This past Sunday saw some notable names in action in Japan. Sadly however all the results haven't been made available at the time of writing, as a result we can feature the ones we have.

Fukuoka, Japan
Arguably the most notable of two Japanese cards came from Fukuoka.

In the main event of this show fans saw WBC female Minimumweight champion Yuko Kuroki (14-4-1, 7) claim a 3rd round TKO win against Kanittha Saknarong (0-4)*. Saknarong, who had never previously been stopped, was well out of her depth against the champion, who was participating in a non-title bout. It now appears that Kuroki weill be back in the ring in December to defend her belt, albeit against a yet to be named foe.

The other bout of note on this card saw Tatsuya Fukuhara (15-4-5, 6) score a 3rd round TKO win against Thongchai Chaiyonggym (0-1). The bout was a mismatch but appears to have been made as a title prelude for Fukuhara who has made it clear that he would like a Japanese title fight, a fight he may get by the end of this year. Despite his less than stellar record Fukuhara is now unbeaten in 5 fights dating back to a decision loss in 2013 to Takuma Inoue.

Osaka, Japan
The other Japanese show came from Osaka.

On this show the main event saw former 4-time world title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka (24-13-1, 10) in action. Hisataka, who has mixed with top level competition, easily over-came the heavy handed but inexperienced Keisuke Tabuchi (9-3, 7) with an 8 round decision win. Tabuchi tried his best but was unable to match the skills or speed of Hisataka who may well be hoping to build his way towards an OPBF or Japanese title fight at Bantamweight.

The only other result we have from this card was an upset with Toshihiro Kai (5-7-2, 1) taking a decision against Yutaka Oishi (11-5, 6). Kai was the clear winner here and recorded just his second victory in his last 5 bouts.

Southern Leyte, Philippines
As well as the action in Japan there was also a small show in the Philippines.

The main event here was a competitive 10 round bout that saw Jonathan Ricablanca (8-48-2, 1) take a minor upset win over Ryan Tampus (11-15, 8). This was the second meeting between the two men with Tampus actually beating Ricablanca back in January 2010, though he has since gone 2-12. This win is Ricablanca's first since March 2012, when he beat Jomar Fajardo, and sees him ending a 14 fight losing streaking.

In an all debutant contest Rimon Rama (1-0, 1) blew out Jaypee Payac (0-1) whilst another novice, Jeffrey Stella (1-0-1, 1) blew away Tericito Pilo (0-1), with both of these bouts ending inside a round.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

This past Saturday was one of the busiest and most interesting days of the year with numerous notable bouts taking place across the planet.

Texas, USA
Things have been really disappointing for the Kameda brother's recently and it's fair to say that the most recent hit to their once impressive empire came late on Saturday when the previously unbeaten Tomoki Kameda (31-1, 19) came undone in a thrilling encounter with WBA Bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell (26-2-1, 12). Tomoki had vacated his WBO title ahead of this bout and stupidly threw away round 12 which cost him the bout and the WBA title. Were it not for the non-effort in the final round Tomoki, who dropped McDonnell in round 3, would still be unbeaten. For fans who missed this one we suggest you give it a watch as it was an incredibly close and well fought bout. One of the best of the year so far.

Hyogo, Japan
In regards to action in Asia one show certainly got more attention than any other. That was the Shinsei promoted card from Kobe with featured a world ranked prospect and a former 2-weight world champion, as well as several other notable contests.

The main event here saw former Bantamweight and Featherweight world champion Hozumi Hasegawa (34-5, 15) roll back the clock and put on a stirring performance as he dominated the previously unbeaten and world ranked Horacio Garcia (29-1, 21) of Mexico. Hasegawa took a few rounds to feel his way into the bout but dominated it soon afterwards with Garcia coming off second best time and time again. We're unsure if Hasegawa will get another world title fight but he looked great here.

World ranked prospect Shun Kubo (7-0, 5) moved towards a title fight, likely to be a Japanese title fight or an OPBF title fight, as he made light work of domestic foe Masajiro Honda (6-6, 4) with a 7th round TKO. The talented Kubo is very promising and needs a more challenging bout than this one.

A very interesting looking 8 rounder bout saw Filipino veteran Jonathan Baat (29-6-3, 14) out point the once promising Takahiro Shigee (12-2-1, 10) over 8 rounds. The bout was moderately competitive but Baat was the well deserving winner. This was great second win in the space of a few weeks for Baat who has got to be approaching a more notable bout in the near future.

Another bout that went the distance saw Shota Yamaguchi (13-2, 8) take a wide decision win over Filipino visitor Roman Canto (10-6-2, 5). For Canto this loss ends a 2-fight winning streak, however he's better than his record suggests and he could test decent fighters in the future.

Another 8 rounder on this show saw Tetsuya Hisada (22-9-2, 12) score an 8th round KO against the light hitting Shun Kosaka (9-2), who suffered his first stoppage loss with this defeat. Interestingly the win for Hisada was his first in around 18 months.

Osaka, Japan
In a separate Japanese show fans got the chance to see a female world title fight as well as some low level support bouts.

The main event saw southpaw fighter Yuko Kuroki (13-4-1, 6) retain her WBC female Minimumweight title as she easily out pointed close veteran Masae Akitaya (9-6-2, 3) in a very 1-sided contest. Kuroki found a home for her straight left hand early on and dominated with it, but couldn't finish off Akitaya, who has now lost in 4 world title challenges.

On the under-card we did see stoppages with Ryota Yada (7-3, 5) making very light work of Thai visitor Teerapong Sithsaithong (0-1), who lasted just 165 seconds. Another quick blow out saw the limited Hisashi Kawanishi (5-7, 2) over-come Prabpram Sithsaithong (0-4) in just 2 rounds.

Seoul, South Korea
Korean fans got a title double header in Seoul with a weak under-card but a pair of notable feature bouts.

The main event saw Eun Chang Lee (9-4, 5) claim the WBA Asia Middleweight title with a 4th round KO against Australian based Thai John Ford (6-7-1, 5), real name Nawakon Kitee. Ford was stopped just 2 months ago in a bout at 140lbs and we really do wonder what made anyone think he was going to be competitive at Middleweight.

The other title bout saw Nam Joon Lee (8-4-3, 4) claim a variant of the PABA Featherweight title with a 2nd round TKO win against Thailand's Rachamongkol Sor Pleonchit (14-10, 6). From what we understand this was a bout for the PABA junior title, similar to the “youth” titles that we see.

On the under-card their was 3 bouts involving novices. The most notable of those bouts came in a scheduled 6 rounder as Kyoo Hwan Hwang (1-0, 1) began his career with a 4th round TKO against Jung Ho Jang (1-1-1, 1). A more competitive bout saw Jong Hyuk Yoon (2-1) take a clear decision victory over Chang Kyoo Lee (0-1-1) whilst a very close bout saw Jae Hyung Ahn (1-0) take a split decision over Myung Soo Kim (0-1).

Texas, USA
Back in the US fans saw Chinese Heavyweight giant Taishan Dong (4-0, 2) struggle to a win over over the limited Jamal Woods (6-19-3, 6). Dong looked exhausted in the final round and it's clear his stamina, power and speed are going to be an issue when he steps up. He is however a big of a circus figure and one that Golden Boy seem happy to wheel out on a regular basis as he continues his development.

Vratsa, Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, and shown on our live stream, fans saw the heavy handed Kazakh Zhanat Zhakiyanov (15-1, 18) score a 6th round KO of the previously unbeaten Hector Rolando Guzman (14-1, 9) of Argentina. On paper the bout was interesting with Guzman down twice in the early rounds and Zhakiyanov himself down in round 2, however the bout felt like a really low quality contest until Zhakiyanov finally showed some world class ability and knocked out Guzman in eye catching fashion in round 6. The win for Zhakiyanov netted him the WBA International Bantamweight title though seemed to show that he wasn't ready for a world title fight and although he has a very potent right hand he is very predictable.

Wellington, New Zealand
In New Zealand fans saw Thai visitor Anrey Onesongchaigym (7-2-1, 3) suffer her first stoppage loss as she was beaten in the 6th round by Gentiane Lupi (4-1-1, 2). As a result of this win Lupi claimed the WIBA interim Super Bantamweight title.

(Image courtesy of 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)

Osaka, Japan
In Japan we had a female world title double. The first of those world title bouts saw Japanese veteran Nao Ikeyama (14-3-1, 4) upset the previously unbeaten Filipino Jesseblle Pagaduan (6-1, 4) to claim the WBO Atomweight title and become the first ever holder of the newly established title. Aged 44 Ikeyama also becomes the oldest world champion from Japan and one of the oldest champions in history.

The second title fight saw Yuko Kuroki (11-4-1, 6) claim her first title, the WBC female Minimumweight title, as she defeated the defending champion Mari Ando (11-6, 5). Ando, defending her belt for the first time was game though unfortunately for her Kuroki was too clever with her footwork and too accurate with her straight left hand counters. Sadly for Ando this brought her second world title reign to a surprisingly quick end, whilst for Kuroki this was really a career defining victory for he youngster at this stage of her career.

Taraz, Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan fans got a domestic double header, albeit it a very low profile one. 

The more significant of those bouts saw the very highly regarded Roman Zhailauov (12-0, 8) taking a decision over compatriot Omar Marabayev (1-3). On paper this looked like a total mismatch but Marabayev has is a recent PABA Welterweight title challenger and has faced good competition so far with his previous losses coming to Teerachai Kratingdaenggym and Gennady Martirosyan. In reality this was a much more impressive victory than it looks on paper.

The other bout saw Faruh Iriskulov (2-1, 1) taking a second 2nd round TKO over the win-less Samat Ordabayev (0-5-1). Ordabayev is as bad as his record looks and this was Iriskulov's second victory over him.

Queensland, Australia
On a card in Australia we unfortunately saw win-less Thailand's Pramool Boonpok (0-5) lose a 4 round decision to the unbeaten Australian based Hungarian Tommy Szeremi (3-0-2, 1).

California, USA
World ranked Russian Anton Novikov (29-0-0-1, 10) showed off his skills as he scored a notable decision over the hard hitting but limited Javier Castro (27-7, 22). Novikov's relative lack of power will be a problem but his skills were impressive as he put on a 10 round shut out. This was the 3rd successive defeat for Castro and his 5th loss in 8 though it's still a credible victory for Novikov for the moment.

California, USA
On a separate US card things were disappointing for the debuting Yuri Trogiyanov (0-1) who was unfortunately stopped by the criminally under-rated Edwin Solis (6-2-3, 4). Solis was simply too much of a test for a debutant Trogiyanov who showed a lot of heart but lacked the experience needed to cope with such a tough and rugged Mexican. We'll admit we want to see Trogiyanov again though hopefully he'll not be put in such a ridiculously difficult bout.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Sunday might not be a big day for boxing in the west but this past Sunday was a notable one for Japanese boxing fans who had the chance to see two interesting cards in their country.

Aichi, Japan
The most notable show of the day was in the International Conference Hall where Hatanaka Promotions put on one of their "SoulBox" shows.

The card was headlined by one of the real gems of Japanese boxing, Kosei Tanaka (2-0). Tanaka, dubbed "Knockout Dream Boy", is regarded as not just one of the best young fighters in Japan but world wide and he showed his belief in himself by out pointing world ranked Filipino Ronelle Ferreras (13-7-2, 5) in a scintillating 8 round performance.

Although Ferreras came in to the bout the WBA #12 ranked Minimumweight he was unable to ever test Tanaka who was too quick, too skilled and too tough. That's not to say that Ferreras had no success, he did land plenty of body shots, but Tanaka took it all in his stride in an excellent showing that saw him beating his second successive world ranked foe. Right now it seems almost certain that Tanaka will be looking to fight for either a national or OPBF title in his third professional bout and few would doubt his ability to win such a belt later this year.

Although Kosei Tanaka is being compared to both Kazuto Ioka and Naoya Inoue the actually comparisons are surprisingly not far out and whilst he may not have the power of those two men he certainly has a similar level of ability.

Whilst Kosei was the main event he wasn't actually in a title fight, that was instead the honour that befell the chief support bout which saw the unbeaten Yushi Tanaka (12-0-3, 8) successfully defended his WBC Youth Bantamweight title. Yushi Tanaka, defending his belt for the second time, managed to stop Indonesian challenger John Bajawa (12-6, 6) in round 8.

On paper Bajawa was a good test, in reality however the bout was a mismatch considering that a young Ryo Matsumoto stopped Bajawa inside a round just a few fights back.

The other notable result from this card that we have at the moment saw the ranked Shota Hayashi (22-5-1, 14) scoring a second round KO over the over-matched Zuri Kannan (15-6-3, 4). The fight, with an official time of 3:07 of round 2, was Kannan's 4th stoppage loss and his third stoppageloss in just 4 fights.

Lower down the card Yusuke Nakagawa (6-3-1, 3) scored a second round victory over Masayuki Watanabe Iyonokami (11-8, 4) who was stopped for just the second time in his career whilst Hiroki Yajima (1-4, 1) also scored a second round KO over Yosuke Kato (0-2). The only other bout on the card saw Kazuaki Okada (3-1, 2) out pointing Toshikatsu Nishio (2-2, 1) over 4 rounds.

Fukuoka, Japan
A second Japanese show took place at the Kyuden Gym in Fukuoka City. This one was headlined by world ranked female action as Yuko Kuroki (9-4-1, 5) stopped the over-matched Aisah Alico (5-3, 4) in just 3 rounds. Kuroki, a former world title challenger, seems likely to be moving back in to world class and another world title fight either this year or next would be likely is she can string together another win or two.

Kuroki wasn't the only female to win as Ayaka Sato (1-1, 1) scored a 72 second stoppage over the debuting Sayuri Koto (0-1).

The second most notable bout on this card saw the experienced Yosuke Kirima (18-4-2, 13) stopping the debuting Kularob Sor Sompong (0-1) in just 2 rounds. This bout was one of a number of mismatches between Japanese fighters and Thai novices which also saw Aiki Koto (6-1-1, 4) stopping Namphol Sithsaithong (4-7, 4) in a round and also saw Takumi Sakae (8-0, 5) stopping the debuting Slot Sithsaithong (0-1).


The stoppages continued through out the card and some of the shows opening bouts also saw early finishes as Yuya Kondo (1-0, 1) scored a 3rd round debut victory over Yu Nomiyama (0-1) whilst Yukinori Yamaguchi (2-0, 1) stopped Rikiya Takekawa (0-1) in the 4th round of their bout.

Only 2 bouts on the show actually went the distance. One of these saw Koki Ono (7-2, 4) taking a 6 round unanimous decision over Takayuki Teraji (4-7-1, 3) whilst the debuting Hiroki Goto (1-0) scored a majority decision over Takeshi Oishi (0-2).


(Photo courtesy of http://boxingnews.jp and shows Kosei Tanaka landing a right hand on Ronelle Ferreras)