney Ramirez (0-1-1) in the 4th and final round. The card amazingly had 7 bouts scheduled for 6 rounds. Surprisingly only 3 of those bouts actually went the distance. These distance bouts saw Rowel Rosia (6-2, 3) score a very credible win over Lionel Legada (11-6-1, 5) with a unanimous decision, Danilo Gabisay (5-2, 3) scoring a narrow victory over Regan Delos Santos (2-2-1, 2) with a majority decision whilst the unbeaten Joey Canoy (4-0-1, 3) was unexpectedly held to a draw by Felipe Cagubcob Jr (1-1-4) who is starting to become an expect in scoring draws. Of the other scheduled 6 rounders the longest lasted 5 rounds as Jonathan Francisco (5-3, 2) struggled to finish off Mac Mac Canisio (2-4-1). This was somewhat the opposite of Lloyd Jardeliza's (5-0-3, 4) 159 second blow out of the fragile Marco Niones (3-11-1, 1) who suffered his 9th stoppage loss. For us some of the most noteworthy results came in the other 6 rounders. One of those was a 3rd round victory scored by the very promising Neil John Tabanao (6-0, 5). Tabanao, fighting Warren Mambuanag (6-4-2, 3), showed why he is so highly regarded as he dropped Mambuanag in the opening round before finishing him in round 3. The second noteworthy result in the 6 round bouts saw former IBF Minimumweight champion Florante Condes (26-8-1, 22) stopping journeyman Marzon Cabilla (9-11-1, 4). On paper this shouldn't be noteworthy though it is for several reasons. Firstly this was Condes's first bout in well over a year and his first win since 2010. Both interesting facts, though the key is that Cabilla was supposed to be a better opponent, despite being a very late replacement, than Condes's original opponent Rey Morano who the GAB refused to sanction for the bout. If Cabilla, who lasted just 133 seconds, was better then just how bad do the GAB think Morano is? In the shows sole 8 round bout, the unbeaten Ardie Boyosi (9-0-1, 6) stopped the experienced Prell Tupaz (8-23-4, 1) in just 111 seconds as he showed off why his is touted as a really credible prospect. Tupaz might have collected losses but he has rarely been stopped and actually came in to this bout following an 8th round technical decision loss to one time world title challenger Sylvester Lopez. We believe the card had 2 bouts scheduled for 12 rounds. One of these saw Jomar Fajardo (13-4-1, 6) claim the new Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) Light Flyweight title courtesy of a 3rd round stoppage over the limited Robel Villegas (9-8, 3), whilst the other again brought question marks to the GAB. Former WBC and Linear Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (35-13-5, 25), originally scheduled to fight Pit Anacaya, instead took on Charlie Cabilla (13-13-4, 2) and took him out inside a round. Cabilla, a late replacement for Anacaya who the GAB said was an unfit opponent for Jaro, was also unfit though with the matchmaker given less than a week to sort out an opponent it's questionable as to what the GAB expected. Auditorio Benito Juárez, Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico In Mexico things went as expected for a trio of Filipino's who were thrown in hard and expected to sink. Things for Vergel Nebran (11-7-1, 7) went exactly as most would have expected, with the Filipino being stopped by former WBC Super Flyweight world champion Tomas Rojas (42-14-1-1, 28). In fact if anything was surprisingly here it was how long Nebran lasted, refusing to be stopped early on he survived until round 8 against the rangy Mexican fighter. Rojas wasn't the only former world champion beating up on a Filipino foe as Ramon Garcia Hirales (19-4-1, 12), the former WBO Light Flyweight champion, over came Lionel Mark Duran (11-10-2, 5) in what looked like a mismatch on paper. Although the expected winner won Duran impressed by refusing to be stopped The closest a Filipino came was Adones Aguelo (20-9-2, 12) who gave Mexico's Nery Saguilan (27-4-1, 10) a good run for his money in a competitive 10 round bout. Aguelo, who was narrowly beaten, proved he was on an even keel with Saguilan and a rematch in a neutral venue may well see the decision reversed. |
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