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We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former IBF Flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng to Ryol Li Lee.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-On May 18th 2012 Amnat Ruenroeng made his professional debut, defeating Indonesian journeyman Rino Ukru via 4th round TKO in Ratchasima. In the main event of that card Thangthong Klongjan was scoring a TKO10 win over Macbute Sinyabi. 2-Sadly for Thangthong Klongjan the May 18th 2012 bout was the final one of his career, he passed away just over a week later, at the age of 33, following a motor vehicle accident that also took the life of his wife and two nephews. Prior to his untimely death he was 24-0 (17) and had held a number of minor titles, including the IBF Pan Pacific Super Bantamweight title which was later won by Ryohei Takahashi. 3-In 2014, prior to winning the IBF Pan Pacific, Ryohei Takahashi won the All Japan Rookie of the Year. Another man who won Rookie of the Year in 2014 was talented Featherweight Reiya Abe. 4-Several years after winning Rookie of the Year Reiya Abe scored a very big domestic win over former multi-time world title challenger Satoshi Hosono at Korakuen Hall, in what was a huge break out win for the highly skilled Abe. 5-During a 38 fight career Satoshi Hosono, known as "Bazooka" managed to win both the Japanese and OPBF Featherweight titles and also fought in 3 world title fights. One of the fighters he challenged for a world title was Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, the then WBA Super Bantamweight. 6-Sadly Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym's career essentially came to an end in late 2012, following the discovery of a blood disorder, cancelling a scheduled bout with Guillermo Rigondeaux. As a result his career ended with a professional record of 48-2 (33), with the second of those losses coming to Japanese-Korean fighter fighter Ryol Li Lee in 2010.
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We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former multi-weight world champion Daiki Kameda to former world champion Amnat Ruenroeng.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Japanese fighter Daiki Kameda is often over-looked when we discuss the Kameda boxing family, with holder brother Koki Kameda and younger brother Tomoki Kameda all getting significantly more attention than Daiki. Despite that Daiki was a 2-weight world champion and scored some solid during his career. Sadly however Daiki is best known for his 2007 loss to the then WBC Flyweight champion Daisuke Naito. 2-The talented Daisuke Naito was a successful fighter, and during his career he was very open about some of the struggles he had had earlier in his life. These included being a victim of bullying. He's not the only notable Japanese fighter who has revealed that he was bullied, with another being Ryoichi Taguchi. 3-During his career Ryoichi Taguchi won the Japanese, WBA and IBF Light Flyweight titles, and scored a number of very notable victories. Interestingly Taguchi was the 7th fighter to win the WBA Light Flyweight title, with the first of those being Yoko Gushiken way back in the 1970's. 4-After winning the WBA Light Flyweight title in 1976 Yoko Gushiken would go on to record 13 defenses. The only fighter to have more defenses of that title that Gushiken is south Korean legend Myung Woo Yuh, who managed 17 defenses of the title in his first reign, before reclaiming the title and adding 1 more defense in 1993. 5-Sadly the Light Flyweight division during Myung Woo Yuh's day wasn't as strong as the division is now a days, and one big complaint about Yuh's reign is the lack of major names that he beat. That's despite the fact that he defeated the likes of Leo Gamez, Rodolfo Blanco, Hiroki Ioka and Bi Won Jung. 6-It's fair to say that few fans, outside of Asia, will be too familiar with Bi Won Jung, who lost to Myung Woo Yuh in 1984 before Yuh was even a world champion. That's despite the fact Jung would later win the IBF Flyweight title, in fact he was the third holder of that title. Some 30 years after Jung's title win that same belt was around the waist of Thailand's Amnat Ruenroeng. For this edition of "What a Shock!" we're looking at a relatively recent bout between two men who both had genuinely notable careers, and are both active at the time of writing. This upset wasn't a massive one, but was certainly a surprise, especially with the bookies who saw one man as the very clear favourite, and the eventual winner as the clear under-dog. Date May 7th 2014 Venue Bodymaker Colosseum, Osaka, Osaka, Japan Fighters Kazuto Ioka (14-0, 9) Vs Amnat Ruenroeng (12-0, 5) At the time of this bout Japanese fighter Kazuto Ioka was a real star of the lower weights. He had won his first world title in just his 7th professional bout, before unifying the WBC and WBA Minimumweight titles and then winning the WBA Light Flyweight title. In just 14 bouts he had already beaten Oleydong Sithsamerchai, Juan Hernandez, Akira Yaegashi and Felix Alvarado. Aged 25 he was seen as being in his pomp, and was out growing the Light Flyweight division. With his body maturing and growing Ioka then looked to become a 3-weight world champion, doing what his uncle Hiroki tried to do during his career, and moved up to the Flyweight division. In his first bout at Flyweight he challenged the tricky and slippery IBF champion Amnat Ruenroeng, who had actually beaten Ioka in the amateurs. At this point in time Amnat wasn't particularly well known as a professional fighter. He had won the world title a few months earlier, beating Rocky Fuentes for the vacant title, but that was his only win of any note. Not only was he untested at the highest level but he was also 34 years old, an age that is ancient for a Flyweight, and this was set to be his first bout outside of Thailand. In fact he was travelling not just out of Thailand for the first time but was heading to Ioka's backyard, with this being Ioka's 13th bout at the Bodymaker Colosseum, which was previously known as the Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka. Given his age, his lack of top tier experience and travelling for the bout the odds were stacked against against Amnat. The bookies knew that things were stacked against Amnat, and the British ones made him a 3/1 under-dog for the bout whilst Ioka was a 2/9 favourite. Even with the move up in weight Ioka was expected to be too good for Amnat, who was taking a massive step up in class. To begin the bout both men looked to find the range with their jab, and it quickly became apparent that Amnat was the crisper fighter, with the longer arms and the quicker handspeed. He seemed to manage to control the distance well for large portions of the opening round. When he was backed up, later in the round he looked very composed under Ioka's pressure and also looked the more physically imposing man, pushing Ioka around when he needed to. Despite looking the more skilled and quicker man, Ioka was the one coming forward and being the aggressor. Ioka continued to press forward in round 2, but he was regularly tasting jabs on his way in, pressing with limited success, and having no real answers when Amnat let his hands go in short but crisp combinations. As the rounds went on the handspeed, reach and combinations of Amnat continued to score at ease against Ioka. Ioka was struggling to get close, was struggling to get his shots off and struggling to make his pressure count for much. He had moments but struggled round after round to have any sustained success. In the middle rounds Ioka tried to turn the bout around, and had more success than he had earlier on, but still struggled to build moment. When he won rounds he seemed to win competitive ones, and rarely stamped his foot on the fight, with Amnat always responding. Even when he pinned Amnat on the ropes, as he did for many of the middle rounds, Ioka was still being caught by clean counter shots and having his aggression used against him. He looked the aggressor, and the man putting so much effort into everything he did, but the relaxed, calm counter punching of Amnat really caught the eye of the judges, with his uppercuts being fantastic. In round 10 Amnat was deducted a point, as he hit on the break. This was one of the first times we had seen some of the sneaky, dirty tricks that Amnat had in arsenal which he would later become well known for. Despite the deduction he looked the more relaxed fighter whilst Ioka looked like he was the one chasing the bout, as if he knew he had to do more. He may have been at home but that didn't assure him of victory, like it might in some countries, with 3 neutral judges scoring this bout. The desire to turn the tables from Ioka was clear in round 11, when he raced at Amnat to begin the round, again forcing the Thai backwards, but again taking clean, accurate counter shots as he came forward. It was clear that the strength, power and physicality that Ioka had at the lower weights wasn't helping him here. Instead Amnat was able to tie him up when he wanted, which he did repeatedly in round 11, further frustrating the Osaka local. Ioka seemed to know he needed a knockout at the end of round 11, and came out for the final round with aggression in mind, landing a nice body shot early and pressing hard through the round. He knew he needed to get inside, and get to work up close, neutralising the reach of Amnat. Sadly for Ioka Amnat also seemed to know that, and tied him up when he got close, stifling Ioka's aggression. After 12 rounds it seemed like a close bout, but one where Amnat had fiddled his way to victory, even with the point deduction. It wasn't pretty, but the clean punching of Amnat early on, and the counters in the middle of the bout had put him in the lead early on. A lead that he protected with some ugly tactics late on. It was a performance that he seemed confident was enough to earn him a victory, whilst Ioka looked less confident in his corner. In fact Ioka looked like he knew he hadn't quite done enough. Then we got the scorecards. The first went to Ioka 114-13, and got a roar from the crowd. The second went to Amnat, 115-1112. Then we had the third score, 119-109, a completely bizarre score either way. There was then had a pause, before the announcer confirmed that the title was staying with Amnat. Amnat would later go on to record 4 more defenses of the title before losing it to John Riel Casimero in 2016. In the years that followed he would compete at the Olympics and in Kickboxing whilst also becoming a high class gatekeeper in Thailand, where he is still an active fighter. As for Ioka he would later go on to win the WBA Flyweight title and the WBO Super Flyweight title, becoming the first Japanese man to become a 4-weight world champion, and despite this loss has remained one of the most significant figures in Japanese boxing. Note - Fight begins about 11 minutes into the video below. This past Saturday in Bang Phun we saw two former world champions clash in what turned out to be one of the most entertaining bouts of the entire weekend. The bout saw former IBF Flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng (21-4, 6) clash with former 2-time WBO Bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu (54-9, 36) in what was a battle of veterans. Despite coming in at a combined age of 71, the two gave us more action than men significantly younger. Not only that but they also had styles that gelled, making for a genuinely fun to watch back and forth, with both men having moments in a bout that swung back and forth.
Although we suspect most would have over-looked this bout, and not cared much for it going in, especially given the fact Amnat was the wrong side of 40, it was worth caring about, watching and rewatching. Something we did earlier today to help with our five take aways from the bout. 1-Styles are important in match making One of our biggest gripes from this weekend has been matchmaking, which was a particularly big complaint about the contests in the US, with the Devin Haney Vs Yuriorkis Gamboa bout being a particularly dull match up where styles didn't gel. Here we saw the styles of the two men click instantly, and it was a fans dream. The men were relatively even in ability, but their styles were totally different. Pungluang was the aggressor, the man pressing the action, coming forward and looking to make a fight whilst Amnat was the counter puncher, using slick tricks, timing and movement to make Pungluang pay. The game plan from both was clear. For Pungluang it was to grind down his foe, and take him deep, tire him out and go for a big finish. For Amnat it was to be calm, land the eye catching blows and run up the early lead, then soak up the heat late on if he needed to. The matchmaker fucking nailed it here and so much credit goes to them for getting it right. Matchmaking isn't easy, but the folk behind this bout deserve a round of applause. 2-Amnat might be dirty, but he doesn't like it back We've known for years that Amnat is a sneaky, crafty, intelligent fighter who bends the rules as far as he can without getting points taken. In many ways he's like Bernard Hopkins, knowing that there's a lot of leeway within the rules to, be a dirty sneaky SOB. One thing that was really interesting here was how disgusted he looked when Pungluang used some dirty tactics himself. Amnat didn't like it at all. There's no real take away here, other than that we found it humorous when Pungluang gave him a taste of the medicine he had dished out several times during his career. If he fights again we do wonder whether an opponent will perhaps go dirty against him. 3-Despite being 40 Amnat can still go! Now we need to pre-face this and state we don't think Amnat should be getting a world title fight any time soon, but even at the age of 40 he can still go. His performance against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai earlier this year may well have said more about Amnat than it did about Srisaket. The sneaky veteran is still sneaky, quick, sharp, knows hoe to move around the ring, can look after himself defensively and has brilliant timing. There's not much on his shots, but he is still a fantastic boxer and a handful for many out there. At least over the shorter distances. We suspect he'll struggle more in 10 and 12 round bouts, but over 6 and 8 rounds he's a banana skin for good to very good fighters. His performance against Srisaket, and now Pungluang, shows just how good of a boxer he is, and in some ways it's a shame he developed a reputation for bending and breaking rules, when, on the back of recent performances, he really didn't need to. 4-Pungluang Sor Singyu is our type of fighter We'll admit we prefer aggressive fighters to defensive ones. It's our natural preference and something that isn't likely to change. With that in mind we need to admit that we bloody love watching Pungluang Sor Singyu. Win or lose he comes to fight. He puts his on the wall and fights. He might not be the best, the most skilled, the hardest hitting, the quickest or the smartest, but he's the sort of fighter we can watch and enjoy any day of the week. Not only that but he also seems to genuinely enjoy being in the ring. We see him smiling, and smirking through a fight, and whether he's on top or not he's the sort of man we love to watch. The sport needs more Pungluang Sor Singyu's. The sport would be so much better with more Punglung Sor Singyu's! 5-Amnat sure didn't look like he had an injury! Going into this bout it was originally advertised as being for a WBC regional Featherweight title until the week of the fight, where the WBC title was removed from the contest and instead we ended up with the bout being fought at 131lbs. The reason reported was that Amnat had injured his wrist and requested the heavier weight as a result. Whilst he was clearly some extra weight around his waist it didn't seem like he was carrying any sort of injury into this at all and he let shots fly with both hands. Maybe he was playing a dirty game in the long run with the feigned injury. Regardless there is talk about a rematch in the future at 126lbs, and you know what, after this bout we'd bloody love it! Injury or not he looked great, Pungluang looked great, they made for a fantastic fight, and it was so nice we want to see it twice...well we already have but you get the point! We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect master of the dark arts Amnat Ruenroeng to Korean world title challenger Chang Kil Lee.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Thailand's Amnat Ruenroeng made his professional debut in 2012, at the age of 32. That was frankly ancient for a Flyweight, which makes his success in the sport, becoming the IBF Flyweight champion and scoring 5 defenses, a genuine over-achievement. The first fighter to make 5 defenses of the IBF Flyweight title was Northern Irish fighter Dave McAuley, who racked up 5 defenses in 1989 and 1990. 2-Although Dave McAuley had a short reign he did beat some fairly notable fighters whilst holding the IBF title, including South African great Jacob Matlala, Rodolfo Blanco, who dethroned him in a rematch, and Filipino Dodie Boy Penalosa. 3-It was on February 28th 1982 that Dodie Boy Penalosa made his professional debut, doing so on a card in Cebu City. On that very same day Deuk Koo Kim won the OPBF Lightweight title, taking a decision over Kwang Min Kim to win the title. 4-Although sadly more well known for his untimely death in 1982 Deuk Koo Kim was a solid fighter who managed to make 3 defenses of the OPBF title before facing Ray Mancini, in the bout that bout that would forever link the two men. Another fighter who defended the OPBF Lightweight title 3 times was Japan's Shinichi Kodata, who won the belt in 1970 and lost it in 1972. 5-Despite never winning a world title Shinichi Kadota was very highly regarded and did fight a relative who's who. He took on the likes of Rene Barrientos, Guts Ishimatsu, Rudy Barro, Chango Carmona, and, in his biggest bout, Antonio Cervantes, who retained the WBA Light Welterweight title with a win over Kadota in 1974. 6-Although there is some dispute over Antonio Cervantes' record no one would argue against him being one of, if not the, best Colombian fighters ever. "Kid Pembele" was a 2-time WBA Light Welterweight champion who managed two lengthy reigns as the champion. Not only did he beat Shinich Kadota in one of his numerous defenses but he also beat Korean challenger Chang Kil Lee, who had won both the Korean and OPBF titles at 140lbs but was stopped in 6 rounds by Cervantes, just 7 months before the Colombian great beat Kadota. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect the legendary Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka to Thailand's Amnat Ruenroeng. Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Former WBC Super Bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka was one of the few Japanese fighters who managed to not only score big wins at home but also in Mexico, over Jhonny Gonzalez, and the US, over Rafael Marquez. He shares his birthday, July 25th 1976, former Venezuelan Olympian Carlos Barreto. 2-At the 1996 Olympics Carlos Barreto fought twice. The first of those bouts was a win over Bulgarian fighter Aleksandar Hristov. 3-Korean fans are likely to recognise the name Aleksandar Hristov more than most. The Bulgarian had gone to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and scored a massively controversial win in his second bout, against Jung Il Byun. After the bout Byun famously sat in the ring in protest of the result. The win over Byun was one of 5 that Hristov had en route to claiming the silver medal at Bantamweight. The talented Hristov got all the way to the final where he lost to Kennedy McKinney. 4-Following his Olympic success in 1988 Kennedy McKinney turned professional and would go on to win the IBF and WBO Super Bantamweight titles during his days as a professional. Another fighter who won the IBF Super Bantamweight title was Korean fighter Ji Won Kim. 5-Whilst Ji Won Kim is certainly not the most well known fighter to come out of Korea he is the only Korean to have won a world title and retired unbeaten, sporting a 16-0-2 (7) record when he walked away from the sport in 1986 making him one of the very few world champions to retire unbeaten. Another is Pichit Sithbanprachan, from Thailand. 6-Pichit Sithbanprachan, who went 24-0 (18), ruled as the IBF Flyweight champion for 2 years in the 1990's. Pichit was the only Thai to hold the IBF Flyweight title until 2014, when Amnat Ruenroeng won the title, also holding it for a couple of years.  Over the next 12 months we're expecting to see a lot of changes in the world of professional boxing. As a result we have put together a list of 30 Asian fighters to keep an eye out for 2016. These range from champions to novices but all are expected to make a mark on the sport over the next 12 months. Here is part 2 which looks at 5 young novices who have impressed in 2015 and look likely to do the same over the next year. For those who missed them the previous parts are available below- Part 1 is here Part 2 is here Part 3 is here Part 4 is here Part 5 is here
 The month of December is massive in Asian boxing with the end of year run in being crazy. As a result we've had to split our “things to look forward to...” for December article into two pieces, a pre-Christmas and a post-Christmas article, which is to be posted around Christmas time. When we say December is busy, we really aren't kidding. December 2nd- The new month gets off to an almost immediate start with an OPBF title fight coming on just the second day of the month. The bout in question is all Filipino bout for the OPBF title, recently vacated by Koki Eto, and will see Eto's former foe Ardin Diale (26-9-3, 15) take on the once beaten Renoel Pael (19-1-1, 9). It was of course Diale Vs Eto that saw Eto win the title, claiming an amazing 8th round win over Diale in a FOTY contender, but since then Diale has gone 6-0 (5) ans really rebuilt his career. For Pael this is his biggest bout to date, though he did fight to a very controversial loss to the world ranked Noknoi Sitthiprasert back in 2014 in what his only loss to date. This really could be something special for Filipino fans. December 5th- Fast rising Japanese prospects seem to be the “in thing” at the moment with numerous youngsters racing through the ranks. One of those is Kazuki Tanaka (3-0, 3) who takes a huge step up in class to face Monico Laurente (27-12, 6) in what should be regarded as a genuine test for the unbeaten 22 year old. Tanaka is regarded very highly, and some view him as a potential star of the Green Tsuda gym, however Laurente is no push over and should test the youngster in ways that he has never been tested before. December 7th- Last year we saw several Asian fighters emerge and go from being relatively unknown to being names that were on the tip of the tongue for fight fans. Obviously the biggest example was Naoya Inoue, who really became an internationally recognised name, another was Amnat Ruenroeng (16-0, 5) who claimed the IBF Flyweight title and defended it twice, including a shock win over Kazuto Ioka. He looks to secure his third defense of 2015 as he takes on Japanese challenger Myung Ho Lee (19-4-1, 6) in what looks like a stay busy fight for the Thai before a big fight in 2016, possibly against Roman Gonzalez or a rematch with Ioka.  December 10th- The first of two “WBA Flyweight title” rematches this month sees Thailand's unbeaten Stamp Kiatniwat (14-0, 6) defending his interim title against Dominican slugger Gregorio Lebron (13-3, 11). Their first bout saw Stamp claim a majority decision to win the title though a petition by Lebron's team has helped their fighter get a rematch for the title. Their first bout was decent and we're expecting another good contest, though we suspect we'll see a better Stamp than we saw the first time around. December 11th- The second of the OPBF title fights this month is a farcical one Super Middleweight champion Yuzo Kiyota (28-4-1, 26) battles Indonesian challenger Michael Speed Sigarlaki (16-15-2, 14). Kiyota, who is best known for losing in a WBO Super Middleweight world title fight against Robert Stieglitz, might not be world class but is a solid puncher who really should be defending his title against the best OPBF challengers out there., In Sigarlaki however we have a challenger who is 4-6 (3), according to boxrec, in his last 10. It's worth noting that the challenger was in Japan back in March, losing to OPBF/JBC Middleweight champion Akio Shibata and we can't see anything but a repeat of that journey for Sigarlaki. Whilst Kiyota's OPBF title defense is the most significant “male” bout of the day it's not the highest level bout in Japan. Instead that's an IBF female Minimumweight world title bout between two former champions. The home fighter is Etsuko Tada (14-2-2, 4) who is looking to become a 2-time world champion as she battles former title holder Victoria Argueta (13-2, 4) in what appears to be a very matched bout. Both fighters have suffered recent losses, with Argueta losing 2 of her last 6 and Tada losing 2 of her last 4, but all of those loses have come to fellow world class fighters. This really could be a fantastic fight for fans in Kobe On the same show as the Tada/Argueta bout fans will also get a chance to see the fantastic Hozumi Hasegawa (34-5, 15) continue his career, a career we thought was over last year. The former 2-weight world champion will be dipping his toes into the Super Featherweight division as he goes up against the world ranked Carlos Andres Ruiz Machuca (14-1, 5). On paper Machuca looks to be a young, fresh and promising fighter, coming into this on the back of his best win however there is some thinking that Hasegawa's team have hand picked the Mexican to help further Hasegawa's career. Arguably the most famous Asian in action on December 11th is Filipino star Nonito Donaire (35-3, 23) who faces off against Puerto Rican Cesar Juarez (17-3, 13). The bout, which takes place in Puerto Rico is rumoured to be a potential WBO Super Bantamweight title clash, though that's unconfirmed at the moment. For Donaire this is a great chance to make a statement and move towards potentially big bouts with Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg and Julio Ceja whilst for Juarez it's a chance to notch up a third notable win in a row.  December 14th- The first of two Super Featherweight title fights on December 14th sees OPBF champion Masayuki Ito (17-1-1, 8) battle against Shingo Eto (17-3-1, 9) in what seems like a brilliant fight on paper. Ito, who won the title last time out stopping Dai Iwai, will be looking to establish himself as another in the long like of brilliant Japanese Super Featherweights however Eto is a very capable fighter looking to claim his first title, after having previously come close to winning the Japanese title last year. Talking about the Japanese Super Featherweight title we see that champion in action as well as Rikki Naito (13-0, 5) defends his title against the big punching Kenichi Ogawa (16-1, 14). Naito is tipped to go far though we've been less than impressed by his recent performances, which have seen him struggle past Eto, Ito and Nihito Arakawa. Ogawa on the other hand has impressed us and has racked up 8 straight stoppages, whilst also avenging his sole defeat. This is a boxer against a puncher and will almost certainly be a great contest with both men putting it all on the line. December 16th- Over the last 12 months we've seen the Bantamweight division change a lot with titles changes hands and new contenders breaking through. Arguably the most exciting of those contenders is the heavy handed Shohei Omori (15-0, 10) who looks to move towards a world title as he fights in a WBO world title eliminator against Filipino fighter Marlon Tapales (27-2, 10). The winner of this will get a shot at either Pungluang Sor Singyu or Jetro Pabustan in 2016 and is a key bout looking forward, and should be a final test for either man before being legitimately considered a threat at the top level. On the same card as the good looking world title eliminator we will see a Japanese title fight as Omori's stablemate Kota Tokunaga (16-2, 11) defends his Japanese Lightweight title against the little known Kazuhiro Nishitani (15-3-1, 7). This will be the second defense from the heavy handed Tokunaga who will be favoured going into the bout though Nishitani will know there is no pressure on him to perform, in what is a huge, and somewhat undeserved, opportunity.  December 18th-
WBA “interim” Cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov (16-2, 10) looks to make the first defense of his title as he takes on former WBC champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (49-3-1, 35) in what is a really good match up. We know Shumenov, originally from Kazakhstan though now based in the US, is the favourite but Wlodarczyk will see this as a great chance to become a 3-time “world champion”. As a match up this is a good on and would legitimise Shumenov as a Cruiserweight,something his last win, against BJ Flores didn't really do. December 19th- History is made on December 19th as Sri Lankan fans in Colombo get the chance to see professional boxing for the first time since the country gained independence from the British in the late 1940's. The show will be headlined by a female world title fight as WBO Atomweight champion Nao Ikeyama (16-3-1, 4) looks to defend her title against Filipino Jujeath Nagaowa (13-15-1, 8). The bout is an historic one for the Sri Lankan people and great chance for the two fighters to help introduce the sport to a new audience. December 20th- WBC female Minimumweight champion Yuko Kuroki (14-4-1, 7) isn't one of the sports biggest names but she is a potential star if she keeps racking up the wins and retaining her title. On December 20th she'll look to do both of those as she battles against former IBF champion Nancy Franco (14-6-2, 4) in one of the best female bouts of the year. Kuroki, 24, has the looks of a movie star and if she can keep building her career momentum there is a chance that she will help become the star that some were hoping Tomomi Takano would be. Franco however is a tough test for anyone and could well derail the Kuroki climb. All Japan Rookie of the Year Finals On the same day we get the 2016 All Japan Rookie of the Year finals which will feature a number of bouts with fighters looking to take a huge step towards becoming a star. We won't pretend any of the men are sensational yet, but some of the bouts are great, such as a Light Flyweight bout between Hiroyasu Shiga (6-0, 3) and Masahiro Sakamoto (5-0, 3) as well as a Featherweight bout between Shuma Nakazato (5-0, 4) and Teppei Kayunuma (6-0, 4). This really will be a treat for fans in Tokyo. December 21st- The final Japanese title fight before Christmas comes on December 21st and is a genuinely brilliant match up between two men who are both looking to prove themselves, whilst also being at very different stages in their career's. In one corner will be relative newbie Yusaku Kuga (11-1-1, 7, a really promising Watanabe Gym fighter with solid power and a point to prove, in the other corner will be veteran Yasutaka Ishimoto (26-8, 7), a Teiken fighter who will be getting his third shot at a Japanese title and will be hoping that it is third time lucky given that he's now years old and may not get another opportunity like this. For those who celebrate Christmas, we wish you a great one before the big action returns on December 26th with an OPBF title fight, and then things really go into over-drive as the year comes to a close in wonderful style!  We're now set to enter July, so we thought what better time to look over the most notable action from June, which seems to have been a relatively quiet month over-all
June 2nd- The month kicked off quickly as Wanheng Menayothin (38-0, 13) made the second defense of his WBC Minimumweight title as he easily over-came the horribly over-matched, though brave, Jerry Tomogdan (17-6-3, 9) of the Philippines. There was never any real risk here for the Thai champion though he did look sharp and strong in his second of 4 planned defenses this year. Although Tomogdan was never in the fight we do suspect he'll bounce back well and make a name for himself on the Filipino domestic scene. June 6th- On the first Saturday of the month we the biggest day in Indonesian boxing since the retirement of Chris John. The show was headlined by Daud Yordan's (34-3-0-1, 24) competitive win over Maxwell Awuku (40-3, 26) though also features wins for many of the “next generation” Indonesian fighters such as Defry Palulu (12-1, 11), Iwan Zoda (6-1,5) and Ferdinand Unitly (3-0, 1). We won't pretend that Indonesian boxing is set for a golden age but this was certainly a notable show and Raja Sapta Oktohari should be proud of the event. June 8th- The only OPBF title bout of the month came on June 8th as the exciting Koki Eto (17-3-1, 13) managed to over-come the challenge of Yuki Fukumoto (17-10, 5), who really did perform better than expected. In some ways Eto looked to have under-performed, starting particularly slowly, though we suspect he over-looked his foe as he continues to chase for a world title bout. On this performance we can't see Eto putting up a serious threat to any champion however we will always look forward to seeing him in action. June 10th- Kyoei put on one of the most notable Japanese shows of the month on June 10 as we had an IBF world title eliminator as well as the return to action of a recent world title challenger. The aforementioned world title challenger was Hisashi Amagasa (29-5-2, 19) who over-came Thai visitor Patomsith Pathompothong (12-4, 5) with a clear 10 round decision. The world title eliminator saw Shingo Wake (19-4-2, 11) over-come Mike Tawatchai (35-8-1, 21) with a wide decision. The win for Amagasa was his first bout since his December loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux whilst Wake's win has netted him an IBF world title fight. June 13th- One of the months few title fights to feature an Asian fighter came on June 13th when Ryosuke Iwasa (19-2, 12) unfortunately came up short against Englishman Lee Haskins (32-3, 14) in the UK. Iwasa looked one-paced at times though was starting to have success before he walked into a monstrous left hand that he never recovered from. The win for Haskins saw him claim the IBF “interim” Bantamweight title June 27th- The month ended in frustrating fashion as IBF Flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng (16-0, 5) was allowed to foul and spoil his way through what appeared to be a good match up with Johnriel Casimero (21-3, 13). What was a promising match up on paper was ruined by poor officiating and some dirty tactics that left many thinking that Ruenroeng may struggle to get notable challengers will to travel to Thailand in the future. (Image courtesy of Thairec.com)  The month of June has been a long and eventful one for boxing fans, and now we're about to roll into June, which again promises a lot of action. Here's what we, at Asian Boxing, have to look forward to over the coming weeks. June 2nd- The month kicks off with WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (37-0, 12) defending his title for the second time. The talented Thai, who won the title last year by stopping Oswaldo Novoa, will be facing the unknown Jerry Tomogdan (17-5-3, 9) of the Philippines. For Tomogdan it's a huge opportunity to make a name for himself, however there is nothing about his resume that suggests he has any chance against the often under-rated Wanheng. June 6th- On June 6th we'll see popular Indonesian warrior Daud Cino Yordan (33-3-0-1, 24) battle against the experienced Maxwell Awuku (40-2-1, 26). This will be Yordan's first bout of the year and he's apparently looking to move towards a WBO world title fight. Better yet this card is set to be littered with the best prospect in Indonesian boxing, and be screened internationally on RCTI. A win all-round even if the card isn't the strongest. On the same day, in Japan, fans will have the chance to see a couple of former world champions in action as Toshiyuki Igarashi (20-2-1, 11) and Akifumi Shimoda (28-4-2, 12) both fight for the first time this year. Neither man is taking on a global name but it's worth noting that both men will be expecting big fights later in the year if they come through unscathed. June 8th- On June 8th Japanese fans get an interesting double header at the Korakuen Hall. The first of those bouts will see unbeaten Japanese Super Featherweight champion Rikki Naito (12-0, 5) make the move to Lightweight where he will face the teak tough Nihito Arakawa (25-5-1, 16) in a very attractive looking bout. Although no titles are on the line this is a really significant bout for both men with Arakawa's career really needing a win and Naito really wanting to continue his unbeaten run. The other bout will see exciting OPBF Flyweight champion Koki Eto (16-3-1, 12) defending his title against Japanese challenger Yuki Fukumoto (17-9, 5). We don't really see what purpose this bout serves but it's always a joy to watch Eto in action and he hope certainly seems to be to get him a world title fight later in the year.  June 10th- Talking about world title fights it has seemed like Shingo Wake (18-4-2, 11) has been on the verge or a shot at the gold for a long time. On June 10th Wake gets the chance to take a huge step towards a world title fight as he faces Thailand's Mike Tawatchai (35-7-1, 21) in an IBF world title eliminator. The winner of this is expected to fight Carl Frampton later in the year or early next year. In a female bout on this card Tomomi Takano (7-1, 5) will fight Nongbua Lookpraiaree (9-12-1, 1) for the OPBF female Super Bantamweight title. This will be Takano's first title bout and although it looks easy on paper it is still a test for the model-come-boxer who has shown frailties in the past. The same card will also see Hisashi Amagasa (28-5-2, 19) in his first bout since being stopped by Guillermo Rigondeaux. The lanky Japanese fighter will be up against Thai visitor Patomsith Pathompothong (12-3, 5) and has the intention of chasing an IBF Featherweight title bout later in the year. It's not a given that he will get one but this is his first step towards one. June 13th- Remaining on the theme of world title bouts, we'll see a the once beaten Ryosuke Iwasa (19-1, 12) travel to England to battle against Lee Haskins (31-3, 13) in a contest for the IBF interim Bantamweight title. Iwasa has the opportunity to become the first Japanese fighter to win a world title in Europe however he will be expecting to fight Randy Caballero, if he were to win here, to become the IBF's “real” champion.  June 20th-
On June 20th we get two very different looking “secondary” title bouts. Neither is great but, if we're being honest, one is a joke. The relatively interesting bout comes form Mexico where Filipino puncher Warlito Parrenas (24-6, 21) battles Mexico's very own David Carmona (19-2-4, 8) in a fight for the WBO interim Super Flyweight title. The winner of this will be matched with Naoya Inoue later in the year, giving us a bout that is genuinely significant for both Inoue and Parrenas. On paper Carmona has nothing to trouble the Filipino though this will be Parrenas's first bout outside of Asia. The other fight is in Las Vegas as Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10) attempts to claim the WBA “interim” Cruiserweight title. Shumenov, a former title holder at Light Heavyweight will be up against once beaten American BJ Flores (31-1-1, 20) in a bout that we're really struggling care about. The bout will receive more widespread attention than the Parrenas/Carmona bout but it really shouldn't and the WBA really should be asked questions about sanctioning this contest. June 27th- The middle part of the month is mostly quiet but we do get an exciting looking closer for the month as unbeaten IBF Flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng (15-0, 5) defends his title against mandatory challenger Johnriel Casimero (21-2, 13). Casimero, a former champion at Light Flyweight, is a real threat to the talented Ruenroeng and although the Thai is a the king of slowing the pace Casimero is explosive enough to really give Ruenroeng a hard time here. On the same day female fans in South Korea can see their very own Eun Hye Lee (7-0, 2) battle against Thai youngster Ploynapa Sakrungrueng (12-5-1, 1) in a contest for the WBO female Light Flyweight title. This bout has really gone under-the-radar but it could potentially see South Korea claiming another female world champion, as recognised by “The Big 4”. It's certainly less high profile than some of the months other bouts but it is a notable one all the same and one where Lee seems to be the clear favourite. Images courtesy of- Thairec.com and boxmob.jp |
Thinking Out East
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