This past Saturday was a notable day in Asian boxing with several interesting fighters in action.

Tokyo, Japan
At the Korakuen Hall fans has an intriguing show that featured fighters across various levels of the sport.

The most notable man in action was former Japanese Light Flyweight champion Yu Kimura (17-3-1, 3) who really shined as he comfortably out pointed Mexican visitor Jesus Faro (14-10 9). Kimura controlled the bout through out and looked at his best as he came out the clear winner in a bout that seemingly acted as a “world title prelude” and it now seems that he's angling for a fight with WBC champion Pedro Guevara.

Another man looking for a title fight is Yuto Shimizu (10-2-2, 3) who recorded his 7th successive win as he over-came veteran foe Yosuke Kirima (21-5-2, 14). On paper this looked like a bout where Kirima was the favourite but Shimizu proved his quality once again and he really deserves a title fight after recent wins over Hikaru Nishida, Toru Chiba, Taakehiro Shimokawara and now Kirima. Sadly for Kirima, himself a former title domestic title challenger, this loss ends a 4 fight winning streak.

A minor upset saw the light hitting Hirotsugu Yamamoto (17-11-2 2) take a very wide decision win against Koichi Ito (10-4-3, 9), with Ito struggling to win a round. Coming in to this bout Yamamoto was 1-5 in his last 6 but really turned in a performance to be proud of here. Sadly for Ito, who really was second best in every which way, this was his his 3rd loss in 5 bouts and his future really doesn't look too good right now.

Whilst Ito looks done it's fair to say things are only getting started for Light Flyweight hopeful Kenji Ono (9-1, 4) who took a solid win over Kenta Motoki (6-8-1, 1). Ono, won won a hard fought 8 round decision, has now won 7 in a row and he'll be hoping to move towards a Japanese ranking in the next 12 months ago.

Talking about fighters looking forward to the future it's fair to say the future is very bright for Lightweight prospect Shuya Masaki (2-0, 1) who scored a solid 6 round decision win over Shintaro Nakamura (5-5-1, 2). Masaki might be slightly disappointed that he didn't get a stoppage but he really was a run away winner.

At Welterweight fans saw Masaya Tamayama (5-1, 3) bounce back from his sole loss as he out pointed the more experienced Shingo Yabu (4-6). On paper this was a solid win for the young prospect however it does need saying that Yabu has been stopped 4 times, suggesting that Tamayama doesn't his as hard as his record indicates.

The only 4 rounder on this card saw Ryo Matsubara (3-1, 3) score a 2nd round stoppage of the previously unbeaten Seiyu Gunji (1-1-1, 1). This was Matsubara's second stoppage since being narrowly out-pointed by Takunari Yokoyama in June 2014, and despite that loss it does seem that he has serious power.

Bucheon, South Korea
In theory “world” title bouts are the highest level of fights. Yesterday however we had a world title bout that really wasn't at the top level, but yet was still a very intriguing contest as “WIBA” Minimumweight champion Ji Hyun Park (22-2, 6) took a clear, but hard fought, decision over Filipino foe Gretchen Abaniel (15-8, 6). Abaniel came to rip the title from the champion and, during the early rounds, had real success but eventually Park found her range and took the later rounds to retain her title

Also on this card was a bout featuring Thai based Iranian Mohamadreza Hamze (6-6-1, 2), who lost a decision to a local fighter, though sadly we've been unable to put a name to the Korean who beat him.

Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico
In Mexico things didn't end well for the over-matched Kazuki Hashimoto (11-5, 7) was saw a 4 fight winning streak come to a quick end at the hands of former world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (58-9, 49). Gonzalez, who was making his Super Featherweight debut, stopped Hashimoto in the 2nd round and it now seems likely that he begin targeting a bout with Takashi Miura.

Tasmania, Australia
In Australia there were a couple of Asian fighters in action.

One of those bouts ended in a genuine upset as Australian based Thai Paitoon Jaikom (4-15, 2) scored a very rare win as he over-came the debuting Jakob Daureen (0-1) with a 4 round decision. Paitoon started well, scoring a knock-down in the opening round, and never really let the lead slip out of his hands.

In the main event of the card fans saw former Bantamweight world title challenger Nouldy Manakane (29-18-2, 18) suffer a 3rd round loss to unbeaten Super Featherweight hopeful Luke Jackson (9-0, 4). It's been a while since Manakane lost to Koki Kameda, in a WBA Bantamweight title fight, but it's now clear that he is fight well above his natural weight and that he's becoming little more than a journeyman.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Saturday was a hectic day for Asian boxing fans who saw action begin in Japan, with a trio of shows, and end in Mexico with a Filipino slugger getting his chance to make a statement.

Tokyo, Japan
The biggest show in Tokyo came from the Korakuen Hall where Teiken hosted a notable card featuring several notable names.

In the main event we saw the world ranked Yu Kimura (16-2-1, 3) put on a show-case performance as he defended his Japanese Light Flyweight title and stopped Hayato Yamaguchi (12-6-1, 2). Yamaguchi only got the bout a couple of weeks ago, following an injury to Shin Ono, but looked more out of his depth than ill-prepared. From the opening round Kimura looked too good, too fresh and too sharp before finally forcing the referee to save a bloodied Yamaguchi.

In the chief support bout we saw former world-ranked fighter Yasutaka Ishimoto (25-8, 7) take a 7th round technical decision over Yoshihiuro Utsumi (12-6-3, 7). The bout, scored 68-65 by all 3 judges in favour of Ishimoto, saw Ishimoto ending a 2 fight losing streak which had included a razor thin loss last December to Yukinori Oguni in a Japanese title fight. It's fair to say that Ishimoto will be hoping to get another title fight later this year. Interestingly this is the 3rd time Utsumi has last by technical decision.

Another support bout saw Masanobu Nakazawa (17-1-1, 7) score a late stoppage against Kazuya Soma (7-7-2, 6). Soma, who had only been stopped once previously, was taken out in the first minute of round 8 as Naklazawa claimed his second successive stoppage win and recorded his 14th straight win.

Another supporting bout saw 2014 Light Flyweight Rookie of the Year Kenji Ono (8-1, 4) score a 2nd round TKO against Taichi Yokote (6-3, 3). This was one of two scheduled 6 rounders with the other being a highly impressive debut by Tomoki Narumi (1-0, 1) who kicked of his career with a 2nd round TKO against Makoto Hiroki (4-9, 3) in a Light Middleweight bout. Narumi was a good amateur and it seems likely that he will be fast tracked as a professional.

On the under-card there were 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds. The most competitive of those saw Toshiki Nishihara (4-3-2, 1) fight to a majority draw with Kenta Yamada (3-1-1, 3) in a really nip-and-tuck affair. The only other 4 rounder to go the distance saw Akira Onishi (1-2) claim his first win as he over-came the still win-less Kimiaki Suzuki (0-1-1) with a close decision.

One bout that almost went the distance ended with with Masato Niijima (2-0, 2) taking a late stoppage over the previously unbeaten Junki Kobayashi (1-1, 1) whilst the remaining bout was over in just 72 seconds as Hayate Kaji (2-0, 2) blew away the debuting Musashi Yoshino (0-1).

Osaka, Japan
The “L-Osaka” played host to two shows, of those the most notable was the Osaka Teiken promoted card.

In the most interesting bout on that show fans saw Kosuke Saka (10-3, 7) lift himself off the canvas to stop the previously unbeaten Ryuto Kyoguchi (13-1-1, 9) in the 3rd round of a really short but fun fight.

Another stoppage on this card saw Myung He Lee (18-4-1, 6) make light work of Thailand's Dawut Manopkanchang (0-3). This was Dawut's 3rd stoppage loss in Japan following previous defeat to Kohei Kono and Atsushi Kakutani. From what we understand Lee is now hunting a Japanese title fight.

A third fight of note here ended in disappointing fashion as Bunta Mitaka (6-2-3) and Shingo Kawamura (9-2-1, 4) saw their bout end in a 3rd round technical draw.

On the under-card of this show fans saw a trio of low level bouts. The most competitive of those saw Go Mitaka (3-5-2) record a narrow win over Naoki Okumura (1-3) whilst another decision bout saw Hirohide Murakami (3-2) defeat the previously unbeaten Kenta Sakata (2-1-1). The only under-card not to go the distance saw Kyosuke Tsutsuminoto (3-0, 3) continue his perfect start with a 3rd round retirement victory over Shota Taguchi (2-2)

Osaka, Japan
The other “L-Osaka” show was promoted by Taiho.

The most notable of the fights saw Ryota Kajiki (25-9, 16) score a 2nd round TKO against the over-matched Tokiya Nishioka (9-5-2, 5). On paper Nishioka never stood a chance and that proved to be the case in the ring.

A more competitive contest saw Ippo Nishiwaki (8-3-1, 4) narrowly over-come Hirokazu Okajima (8-5-2, 4) in a really well matched contest. We don't imagine either of these two will become fixtures at the top of the domestic scene but they did make for an excellent matched up contest against each other.

A third bout from this show saw Akiyoshi Kanazawa (12-3-4, 5) score a 5th round TKO again Junya Nishikawa (7-6-2, 2). This loss was the first time Nishikawa had suffered back-to-back defeats whilst Kanazawa scored his first win in 3 bouts.

On this under-card there were 4 bouts with only a single one going the distance. That was the narrow 4 round decision win for Takuya Fujioka (4-4-1, 1) who narrowly over-came Noboru Osato (4-3-3, 1). As for the stoppages the quickest of those saw the unbeaten Daijiro Yuki (5-0, 2) score a 2nd round TKO against the debuting Kenji Okawa (0-1). It didn't take much longer for Ruka Shobu (1-0-1, 1) to force a retirement of Akihiko Hayashi (0-2). The other of the undercard bouts went into the 4th round as Kensei Hirano (4-0, 2) defeated Kazumi Hara (1-1)

México, Mexico
In the final bout of the day to involve an Asian we saw the brilliant Jonathan Taconing (21-2-1, 18) impress as he stopped former WBO Minimumweight champion Ramon Garcia Hirales (20-6-1, 12). The powerful Filipino seemed to be the boss from the first round and eventually forced the referee to save his Mexican foe who looked completely out powered and out fought. This was the win that proved Taconing's ability and it now seems likely that the aggressive Light Flyweight is going to be getting a world title eliminator in the coming months.

(Image courtesy of www.boxingnews.jp) 

Some days are busier than others and we're happy to say that this past Saturday was hectic to say the least with a massive number of fights taking place with Japanese fighters involved in them.

Chicago, USA
The two highest profile bouts from Asian fighters came in the US as we saw two of the three Kameda brothers in action.

The first of those saw former 3-weight world champion Koki Kameda (33-1, 17) make light work of Omar Salado (24-9-2, 15) with a 4th round stoppage. This was Koki's US debut and it was also his first bout in almost a year following his victory in South Korea against Jung-Oh Son. It appears clear that Koki was shedding ring rust here but it was a mismatch and it's hard to know how he would compete against the top Super Flyweights if he was matched with one of them.

The second bout of note was the biggest Asian bout of the night as Koki's youngest brother Tomoki Kameda (31-0, 19) put his WBO Bantamweight title on the line against mandatory challenger Alejandro Hernandez (28-11-2, 15). The bout appeared to be dominated by the more technically sounds, faster and aggressive Kameda though some how the judges all had it close with scores of 115-113 being rendered on all 3 cards, unfortunately one went to Hernandez to give a split decision in a bout that really wasn't close. Unfortunately for Tomoki this bout could have undone the good will of his stoppage victory over Pungluang Sor Singyu from earlier in the year.

Tokyo, Japan
One of the three Japanese shows came from the Korakuen Hall and it was arguably this one that was the most important.

The main event here saw Japanese Light Flyweight champion Yu Kimura (15-2-1, 2) successfully retain his title with a 7th round technical decision over Atsushi Aburada (9-7, 5). This was Kimura's second defense and was a comfortable one with the champion only losing the first round before settling behind his sharp and accurate jab. As soon as Kimura had his jab going it was a straight forward bout for the champion who got his hand raised early after Aburada suffered a cut over the left eye and was eventually ruled unfit to continue. Kimura, a world ranked fighter, may well look for a world title fight in 2015 though if the opportunity doesn't arise we'd not be shocked by him continuing to defend the Japanese title.

In the co-feature fans saw the #2 ranked Japanese Flyweight Tetsuma Hayashi (25-2-2, 9) score an excellent knockout against the over-matched Ryutaro Taira (8-5-2, 3). The shots that finished off Taira were a devastating series of body shots that left him him on the canvas in agony. After the fight Hayashi said that next year he would be aiming to win a Japanese title and in all honesty we would love to see Hayashi fight current Japanese champion Suguru Muranaka.

In a notable upset Filipino fighter Jonel Alibio (18-18-5, 10) managed to score a shock win over the heavy handed Yuichi Yokoyama (14-3, 13). Alibio entered this bout with just 1 win in his last 12 and was on a run of 4 straight losses in Japan though he showed the class to stop Yokoyama in the 4th round. Incidentally this was Alibio's first win in Japan since he stopped Naoki Matsuda in November 2010 to claim the OPBF Featherweight title.

We saw another upset as Takumi Suda (11-10-2, 3) shocked the hard hitting Huiroyuki Otsuka (7-3, 6) in just 158 seconds. Suda went straight to work and and dropped Otsuka early before a continued attack forced the referee to save the much fancied Otsuka. For Suda this was his first win since 2009 and saw him ending a 6 fight losing streak. Whilst the streak sounds like a bad one it included losses to Shin Ono, Warlito Parrenas, Masayuki Kuroda, Yu Kimura and Yasutaka Kuroki.

In another 8 rounder fans saw Masaru Sueyoshi (8-1, 5) over-come Shota Suito (9-4-1, 1) with a clear decision to extend his current winning streak to 5 bouts following his sole defeat to Masayuki Ito back in July 2012.

To open the the card we saw Masaaki Shiraishi (1-0, 1) take an opening round blow out victory over Daisuke Tanigawa (0-1) in an all debutant contest that lasted just 22 seconds and we also saw Masanobu Nakazawa (16-1-1, 6) take a 5th round retirement stoppage against Ken Otokawa (6-5, 5), in a bout scheduled for 6.

Fukuoka, Japan
A second Japanese show took place in Fukuoka and was headlined by a WBC female Minimumweight title fight between Japan's very own Yuko Kuroki (12-4-1, 6) who successfully defended her title with a very hard fought and competitive split decision over Mexican challenger Katia Gutierrez (19-5, 4). The bout was a very tough first defense for Kuroki but it was an excellent contest all the same between an aggressive fighter, Gutierrez, and a skilled fast boxer, Kuroki. The competitive nature of the bout saw both women talking about a rematch post fight and we'd not be disappointed by that in 2015.

The chief support bout here ended in another upset as the unbeaten Shohei Okuda (11-1, 4) was shockingly upset in the 3rd round of a scheduled 8 rounder. Okuda, a much fancied 23 year old prospect, was expected to easily over-come Ryusei Yoshida (25-6, 12) but was made to looking shockingly bad by the veteran. Okuda was cut over the left eye, dropped in round  3 and then stopped by a follow up attack as his unbeaten record was destroyed in style by Yoshida.

A third notable bout on this card saw Aiki Koto (8-1-1, 4) narrowly defeat Koki Ono (7-3, 4). The bout was a really competitive 8 rounder though Koto did just enough to deserve the majority decision over the 8 round distance.

The bottom of the card consisted of 4 bouts scheduled for 4 rounds, including 2 more females bouts. 

The female bouts went the distance with the the first of those being a debut win for Sana Hazuki (1-0) who narrowly over-came the win-less Sayaka Aoki (0-2), the other saw Shione Ogata (3-5) out point Ayaka Sato (1-3, 1). Another undercard bout that went the distance saw the debuting Super Featherweight hopeful Go Matsuda (1-0) out point Yoshiki Shoda (0-1). The only under-card bout not to go the distance saw Yoichi Kojima (3-1-1, 2) take an opening round stoppage against the previously undefeated Toshiki Yanari (2-1, 2).

Hyogo, Japan
A third Japanese show took place in Hyogo where the main event was at a much lower level than the other two but was still a very interesting contest.

The aforementioned main event saw the once beaten Hikaru Matsuoka (8-1-3, 1) defeat the criminally under-rated Filipino tough guy Richard Pumicpic (15-7-2, 4). Pumicpic, who had given Ryosuke Iwasa hell earlier this year, was simply too small to be all that competitive with Matsuoka who used distance to easily defeat the Filipino fighter on the scorecards. We had expected this bout to be much closer than it was though unfortunately it was relatively straight forward for Matsuoka.

It wasn't all bad for Filipino's on this show however and Super Flyweight hopeful Giovanni Escaner (12-3-1, 8) scored an unexpected 7th round stoppage victory over Japanese veteran Junichi Ebisuoka (23-18-6, 10). Ebisuoka is now win-less in 6 bouts and his long career is likely coming to an end whilst Escaner will be hoping this will will help him get his career back on track after 3 losses in his previous 4 bouts.

The only other stoppage on this card saw Jonel Gadapan (9-7-1, 5) score an upset win over the previously unbeaten Yuji Itani (4-1, 4) who was stopped in the second round of a schedule 6 rounder. The only other 6 rounder on the show went the distance as Kenta Sugimoto (7-7-1) took a 6 round unanimous decision over Hiroki Taniguchi (6-4-1, 2).

In the 4 rounders fans saw Arata Matsuoka (2-2, 1) take a majority decision over Ryoki Hirai (3-3-1, 1) whilst Daichi Nakajima (2-2) took a split decision over the previously unbeaten Shoehei Matsuo (1-1).

Distrito Federal, Mexico
In Mexico there was two bouts of note with a Filipino and a Japanese fighter in action.

The Filipino was former world title challenger, Silvester Lopez (22-9-2, 16) who was unfortunately stopped, for the second time this year, by Rey Vargas (22-0, 19) in the 8th round. The bout, for the WBC Youth Silver Super Bantamweight title, was another set back for Lopez who has now lose 5 of his last 8 and suffered a trio of stoppages. We loved watch Lopez come through but it now appears time for him to take a serious break from the ring before he becomes little more than a typical journeyman.

The other man was Shoki Sakai (17-5, 11) who came up short against the always interest Nery Saguilan (31-4-1, 11) in a bout for the WBC US silver Lightweight title. Saguilan, who had claimed the title earlier this year with a win over Seiichi Okada, was forced to work very hard to over-come Sakai in a very competitive bout that suggested the records of both men were misleading with Sakai being better than his record suggest and Saguilan being worse than his looks on paper.

(Image, from the Hayashi bout, courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

A busy Saturday saw fights all over the place with many of them having titles on the line from various levels.

New York, USA
For many fight fans the biggest fight involving an Asian was in the US as Filipino youngster Marvin Sonsona (19-1-1, 15) avenged his sole loss by out pointing Wilfredo Vazquez Jr (23-4-1, 19) in a less than stellar bout that saw holding as much as punching. Sonsona looked the much better fighter and did score a knockdown in the opening round but by the end of the bout it had become to watch with very little real quality landed by either man in the final few rounds. It wasn't a great fight but it was a fight that saw Sonsona expunging his sole loss.

Tokyo, Japan
The only card in Japan was a Teiken promoted show at the Korakuen Hall. The show, a very interesting on on paper, not only featured a title fight in the main even but several other bouts of not with prospects and hopefuls all in action.

The aforementioned main event saw Japanese Light Flyweight champion Yu Kimura (14-2-1, 2) defend his title for the first time as he put on an excellent showing against the much taller Yuki Chinen (14-2, 7). Chinen, who towered over Kimura, looked competitive early on though as the bout went into the second half it was totally taken over by the more skilled Kimura who got the well deserved decision and seemed to really be getting to Chinen in the final rounds.

Whilst Kimura/Chinen was the main event fight it wasn't the only one of major not on the show and the chief support bout was one of the other interesting bouts. This contest saw Kenichi Ogawa (12-1, 10) continue his development as he took out Filipino visitor Gabriel Royo (9-10-2, 8) in 4 rounds. This was the 4th straight victory for Ogawa since his lone defeat and whilst he's not ready to be thinking about fights above the domestic level he is showing real promise and by developing that promise there is every chance he could move on to the OPBF level in the coming years.

Masanobu Nakazawa (15-1-1, 5) taking a well earned decision over the "better than his record indicated" Kosuke Iwashita (14-17-2, 8) in a very good Light Welterweight bout. Ranked #4 in Japan Nakazawa will likely be targeting a national title fight later this year or very early next year. We'd not favour him against the current champion, Hiroki Okada, but he would likely be as competitive with the champion as almost anyone else in the country. 

Another of the support bouts saw the Japanese ranked Hiroyuki Otsuka (7-2, 6) stop Thai visitor Thaminkhao Sor Tharnthip (3-10-1, 2) in just 2 rounds. This was a mismatch though one that we can't complain about following very close back-to-back defeats for Otsuka who likely needed a confident boosting win.

The only other bout scheduled for 8 went the distance as Junki Sasaki (12-2, 5) took a clear decision over the tough but limited Kohei Maruoka (7-7-1, 1) who has suffered just a sole stoppage defeat.

On the undercard we had 2 Rookie bouts as Takunari Yokoyama (4-0, 2) out pointed Ryo Matsubara (1-0, 1) in a bout made at Flyweight and Ryuya Kaji (3-0, 2) took a 3rd round KO over Naoaki Kumagai (2-2, 2) in a Super Bantamweight contest. From what we under-stand these were both Rookie of the Year contests.

Kunming, China
It wasn't just in Japan that we had title action as championship bouts were spread across Asia, including in China as Zovi Boxing put on their latest show.

This card began with 4 undercard bouts, each scheduled for 4 rounds. These saw Wang Yi Ming (2-2, 2) taking a 2nd round TKO over the debuting Indian Promod (0-1). Ming was the only fighter on the under-card here to score a stoppage. The other bouts saw Xian Wei Qian (4-3-1) over-come the debuting Xu Que (0-1), Xu Chan (3-0) maintaining his unbeaten record with a victory over Neeraj Goyat (1-2-2) and, in a female bout, Saroj (1-1) took a split decision over Li Yun Ting (1-6, 1).

The chief support was the first of 2 title fights and saw Chinese Welterweight Yang Xing Xin (8-3-2, 5) claim the WBC Youth Welterweight title with a 10 round decision over Nelson Gulpe (8-2, 3). Xin, at just 21, could be part of a new wave of Chinese fighters to keep an eye on and although his record may not be anything great we are excited to see how he develops.

In the main event fans saw Filipino Mark Gil Melligen (19-4-1, 10) force a stoppage of Thailand's Petchsamuthr Duanaaymukdahan (8-3, 1) in the 4th round to claim the WBO Oriental Featherweight title. On paper this looks like a very impressive victory for Melligen though Petchsamuthr really killed himself to try and make 126lbs, a weight he wasn't even close to making. The attempt to make weight appears to have totally taken all the strength from the Thai.

Metro Manila, Philippines
The title action also spread to the Philippines where the hard hitting and fun to watch Warlito Parrenas (20-6, 18) stopped Indonesia's Junior Bajawa (!4-3, 7) in 7 rounds to claim the WBO Oriental Super Flyweight title. Parrenas, also known as WARS Katsumata, became the first man to stop Bajawa who had previously been the distance in losses to Omari Kimweri and Richard Pumicpic.

Unfortunately we were very late to get the rest of the results from this card but, thankfully, we have them now.

The unbeaten and hard hitting Richard Claveras (8-0, 2) continued his unbeaten run and claimed the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an opening round blow out against Thailand's limited Namphol Sithsaithong (6-8, 6). This was Namphol's 3rd loss away from Thailand and his second in the Philippines following a previous loss in the country to Jonathan Taconing.

In another title fight on this show Edison Berwela (13-28-7, 3) upset Rey Juntilla (17-5-3, 10) in a bout that was dirty and incident packed. The victory for Berwela saw him claiming the LuzProBA Super Bantamweight title via a majority decision that saw both men suffering from the effects of head clashes very early on.
In a female title bout on this show Momoko Kanda (6-6-2) took a shut out victory over Nongnun Mor Krungthepthonburi (2-2) to claim the WBC Asian Council Continental female Minimumweight title. This was one of two female bouts with the other being an all debutant affair won by Naome Tacda (1-0, 1) who stopped Ana Pitae (0-1) in 66 seconds.

The under-card featured 3 other bouts, other than the aforementioned all debutant female contest. These saw the one beaten Philip Luis Cuerdo (4-1, 1) defeat Mark Macabales (2-3) in a clear cut 6 round decision, Pablito Canada (3-4-1, 1) pulling himself off the canvas in the opening round to out point Mark Postrano (2-2, 1) and Jay Ar Diama (1-3-4) taking his maiden victory by shutting out Ronie Gaton (0-2), this win was well over-due for Diama who has a very misleading record.

Bangkok, Thailand
Amazingly even Thailand got in on the days activity with two female bouts from Bangkok. The most notable of these saw former female world title challenger Angor Onesongchaigym (6-1, 3) bounce back from her sole loss, a decision loss to Momo Koseki, and defeat her over-matched compatriot Nongfah Por Preechagym (0-1).

The other contest saw Anrey Onesongchaigym (6-1-1, 3) stop novice foe Irada Sithsornram (0-3) in 3 rounds to continue her development.


Queensland, Australia
In Australia we had yet more title action, unfortunately however it was a bit of a hard to explain title. 

The title bout saw Australia's Josh King (17-3, 8) successfully defend his WBO Oriental Lightweight title with a clear decision over Japan's Koichi Ito (9-3-2, 8). We're not sure how King qualified for an Oriental title though we're a little disappointed that Ito couldn't actually take the belt back to the Orient.

Ito wasn't the only Asian on this card as his Japanese compatriot Kazuyuki Fukuyama (9-5, 2) was also beaten. Fukuyama was dropped 3 times in a clear decision loss to Les Sherrington (34-3, 19). Although he was dropped thrice it was impressive to see Fukuyama actually make it to the end of the 8 round bout. Sadly however Filipino Aswin Cabuy (14-47-4, 7) couldn't even last 2 rounds in his fight against the promising Kolby Johnston (2-0, 2).

(Image, from Kimura/Chinen, is courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

It's not often that we get fights of note around the world but today was one such case with fights in Japan, the Philippines, Russia and Monaco.

Tokyo, Japan
The earliest action of the day was in Tokyo courtesy of a brilliant domestic card that was headlined by a national Light Flyweight title fight.

The aforementioned Japanese title fight saw Yu Kimura (13-2-1, 2) narrowly defeating Kenichi Horikawa (25-13-1, 4) in a split decision. The bout, Horikawa's 3rd national title fight, was one that could easily have gone either way and sadly for Horikawa it went against him just like his previous 2. Although Horikawa lost we'd love to see him getting one more chance, even if it's in a rematch with Kimura, because of how close he has been, not just in this attempt but in prior bouts to Ryuji Hara and Akira Yaegashi.

In the co-feature the well liked Yasutaka Ishimoto (24-6, 7) made light work of Indonesia's Zun Rindam (9-4-1, 4) stopping him early on. After the bout Ishimoto said he wanted to win titles this year and appeared to mention the OPBF title which is currently held by Shingo Wake which is a bout we'd love to see made as a world title eliminator.


Two of the three 8 rounders on the card went the distance with Masanobu Nakazawa (14-1-1, 5) out pointing Kazumasa Kobayashi (8-4-1, 5) the closest of the two bouts whilst Jun Hamana (9-1, 3) beat Kosuke Saka (8-2, 5) in what was, on paper, a very competitive looking contest. The third however was never going to complete the scheduled as Yuichi Yokoyama (13-2, 12) managed to force a retirement of Koichi Ito (9-2-2, 8) in what was, on paper, the least likely bout of the day to go the scheduled distanced.

In the opening bouts, both 4 rounders, Ryuya Kaji (1-0, 1) scored a debut win stopping Koichi Nagatsuka (3-2, 1) mid-way through round 2 whilst Regent Kusumoto (1-0) fought hard to claim a victory over Takahiro Yoneshige (0-1) in an all debutant contest.


Metro Manilla, Philippines
Whilst we'll admit that the Japanese card, above, and the Monaco card, below, were the two that had our interest there was also a notable card in Metro Manila with several title fights and a number of notable fighters.

The biggest fight on this show saw Dennis Laurente (47-5-5, 28) stopping the over-matched Thai Singdet Nonpitayakom (11-16-1, 8) in a successful defense of the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Middleweight title. The experienced Laurente sent Singdet down for the count with a devastating body shot.

Laurente was one of two men who retained his title asJuan Martin Elorde (15-1-1, 7), the grand son of Flash Elorde, retained his WBO Asia Pacific super Featherweight title courtesy of a disappointing technical draw with Chaiyong Sithsaithong (32-12-4, 24). The bout was unfortunately ended when Elorde was cut on the temple from a clash of heads.

The Elorde/Chaiyong fight wasn't the only one which ended early due to a clash of heads as Randy Braga (12-0-1, 2) also suffered a cut from a clash of heads as he took on Jonel Alibio (16-17-5, 8). As with the Elorde fight this was ended in the second round.

Braga wasn't the only man keeping his unbeaten record on this show as the talented Giemel Magramo (9-0, 6) scored a 3rd round KO over Rey Morano (8-39-1, 1), Jay Loto (7-0) took a hard fought decision over Dexter Dimaculangan (3-4-5, 1), JK Elorde (3-0, 3) stopped the debuting Juanito Paderes (0-1) and Roderick Flores (2-0-1, 1) narrowly kept his 0 with a draw against the win-less CJ De Tomas (0-1-1).

The other bouts on the show saw Diomel Diocos (2-1-2, 2) fighting to a draw with Fidel Cuyno (1-2-2), Robin Langres (1-0) scoring a debut victory over fellow debutant Raul Luba (0-1) and Wilbert Berondo (1-0) also took an all debutant victory over Jomar Manlangit (0-1).

Chelyabinsk, Russia
As well as the shows in Japan and the Philippines we also had a small one in Russia courtesy of Ural Boxing Promotions. The main contest here sa Murat Gassiev (15-0, 9) out pointing teak tough veteran Ismail Abdoul (51-28-2, 19) to claim the vacant IBF East/West Europe Cruiserweight title. Although Gassiev was taken 12 rounds, for the first time in his career, it's unlikely he expected anythign less with Abdoul being one of the toughest men in boxing.

In a Welterweight contest on this show Konstantin Ponomarev (23-0, 11) managed to over come Ramon de la Cruz Sena (16-10-2, 9), who we believe was a late replacement opponent.

The only other bout on this show saw Heavyweight hopeful Murad Khalidov (10-0, 5) take an easy stoppage over the very limited Sedrak Agagulyan (1-27-1) who had previously been stopped 16 times.

Monte Carlo, Monaco
The biggest show of the day in Monaco as we got the excellent "Monte Carlo Boxing Bonanza" and thankfully for us it included a number of fighters of major interest to ourselves.

In the shows first contest we had a bout of interest to us as Russian born-German based Welterweight Roman Belaev (13-0, 10) defeated the gutsy but out classed Dean Byrne (17-3-1, 6) and claimed the WBA Continental Welterweight title. The fight, the biggest of Belaev's career so far, really saw him shining as he beat up and broke down Byrne.

Whilst it was a good win for Belaev, who was impressive and looked very strong from the opening round to the final round, we will admit that there are faults to be picked with his performance. Firstly Belaev's lack of a jab could have been costly against a better opponent than Byrne, secondly he doesn't really seem willing to throw combinations too much and thirdly his understanding of distance is questionable. With those things said however he does look very promising and very entertaining.

Although Belaev was the more impressive man we do need to give a lot of credit to Byrne who proved to be very tough, very game and the fact he lasted the distance was genuinely shocking considering how many hard shots he took.

The second bout on the show was another one of interest to us as Filipino Rey Loreto (18-13, 10) took on South African Nkosinathi Joyi (24-3-0-1, 17) in a battle for the IBO Light Flyweight title and scored one of the biggest upsets of 2014.

The fight started competitively with Loreto showing not fear of the highly regarded Joyi. It seemed obvious that Loreto knew he belonged at this and wasn't there to be intimidated despite the reputation of Joyi who was once regarded as being on the fringes of the pound-for-pound lists. The confidence of Loreto was obvious again in the second round as he landed a number of solid counter punches, including one that seemed to rock Joyi on the bell.

Knowing he had hurt Joyi in round 2 Loreto jumped on his opponent to start round 3 and within a minute of the round he had dropped Joyi hard with one of the best shots he will ever land. Joyi, with his eyes closed, was out for the count and Loreto deservedly celebrated his second major win in a row having beaten Pornsawan Porpramook last time out

The key thing that needs saying about Loreto's win is "what an upset!"

The third bout on the show was a Cruiserweight contest that saw the very highly ranked Ilunga Makabu (16-1, 15) stopping the previously unbeaten Ruben Angel Mino (20-1, 20) in 2 rounds. It wasn't a bout with an Asian interest per se but it was still an interesting result that was worth mentioning, like wise the same could be said of Jarrod Fletcher's (18-1, 10) victory over Max Bursak (29-2-1, 12).

In the main event we saw Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26) successfully retain his WBA Middleweight title in an entertaining, though thoroughly one sided, bout with Ghana's tough Osumanu Adama (22-4, 16). Golvokin managed to drop Adama in rounds 1, 6 and 7 before the referee finally waved the bout off as Adama's knees buckled.

It wasn't the most impressive performance from Golovkin but it showed what he was about as he methodically broke down and beat up a game and brave opponent. At the end of the day however it was a mismatch with Adama having nothing to bother the Kazakh destroyer who took the challengers best shots and kept coming forward.

We're hoping that Golovkin gets a fight with a big name in the US in April, the rumour seems to be that he'll be facing James Kirkland next though from our view Daniel Geale would make for a much better contest. Whoever he fights it'll be a major day with the boxing world already in love with the man known as "Triple G".