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)

This past Saturday was a hectic day to say the least with bouts spread across the world with many of them being major bouts.

New Jersey, USA
The biggest bout of the night saw unbeaten Russian puncher Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23) unifying 3 Light Heavyweight world titles as he dominated American legend Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2-2, 32) in a very impressive and controlled performance. The Russian dropped Hopkins in the opening round and had all over the place in the final round as he came close to stopping Hopkins. Although the clock ran out before Kovalev could score the stoppage he still managed to unify the WBO, WBA and IBF titles at 175lbs and put real pressure on Adonis Stevenson to fight in a total unification bout later this year.

Pennsylvania, USA
In an unexpectedly tough bout we saw another promising Russian Light Heavyweight, Vasily Lepikhin (16-0, 9), claim a hard fought decision over Jackson Junior (15-2, 13). We had expected Lepikhin to impress, as he did against Robert Berridge, but he seemed to struggle over the line a little bit here and it shows he's a few fights away from being stepped towards a world title fight. It's a shame but he's not ready to be stepped up, at least not yet, despite being very talented.

Texas, USA
Staying in the US a little bit longer, fans in Texas had the chance to see the very promising Egor Mekhontsev (6-0, 6) made light work of the heavy handed Jinner Guerrero (7-3, 6) who lasted just 2 rounds. Guerrero had entered the bout as a genuinely dangerous fighter but was never in the bout against the former amateur standout who some are tipping as yet as another Light Heavyweight to keep a close eye on.

Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Our first world title fight came in Germany where the previously unbeaten Naoko Fujioka (12-1, 6) lost a very close fight to German local hero Susi Kentikian (34-2-0-1, 17). The fight, for the WBA female Flyweight title, was a great female fight ruined only by some frustrating officiating with a referee that seemed unable to really keep the action flowing as the two fighters fell into each other. Although the contest was competitive and full of action we do feel that Fujioka was hard done by, though we need to admit we saw the bout on a broken stream that frustrated us almost as much as the referee for the contest.

Queretaro, Mexico
A second female world title bout came in Mexico and again saw a Japanese fighter losing a questionable decision as Etsuko Tada (13-2-2, 3) came up short against Anabel Ortiz (16-3, 3) for a second time. Tada had traveled to Mexico in an attempt to reclaim the WBA female Minimumweight title though lost a close decision to Ortiz for the second time following a loss last year in Japan to the Mexican fighter. Sadly for Tada it appeared one judge didn't even bother watching the fight was competitive through out despite a laughable 99-90 card for Ortiz.

Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
One of the days first shows came from Thailand where we had a trio of notable bouts.

The main event saw the world ranked Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (29-7-1, 12) score a 9th round KO against Filipino foe Macrea Gandionco (10-2-1, 6) to record his first defense of the interim WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title. The Filipino took a hard counter and whilst it looked like he could continue he instead chose to take the 10 count before getting to his feet. It was as if he was happy enough with his effort up to that point to call it a day.

On the under-card fans saw Fonluang KKP (22-1-1, 10) take a 4th round TKO against Indonesian visitor Falazona Fidal (25-42-1, 8) who was stopped for the 14th time in his 68 fight career. The other contest on the card was a female bout that saw Kanda Por Muangpetch (3-1) score a 6 round decisions win over the debuting Namnung Kwanjaisrikot (0-1).

Queensland, Australia
On a show down under Australian fans saw several Asian fighters in action.

One of those was the very notable, and extremely dangerous, Bantamweight contender Zhanat Zhakiyanov (24-1, 17) who made very light work of Australian based Filipino Roberto Lerio (16-21-1, 6). Lerio was stopped in the second round of the bout as Zhakiyanov continued to march toward a world title fight and the heavy handed Kazak has now stopped his last 11 dating back more than 3 years!

Sadly it wasn't a good show for Filipino's and not only was Lerio stopped but so too was Romeo Jakosalem (15-9-1, 8) who was stopped in the 9th round of his bout with the highly touted Cameron Hammond (11-0, 5). Jakosalem has now lost 5 of his last 6 including an early blow out to Min-Wook Kim in an OPBF title fight and it appears that his career is really becoming that of a journeyman, a sham considering that he was an OPBF champion less than 3 years ago.

Davao City, Philippines
Sadly we've not yet received all the results from the Philippines.

In an interesting clash of fringe world class fighters fans saw Drian Francisco (26-2-1, 20) take a clear win over former Bantamweight world title challenger John Mark Apolinario (17-5-3, 4). Apolinario was down in round 5 and hurt again in round 7 as Francisco proved his dominance over a much lesser foe than himself. Sadly for the heavy handed Francisco he did show signs of ring rust and it's fair to say had he not been rusty he may well have finished off Apolinario in round 7 when he was rocked hard.

On the undercard the debuting Aries Buenavidez (1-0) defeated fellow debutant Sammy Caballeres (0-1)

Metro Manila, Philippines
A second Filipino show saw the extremely heavy handed Richard Claveras (10-0-2, 10) successfully defending the WBC Asian Boxing Council Light Flyweight title with an 8th round TKO over JC Francisco (6-9-3, 2), who had never previously been stopped. A second champion who managed to defend his title on this card was Ardin Diale (25-9-3, 12) who retained the GAB Flyweight title with a stoppage of the heavy handed Jenny Boy Buca (9-2, 9) who suffered a broken nose before being retired at the end of round 10. This was Buca's first stoppage losses and allows Diale to end the year on a high after suffering an 8th round loss to Koki Eto in a thrilling OPBF title fight back in June.

In another title fight fans saw Jhon Gemino (11-3-1, 5) take the PBF Super Bantamweight title as he stopped the more experienced Rey Juntilla (19-6-3, 12) in the 7th round of their scheduled 10 rounder. Gemino was one of two new champions crowned on this show alongside Al Rivera (11-2, 9) who claimed the PBF Lightweigth title with a 2nd round KO against Junard Postrano (7-7, 2).

In another stoppage we saw Renz Rosia (10-2, 5) take our Jay-ar Estremos (10-9, 4) in the 6th round.

The undercard bouts all went the distance. These saw Rommel Berwela (2-2-2) even off his record with a majority draw against JR Florendo (3-2-1) in what was one of two draws on the card, the other saw Ariel Arevalo (2-1-2, 1) fight to a 4 round draw with Juanito Paredes (0-1-1). In another close bout Jason Dogelio (1-2) out pointed Manuel Mamacquiao (0-4). The only other bout on the card saw Lorence Rosas (2-0-1) out point the win-less Brando Bokingkito (0-2)

Klimovsk, Russia
In Russia we saw a small but interesting card that featured 2 more Filipino fighters in relatively interesting bouts, sadly however they lost both of those contests.

The most interesting of the two was a PABA Lightweight title bout that saw Roman Andreev (16-0, 12) take a clear decision over the tough Rey Labao (26-6, 17). Labao was never really in the bout though that was due to Andreev who appears to be very promising and could well go all the way, one day. The other Filipino was Jason Canoy (21-5-2, 15) who was clearly beaten by the promising but previously untested Nikolay Potapov (13-0, 6).

In a female bout novice professional Yulia Berezikova (2-0, 2) scored a very impressive victory by stopping the experienced Dalia Vasarhelyi (9-7, 1) in the 4th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. This was one of 3 bouts scheduled for 8 rounds with another failing to go the distance as Konstantin Piternov (17-6, 8) scored a 3rd round TKO against the previously unbeaten David Nagy (3-1, 2). The other 8 rounder saw Maxim Maslov (15-1-1, 8) struggle past Yuri Bihoutsea (8-6-2, 5) in a surprisingly competitive contest.

In a 4 rounder on the under-card Alexander Podolsky (2-0) took a 4 round decision over Dmytro Aushev (1-5, 1)

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

Some days we don't have any Asian action "at home" but still we can have very interesting days away from home and this past Saturday was one such day

Sonora, Mexico
In Puerto Penasco fans got to see two thrilling fights involving Filipino's unfortunately though both were defeated by world class Mexican fighters.

The first of the Filipino's in action was former world title challenger John Mark Apolinario (17-4-3, 4) who was fighting for the first time since his failed WBA Bantamweight title fight last year. Apolinario was taking on the always fun to watch Hernan "Tyson" Marquez (37-4, 26) and the bout, like most of Marquez's, was thrilling with action from both men in a very enjoyable encounter. Marquez was rightfully the winner on the cards but it was competitive through out with the Filipino showing impressive defensive skills, a smart jab and real heart to fight back. As for Marquez this was a perfect fight for him to shake the cobwebs following his loss last year to Giovani Segura.

The second Filipino on the show was Richie Mepranum (27-4-1, 6) who was fighting for the 4th time in Mexico. Mepranum was fighting in his second world title fight and easily the biggest bout of his career as he took on the exceptional Juan Francisco Estrada (26-2, 19) who retained his WBA "super" and WBO Flyweight titles. Mepranum tried to fight back against the more skilled, stronger and over-all much better Estrada but was out gunned and out skilled through out before retiring in his corner after round 9. Up to that bout it had been a gradual beating by Estrada who was simply too good.

Having already mentioned Giovani Segura it's worth noting that we now believe Segura will be fighting Estrada next. Hopefully the winner of that bout will be facing the winner of Akira Yaegashi's bout with Roman Gonzalez in a bout to find out who really is the best Flyweight on the planet.

Yorkshire, England
Whilst Mepranum came up short in his title effort we did see a new Asian fighter crowned as a champion, though a rather odd one. What we saw was Zhanat Zhakiyanov (22-2, 14) claiming the European Bantamweight title, despite being from Kazakhstan. Zhakiyanov claimed the title in eye catching fashion with a 1-punch KO over Frenchman Karim Guerfi (20-3, 5). Guerfi came into this fight as the defending champion, having beaten Stephane Jamoye for the title. With Jamoye having had a recent world title fight, being soundly beaten by Shinsuke Yamanaka, it may well make sense that Zhakiyanov deserves one.

This was the 18th straight victory for Zhakiyanov and his 9th straight stoppage.

Distrito Federal, Mexico
A second Mexican show was held in Mexico City where we again had two Asian's in action.

The first here was female fighter Tenkai Tsunami (20-10, 9) who looked to try and avenge her 2013 loss to the very talented Jessica "Kika" Chavez (20-3-3, 4). Unfortunately for Tsunami, who put up a really great effort, she was unable to do enough to take home victory. The two women put on an absolute barn burner and both gave it their all but at the end of the day the judges all felt Chavez was the winner with scores of 97-95,97-93,97-94.

Unfortunately for Tsunami this was her 6th loss in Mexico and although she's very talented her record no longer shows it. We're hoping that these losses won't hinder her in the future though we know that she may become part of the "Who needs her club?"

On the same show the huge punching Julio Ceja (27-1, 25) recorded a 10th round stoppage as he defended his WBC silver Bantamweight title. Ceja was fighting against the brave but out-gunned Ranel Suco (15-8-2, 6) of the Philippines. Suco was dropped twice though his heart kept him in the bout until he ended up on the ropes taking a flurry of big shots from the Mexican and the referee was forced to call a halt to the fight.

Ceja seems to have his eyes firmly trained on WBC champion Shinsuke Yamanaka and in all honesty that would be a great fight. In fact Ceja against Zhakiyanov to decide on a future Yamanaka's challenger would fantastic.

(Image courtesy of Pepe Rodriguez)