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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 Japanese world champion Akinobu Hiranaka to former Mongolian 2-weight world champion Lakva Sim.
1-The heavy handed Akinobu Hiranaka made his professional debut on March 24th 1985 at the Konan High School in Naha. Hiranaka successfully debuted with an opening round KO win over Kazumi Yokoi. On the very same show Yasuo Yogi also made his debut, and like Hiranaka he scored a KO1 win, as he stopped Mituso Nakamura. 2-The talented Yasuo Yogi is best known for his Japanese Minimumweight title win in February 1988, when he beat Norikazu Kawana in a fire-fight that saw both men hitting the canvas, multiple times, in a thrilling second round. Sadly though Yogi's reign was a short one and he lost in his first defense, to Missile Kudo just 4 months later. Later in his career Yogi would go on to lose to a number of international fighters, including Kwang Sun Kim. 3-Sadly the talented Kwang Sun Kim had a super short career, going 6-2 (4) in his professional career. Despite failing to make a major mark on the professional ranks, losing in two world title fights, he had been an excellent amateur and had won a Gold medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. On route to that gold medal he beat American fighter Arthur Johnson. 4-The talented Arthur Johnson, much like Kwang Sun Kim, was a very good amateur who didn't have the success in the professional ranks that many had expected from him. That was despite getting 4 world title fights. The first of those world title fights came in 1994 when he challenged the then IBF Flyweight champion Pichit Sithbanprachan, over in Thailand, with Pichit taking a decision over Johnson. 5-Although Pichit Sithbanprachan retired several times during his career, his very final bout came in 2000, when he beat Oscar Vargas. On the very same card Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai scored a 6th round KO win over Jose Luis Tula, to retain the PABA Super Featherweight title. 6-The exciting Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai is best known for his reign as the WBA Super Featherweight champion. It was a short reign, lasting just over 3 years but was an interesting one, with wins over Lamong Pearson, Ryuhei Sugita and Steve Forbes. For those wondering he won the title in 2002 when he over-came Mongolian warrior Lakva Sim!
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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 Nobuo Nashiro to Akinobu Hiranaka.
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-The teak tough Nobuo Nashiro was a 2-time WBA Super Flyweight champion, winning the title in 2006 and then gain in 2008. Of course he wasn't the first Japanese fighter to win this particular title, in fact that honour belongs to the legendary, and hugely controversial, Jiro Watanabe, who won the belt in 1982. 2-In his first world title fight, for the WBC Super Flyweight title, Jiro Watanabe lost a decision in South Korea to Chul Ho Kim, who actually made his first defense with his win against Watanabe, in what was a razor close bout. 3-Sadly the talented Chul Ho Kim rarely comes up in the conversation about Korean greats, but he is regarded in Korea very highly, and was sadly one of the many fighters who burned out. He won the WBC super Flyweight title when he was just 19, before making 5 defenses in 18 months and the losing the title, a few months later. His career was essentially over in 1983, before he had even his his physical prime. His final career bout was a loss to Prayurasak Muangsurin on a show that also featured Ju Do Chun defending the South Korean Super Flyweight title. 4-Following his reign as the Korean national champion Ju Do Chun go on to become the first ever IBF Super Flyweight champion, winning the vacant title in 1983 and recording 5 defenses before he was beaten by Indonesian puncher Elly Pical in 1985. The only other Korean fighter to win the IBF Super Flyweight title was Tae Il Chang. 5- During his career Tae Il Chang fought a number of notable fighters, including Elly Pical, Khaosai Galaxy and Soon Chun Kwon in a career that saw him win the Korean, OPBF and IBF titles. Interestingly he debuted on the same show that also featured the final bout of Royal Kobayashi's career, in 1981. 6-Royal Kobayashi was the first Japanese Olympian to also go on to win a professional world title, something that very few have managed to do. The next Japanese fighter to do that was the heavy handed Akinobu Hiranaka! 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 Filipino world champion Marlon Tapales to former Japanese world champion Nobuo Nashiro.
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-In 2015 Marlon Tapales won the WBO Bantamweight title, with a brilliant win against Pungluang Sor Singyu in Thailand. Tapales was the third Filipino fighter to win the WBO Bantamweight title, following Gerry Penalosa and Nonito Donaire. He was then followed, a few years later, by Johnriel Casimero. 2-The explosive, heavy handed and enigmatic Johnriel Casimero has had a rather interesting career, with some huge wins, and some very under-whelming performances. When he's on song however he is brilliant, explosive and incredibly heavy handed. He made his debut on June 3rd 2007, the same day that Kyotaro Fujimoto won a kick boxing bout against Ryo Takigawa. 3-After a successful career as a kick boxer Kyotaro Fujimoto turned his hand to professional boxing and had a successful career, unifying the Japanese, OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific titles. One of his most notable rivalries in the professional was with Nobuhiro Ishida, with the two men fighting twice, in very competitive bouts. 4-During a professional career that ran from 2000 to 2015 Nobuhiro Ishida scored several wins of note. There is however one of those that stands out more than any other, and that it is his opening round blow out win over James Kirkland, in what was the 2011 Upset of the Year. A year later the Upset of the Year was Sonny Boy Jaro's upset shock win against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam to become the WBC Flyweight champion. 5-Despite his huge 2012 win, for the WBC Flyweight title, Sonny Boy Jaro was essentially a career journeyman who suffered notable losses through his entire career. The fifth of his defeats came in 2006 to Thailand's Pornsawan Porpramook, who stopped Jaro in 5 rounds. 6-In 2012, years after beating Jaro, we saw Pornsawan Porpramook win the WBA Minimumweight title scoring a 12th round majority decision over Indonesian fighter Muhammad Rachman in Jakarta on July 30th 2011. On the very same day Nobuo Nashiro took the unbeaten record of Filipino fighter Rey Perez, taking a decision win over Perez. 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 Ryol Li Lee to Marlon Tapales.
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-When he was much younger Ryol Li Lee went to the Osaka Korean High School in Osaka. Another fighter who went to the same high school was Teiru Kinoshita. 2-During his 30 fight professional career Teiru Kinoshita managed to achieve a significant amount. He went unbeaten in his first 20 bouts, won the Japanese Super Flyweight title and recorded 5 defenses of that title and later fought for the IBF Super Flyweight title. Twice. The first of those world title bouts came against Zolani Tete in 2014, for the vacant title. 3-Sadly for Kinoshita he came up very short against talented South African fighter Zolani Tete, who dominated from the opening round. Tete would go on to record just a single defense of that title before moving up in weight and begin to campaign at Bantamweight. Tete's title win saw him become the second South African to win the IBF Super Flyweight title, following in the footsteps of Simphiwe Nongqayi. 4-Sadly Simphiwe Nongqayi is often an over-looked fighter, despite the fact he won the belt in Mexico against Jorge Arce and defended it on the road, in France, against Malik Bouziane. Unfortunately Nongqayi's reign ended in his second defense, when he was stopped by Juan Alberto Rosas. 5-Mexican fighter Juan Alberto Rosas had a solid career between 2001 and 2016, fighting more than 50 times and scoring more than 40 wins. Given the length of his career, and the fact he had double digit losses, it's surprising that he was stopped only once, with that stoppage loss coming late in his career to David Sanchez. 6-Less than 18 months after David Sanchez beat Juan Albert Rosas he scored another win of note, defeating Filipino fighter Marlon Tapales, who would later go on to become the WBO Bantamweight champion! This was, notably for Tapales, only his second career defeat. 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. 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. 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 world champion Den Junlaphan to former multi-weight champion Daiki Kameda.
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-Between 2000 and 20007 Thailand's Den Junlaphan made his name as one of the best Minimumweights in the sport. He began his career in Thailand, move to Japan early in his career and became a 2-time WBC Minimumweight champion, before ending his career with an 18-2 (6) professional record. Another Thai who once held the WBC Minimumweight title was Napa Kiatwanchai, who was the second man to hold the title way back in the 1980's. 2-As mentioned Napa Kiatwanchai was the second man to hold the WBC Minimumweight title. The man he belt for the belt, on November 13th 1988, was Japanese star Hiroki Ioka, who lost the belt in his third defense. 3-The Ioka name is one of the most notable in Japanese boxing. That is, in part, due to Hiroki Ioka, who would become a 2-weight champion during his career, and in part to his nephew, and modern day Japanese star, Kazuto Ioka, who has exceeded the achievements of his uncle and become a 4-weight world champion. 4-As an amateur Kazuto Ioka was only the third man in Japan to win 6 high school titles, following in the footsteps of Takahiro Ao and the little known Ryo Osaka, who dominated the Middleweight division back in his days as a high school fighter. 5-Despite being a fantastic young talent Ryo Osaka never amounted to much as a professional, fighting just 3 times from 2006 to 2007, though did manage to go 3-0 (2) in the paid ranks. Sadly he never faced anyone of note though his second bout did come on a show that was headlined by a world title fight, in fact it was a show that saw Takefumi Sakata finally become a world champion, winning the WBA Flyweight title! 6-Although rarely spoken about now a days Takefumi Sakata was a notable name in Japan between 1998 and 2010. He was a popular fighter, involved in some great fights and memorable events. His trilogy with Lorenzo Parra was great, his two bouts with Roberto Vasquez were hotly contested, as were his two bouts with Trash Nakanuma. He was also in some very notable bouts with Daisuke Naito and Denkaosan Kaovichit. In his final bout he lost a decision to the then WBA Flyweight champion Daiki Kameda! 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 Marvin Sonsona to Den Junlaphan.
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-Talented Filipino fighter Marvin Sonsona is one of boxing's greatest "what ifs?", with the big question being "what if he had commitment to the sport and some real discipline?" Despite that he was also one of the sports most talented prodigies, winning the WBO Super Flyweight title aged just 19. Later in his career he proved he was still a talented fighter, and his KO win over Akifumi Shimoda in 2014 showed touches of genius. Sonsona debuted in 2007, and did so with a win over fellow debutant Richard Donaire. 2-Unsurprisingly, given his surname, Richard Donaire was part of the Donaire boxing family. His uncle is Nonito Donaire Sr, and his cousins are Glenn Donaire and the legendary Nonito Donaire. 3-During long and successful career Nonito Donaire has gone through a lot of trainers. These have included his father, former Filipino fighters Dodie Boy and Jonathan Penalosa, the fantastic Robert Garcia and the legendary Ismael Salas. 4-Dring his long and hugely successful career as a trainer Ismael Salas really has trained a who's who, of who and has had success as a trained in both professional boxing, working with the likes of Donaire, Kazuto Ioka, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Danny Grean and Guillermo Rigondeaux, but also the Thai National Amateur team in the early 2000's. Among the amateurs he trained was Somjit Jongjohor. 5-Although Somjit Jongjohor never turned professional himself he was a sensational amateur boxer who won pretty much everything an amateur could wish to win. He took gold medals at the Asian Games, the Asian Championships, the World Amateur Championships and the Olympics. His Asian Games gold medal came in 2002, at Flyweight, and another man who picked up gold at those very same games was Gennadiy Golovkin, who won his medal at Light Middleweight. 6-Following an excellent amateur career Gennadiy Golovkin turned professional and made his professional debut on May 6th 2006. On that very same day Den Junlaphan successfully defended the WBC Minimumweight title, defeating the previously unbeaten Rodel Mayol with a 12 round decision to retain the title and record his second defense of his second reign. 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 Thai great Samart Payakaroon to former Filipino world champion Marvin Sonsona.
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 Samart Payakaroon is often regarded as one of, if not the, greatest Muay Thai fighter ever, and was also a success in professional boxing, winning the WBC Super Bantamweight title in 1986 when he defeated Lupe Pintor in just his 12th professional bout. Interesting Payakaroon was one of the fighters who won the now defunct Ring Magazine "Progress of the Year" award. The award was essentially finished in 1988 after Michael Nunn won it, and hasn't been seen since. Interestingly Payakaroon was one of a number of Asian fighters who won this award over the years, with another being Shozo Saijo, who won it in 1968. 2-As a professional fighter Shozo Saijo had a short career, running from 1964 to 1971, but achieved a lot during those years, and managed to squeeze in 38 professional bouts. His most notable achievement wasn't just winning the WBA Featherweight title in 1968 but doing so on American soil, making him the first Japanese fighter to win a world title away from home. The next Japanese fighter to win a world title on the road was Kuniaki Shibata, who actually achieved the feat twice. 3-Between 1965 and 1977 Kuniaki Shibata ran up an excellent 47-6-3 (25) record and was a 3-time world champion, the first Japanese fighter to achieve that feat. He is best known for his exploits at world level, which included huge wins over Vicente Saldivar, Ben Villaflor and Ricardo Arredondo. Before he'd even won a world title however he had suffered 2 professional losses, including one to often forgotten Korean Hubert Kang. 4-Korean fighter Hubert Kang was a stalwart of the Korean scene from the mid 1960's to the late 1970's. During his long career he fought a lot of notable fighters including the now often forgotten Wongso Suseno, the first ever Indonesian fighter to win an international title. 5-As mentioned Wongo Suseno won an international title, the OPBF Light Welterweight title, in 1975. He successfully defended the belt twice before losing it in 1977 to Filipino Moises Cantoja. Another fighter who later went on to win that very same title was Filipino Morris East, who won the title in 1992 with a brilliant win over Pyung Sub Kim in South Korea. 6-Sadly Morris East will always be a case of "what could have been?" He won the WBA Light Welterweight title in 1992 with a huge upset win over Akinobu Hiranaka, at the age of just 19, and is still the youngest Filipino to ever win a world title. Another "what could have been?" for Filipino boxing is that of Marvin Sonsona, who also won a world title as a teenager, and failed to build on his world title win, which happened in 2009. 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 Junto Nakatani to Samart Payakaroon.
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-During his career Junto Nakatani has used a track from Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi's 2007 album "Come on Stand up!" for his ring entrance. Within the credits for that album is a special thanks to former WBA Super Flyweight champion Hideki Todaka, who actually had a song on the album recorded for him, "Fighting Boxer". The link between Nagabuchi and Todaka pre-dates this 2007 album, by several years, with Todaka having used Nagabuchi's song "Hold your last chance", among others, as his own ring entrance music. 2-The first title that Hideki Todaka ever won was the Japanese Light Flyweight title, which he defended just once before vacating due to a hand injury. Another fighter who held that title was Ryo Miyazaki, who like Todaka vacated the title after just a single defense of the belt. 3-During his professional career Ryo Miyazaki suffered just 2 professional defeats. One of those was his final bout, a loss to Ryoichi Taguchi, whilst the other was a massive upset loss on December 31st 2013, when he was stopped in 3 rounds by the little known Teeraphong Utaida, aka Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr. 4-The talented Teeraphong Utaida, better known as Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr, isn't the only boxer in his family. In fact his father Thongchai Utaida, or Fahlan Sakkreerin, was also a fighter, with his career spanning from 1988 to 2005 and more than 60 professional bouts! 5-Notably Thongchai Utaida, or the original Fahlan if you will, wasn't just a busy fighter with a lot of longevity but he was also one of the first IBF Minimumweight champions. He claimed the title in 1990 and made an impressive 7 defenses of the title before being upset by Manny Melchor in 1992, ending what was the longest reign of the title up to that point in time. Another Thai fighter who has held that title was Samuth Sithnaruepol, the second IBF Minimumweight champion. 6-Thailand's Samuth Sithnaruepol is known for several things. He was, as mentioned, the second IBF Minimumweight champion, he was also the first OPBF Minimumweight champion, beating Kenji Ono for the title in 1986, and he was involved in the last 15 round world title bout, beating In Kyu Hwang in that bout. As the OPBF Minimumweight champion Samuth made 4 defenses of the belt, the first of which came on June 20th 1986. On that very same date Samart Payakaroon fought over in France, beating Rafael Gandarilla in Paris! |
Thinking Out East
With this site being pretty successful so far we've decided to open up about our own views and start what could be considered effectively an editorial style opinion column dubbed "Thinking Out East" (T.O.E). Archives
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