/This week end sees no notable action in Asia though sees as Asian fighter in the headline bout of the weekend as well as a handful of Asian fighters in action in much smaller bouts. Washington, DC, USA The key bout involving an Asian is, as mentioned above, the headline bout of the weekend as US based Kazakhstan Beibut Shumenov (14-1, 9) attempts to unify his WBA Light Heavyweight "Super" title with the IBF belt held by ageless American boxing legend Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2-2, 32). The bout is clearly the biggest in Shumenov's career though for Hopkins it's again a case of a hungry young lion trying to retire the ageless master, something that he has seen opponents do for over a decade now. The bout is a really big one for the awfully interesting Light Heavyweight division that not only features Hopkins and Shumenov but also the big punching pair of Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson. Of course we all know Stevenson signed with Showtime rather than took a future with Kovalev but it would seem likely that Stevenson will licking his lips at the winner of this one. Unfortunately for Kovalev he's now the man on the outside looking in though with his power, aggression and style he'll know fans will want to see him even if he's not got a unification option available. Many view this as a complete mismatch with Hopkins widely viewed as too clever and too skilled though surprisingly, at the time of writing, the bookies only make Hopkins an 8/15 favourite suggesting money has been coming on Shumenov in the past few days. Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania As well as the big bout in the US some Asian fighters are active in Tanzanian of all places. One of these bouts sees Thailand's Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (12-2, 7) in action against Tanzania's very own Francis Miyeyusho (37-10-2, 23). Sakkasem is a former PABA Super Bantamweight champion and whilst he's fighting on foreign for the first time it's not hard to favour him against the 34 year old Miyeyusho. The other Asian involved on this card is once beaten Iranian Gavad Zohrehvand (13-1) who will be trying to bounce back following his 3rd round knockout loss to Ben McCulloch. Unfortunately for the Iranian he's in hard here as he battles Francis Cheka (30-8-1, 16). Cheka is a veteran who has been in with some very good fighters, such as Robert Stieglitz and Matthew Macklin and whilst he's not beaten the top opponents he should have more than enough in the locker to beat Zohrehvand here unfortunately. (Photo courtesy of Rich Kane and www.ringtv.craveonline.com)
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It's Friday once and as per usual it's the Thai's that are delivering the televised action with another Channel 7 card that is more mysterious to us than the Bermuda Triangle. Surat Thani, Thailand Unfortunately the mystery of the card is confusing in not just terms of bouts but also venue. The one thing we are sure of is that the card will feature the always fun to watch Rusalee Samor (22-5-2, 10) who will be defending his IBF Asia Super Flyweight title. *Thanks to Pal for this information but Samor's opponent will be unbeaten Indonesian Espinos Sabu (11-0-1, 5). Sabu is the Indonesian Flyweight champion and, at one point last year, was linked strongly to an Ali Raymi fight. Osaka, Japan In Osaka fight fans will be treat to an Harada promoted card at the wonderfully named Bodymaker Colosseum, AKA the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. In total this show will feature 8 bouts and include 2 Japanese ranked fighters with a ranked Middleweight and a ranked Flyweight in action as well. The headline bout will see the Japanese ranked Tetsuya Hisada (21-8, 11) take on former world title challenger Junichi Ebisuoka (23-17-5, 10). It may be hard to remember it but Ebisuoka challenged Oleydong Sithsamerchai to the WBC Minimumweight title way back in 2008. Unfortunately for Ebisuoka that was his career highly and although he has fought in other title fights he has repeatedly been the bridesmaid losing in Japanese title fights and an OPBF title fight. For Hisada this bout with Ebisuoka is a chance to repeat a 2008 victory, though as with Ebisuoka we don't imagine he'll ever win a big one. The other ranked fighter in action on this show is Ryuji Kanza (6-1, 4) who will be fighting for the first time in over a year. Kanza's opponent will be Takayuki Morimoto (5-7, 3) who has won just 2 of his last 9. This should be an easy victory for the ranked Kanza but will ring rust effect him? Krasnodar, Russia In Russia we have a chance to see the very promising Aik Shakhnazaryan (11-0, 4) takes on Felix Lora (18-10-5, 9). Shakhnazaryan comes in to this fight looking for his second notable victory after beating Alisher Rahimov last month. Aged just 20 the unbeaten Russian is a fast prospect and a victory over the "trickier than his record suggests" Lora would help establish Shakhnazaryan as one of Russia's fastest rising youngsters. Another bout on this Russian card will see David Avanesyan (16-1-1, 9) battle against former world title challenger Kaizer Mabuza (25-10-3, 15) in a major bout for Avanesyan. One more noteworthy fighter on this card is former Olympian Uktamjon Rahmonov (2-0) who some are quietly tipping as a future world champion. Aged 23 and hailing from Uzbekistan Rahmonov is unlikely to set the world alive in the next year or two but we'd certainly advice fans to keep a watchful eye on his progress. (Image above, and video below are courtesy of Kietkreerin, the video is the hype video of what we believe is Samor bout, unfortunately it's in Thai which none of our team speak) After the long weekend of fights across all the levels in the sport we return to normality with a somewhat average Japanese card taking centre stage on Wednesday. Tokyo, Japan The show in question is a Misako promoted 9 fight card at the popular Japanese venue, the Korakuen Hall. The card doesn't feature any top names, or high flying prospects but is one of those cards that keeps the vibrant Japanese boxing scene alive between big fights. The headline contest here will see Japanese and OPBF ranked Flyweight Hyobu Nakagama (16-11-4, 11) fight against the light punching Mikiya Ishikawa (8-5, 1). Interestingly when you look at Nakagama's record you don't immediately think "ranked challenger in boxing's toughest division" but when you realise his last 4 losses have come to Oleydong Sithsamerchai, twice, Suguru Muranaka and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam you sort of let up on the guy a bit. Ishikawa has won 4 of his last 5 but we expect the power of Nakagama to be too much. One of the other more notable bouts on this show will see the big punching Yudai Ueno (7-5-2, 6) fight against Shiro Saito (6-4-1, 2). As with the other bout we do under-stand casual fans from the west not getting exciting about this fight but we certainly expect to see some entertaining action with Ueno holding a 5" height advantage over Saito despite being the "naturally" smaller man. With 9 bouts at the Japanese domestic level this isn't one for western fans to really care about but we think it'll be a good one. (Poster courtesy of boxmob.jp) The brilliant weekend that we've just had could very well have survived as a stand alone day in the boxing world. Thankfully however the action continues through to Monday when fight fans in Tokyo get the chance to see a title double header with both OPBF and Japanese title action in what appears to be the perfect send off to a long boxing weekend. Tokyo, Japan The card, Dangan 99, is Asia's only notable card and features 6 bouts. The action kicks off with an all debutant fight in the Bantamweight division with the men competing in the first round of the C class tournament though it's the two headline bouts that of real interest. The first of those is a Japanese Super Flyweight title bout as the once beaten Yohei Tobe (7-1-1, 4) battles the big hitting Taiki Eto (12-2, 9) battle for the vacant belt. On paper this is a bout we love the look of and we're genuinely licking our lips in anticipation of what is potentially a humdinger between defensively naive fighters. Unfortunately for Tobe we feel his relative lack of power will be an issue here though expect the bout to be great fun for as long as it lasts. Following on from the Japanese title fight we then step up a level and move on to a bout for the OPBF Light Welterweight title. Whilst we're really really excited about the Japanese title fight we've got to admit we're even more excited about this bout as the big punching Keita Obara (10-1, 9) goes to war with Filipino banger Jay Solmiano (17-2-1, 3). This bout could finish at any moment and with both having power it really is an exciting and mouth watering match up that should genuinely excite the fans As well as the two title bouts we'd also advise keeping a close eye on the contest between Shingo Eto (12-2-1, 8) and Filipino Ryan Sermona (16-4, 9) in what should be a thrilling under card bout. (Image courtesy of http://danganboxing.com) Although this weekend's "big fight allure" was all about Saturday it's unfair to suggest that Sunday isn't actually the busier day with a staggering 5 shows across Japan. Unlikely last weekend however isn't a super show to rival "Ring of Diamonds" instead we merely get domestic shows with the highest profile of those featuring a Japanese title fight. Osaka, Japan As with last week we have 2 shows at the IMP Hall in Osaka. The first of those is an 8 fight card promoted by Dapeng. The main event on this first show will see the JBC and OPBF ranked Ryota Kajiki (22-8, 14) battle against fellow Japanese fighter Satoru Sugita (7-2-1, 5) in what should be a good test for Kajiki who we do favour. Also on the first IMP Hall card we expect to see Japanese ranked Light Welterweight So Takenaka (19-7-2, 8) who is scheduled to face a Thai opponent, though no name has yet been released to us. The second IMP Hall card, the one we've used the poster from, features the bout of the day as Yu Kawaguchi (20-5, 9) battles Kentaro Masuda (18-6, 10) for the vacant Japanese Bantamweight title. This is a pretty even match up in our eyes and we're struggling to favour either man with out team actually split on the winner. The only thing we do expect is that this will be competitive. Also on the second IMP Hall card is another bout that caught our eye. This bout sees Takayuki Okumoto (10-6-2, 5) face off against the unbeaten Yuki Yonaha (3-0, 3). On paper it would be to favour Yonaha but so far he is untested with his opponents having a combined record of 0-10. Hard to back Yonaha having seen his opponents but he may well be the real deal. Ishikawa, Japan Although the Kawaguchi/Masuda bout is the biggest bout of the day it's not the only title bout as Akihiro Matsumoto (12-4-1, 6) fights against against South Korea's Ye-Joon Kim (7-1-2, 2) for the WBC Youth Super Bantamweight title. This is an interesting fight for both men and whilst we do favour Matsumoto we also need to admit that Kim could be a potential banana skin opponent. On the same card in Ishikawa, promoted by Kashimi Promotions, we get a pair of bouts involving notable Filipino's. The first of these bouts will see Marlon Tapales (24-2, 9) fight against Japan's very own Hayato Kimura (21-5, 15) in an interesting contest that sees Tapales putting his OPBF ranking on the line. The second will see Mark Gil Melligen (17-4-1, 8) fight against unbeaten Thai Bualuang OnesongchaiGym (12-0, 4) in what could be a really tough contest between two men who know what a win on this show would really mean. Hiroshima, Japan In Hiroshima we get a a long 10 bout show with only 2 bouts really worth noting. The first of those "notable bouts" will see the experienced Daigo Nakahiro (23-4-2, 9) fight against win-less Thai Phetsaifar Lukmaelamperigym (0-2) in an 8 round affair. Thankfully after the mismatch with Nakahiro we do get a genuinely interesting looking contest between Koji Itagaki (12-8-2, 5) and the Japanese ranked Takashi Omae (11-3-5, 1). This Light Flyweight contest, also scheduled for 8 rounds, should be a lot more competitive than the other "notable" bout on the show. Gifu, Japan The final show we're interested in, though far from the least interesting, is in the Gifu Hall as Gifu Yokozeki put on a 6 fight show. The main event here will see the OPBF ranked Light contender Futoshi Usami (11-1-1, 8) attempt to bounce back from his sole defeat. Usami will be fighting against the tough Akira Shono (7-5-2, 4), who is limited and can be beaten but has never been stopped. Usami should be naturally bigger and stronger though we'd not be surprised if this turned out to be a tough 8 round battle for Usami. Although the Usami bout is down as the main event the more interesting bout is the debut of former amateur stand out Genki Hanai (0-0) who will be fighting in a 6 round battle with a Thai opponent. The 23 year old Hanai is regarded as one of the "next" great prospects from Japan and we've been told to keep a very close eye on and his exploits in the Light Flyweight or even Flyweight division. It maybe too early to know for sure but many are tipping him as a future world title challenger. (Poster courtesy of http://green-tsuda.com) Over the past few weeks every day seems to have been packed with a lot of boxing. Some of it was genuinely great, other bits were unmemorable and relatively forgettable. This Saturday however promises to be a night to remember despite their not actually being a lot of fighting going on. The reason it's such an exciting day is because we get the return of the great Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino ring legend who fights for the first time this year. Nevada, USA Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38) returns to the US to look for revenge as he battles unbeaten American Timothy Bradley (31-0-0-1, 12) in an attempt to avenge a very controversial loss from back in 2012. With the WBO Welterweight title on the line and honour to be reclaimed for Pacquiao a lot is on the line for the Filipino though Bradley is no push over and he'll be hoping to prove the first fight was no fluke. On the same card we also get WBA Light Welterweight champion Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-0, 9) who will be defending his title for the second time as he battles the unbeaten, and once very touted, Jessie Vargas (23-0, 9). Vargas doesn't really impress us though he does keep winning and Allakhverdiev will need to make sure he's at the top of his game to over-come the unbeaten Mexican-American who Floyd Mayweather Jr once hyped. Vargas has good speed and heart but Allakhverdiev, if he's on forum, certainly has the ability to grind him down late. Staying with same card Filipino fighter Mark Anthony Geraldo (29-4-3, 13) will be battling against Mexico's Raul Hidalgo (21-10, 16) in a fight that could give the US Audience their first chance to see Geraldo who we live. The Filipino kid isn't the biggest puncher or the most skilled but he's a very good fighter who has shown guts to travel for bouts against Oleydong Sithsamerchai and Hirofumi Mukai in the past. Had Geraldo had a decent promoter behind him he could well have been looking at having had world title fights, heck Mukai's had 2 and Geraldo managed to wipe him out in double quick time just a year ago. Also on this card is Afghan born Canadian based Arash Usmanee (20-1-1, 10) who is a late fill in for Roman Martinez. Usmanee will be in a very tough bout with Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17) with the winner expected to face Terence Crawford in a WBO Lightweight world title fight later this year. Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany In Germany Heavyweight fans can see the Lebanese born Manuel Charr (25-1, 15) in action as he takes on Kevin Johnson (29-5-1, 14) in what looks like a really good Heavyweight match up. Fans have given both fighters abuse over the years but on their day they are a handful for anyone not named "Wladimir Klitschko" and they could well give us a great bout as they both try and shoot themselves back into world title contention. (Image courtesy of http://www.insidefortlauderdale.com/) April 11th-Tune up for Chonlatarn, the Pagara bros in action and the return of Mercito Gesta4/8/2014 Every boxing fan this week is obviously looking forward to Saturday which, let be honest, has one of the biggest fights of the year so far. Before then though we get a very interesting Friday with a lot of action involve Asian fighters. The action, which takes place not just across Asia but across the globe really is a great warm up for what we have on Saturday. Thailand The first televised card of the weekend comes from Thailand where the very highly ranked former world title challenger Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (49-1, 32) defends his WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight title. We've not yet got the name of Chonlatarn's opponent though we believe it to be a Filipino. The show, televised on Channel 7 in Thailand, is an important bout for Chonlatarn. Not only is it his chance to record a 50th victory but it's also a tune up fight before a prospective clash with Australian Joel Brunker in what would be a world title eliminator. From what we understand a bout between Chonlatarn and Brunker will be fought later this year with the winner meeting the winner of the upcoming world title fight between Vasyl and Gary Russell Jr. Unfortunately we're unsure on the rest of this card. Southern Leyte, Philippines We won't try and pretend that this Friday night's card from Southern Leyte in the Philippines is one of the best Filipino shows of the year but it is one that we are keeping a close eye on. First reason is the main event which features WBO #3 ranked Light Welterweight Jason Pagara (32-2, 19). Although Pagara is in a mismatch against Indonesia's Rusmin Kie Raha (12-4-2, 2), who has been stopped in his last 2 bouts, it's still great to see Pagara in action, especially with a prospective world title clash just around the corner. The second reason is that Jason Pagara's younger brother "Prince" Albert Pagara (19-0, 13) is on the card. As with Jason, Albert is in with an over-matched Indonesian in the form of Skak Max (6-13, 6). Although Max is a journeyman with more losses than wins he has proven to be a tough fighter and has gone the distance with some pretty decent competition so it'd not be a shock to see Pagara extended at least 3 or 4 rounds. As well as the Pagara brothers we are expecting at least 2 other bouts on the show. Tokyo, Japan At the Korakuen Hall we have an 8 fight card, dubbed "Mega Fight 50", headlined by a contest between the Japanese ranked Ryuji Yokoyama (10-1, 3) and the unbeaten Koya Sato (7-0-1, 1). Yokoyama enters as the #11 ranked Light Flyweight though we'd suggest that Sato actually has the better win and although Sato lacks power we'd not be shocked at all by an upset here. Yokoyama isn't the only ranked fighter on the show as 19 year old Ryuto Oho (6-0, 2), the #15 ranked Japanese Flyweight, faces Rookie of the Year runner up Jo Tanooka (7-1-3). This bout might see the fighters coming to the ring with a combined 39 years of age but it's hard not to be excited about Oho who does look very talented despite his young age. California, USA As well as the Filipino's fighting in the Philippines we also have one fighting in the US. This time it's the turn of the popular Mercito Gesta (26-1-1, 14) who battles against limited veteran Edgar Riovalle (37-17-2, 26) in what will be Gesta's first bout since he lost a decision to Miguel Vazquez in an IBF Lightweight world title fight back in December 2012. As well Mercito Gesta their is also a bout for his younger brother Anecito Gesta (2-2) on the card with Anecito battling against the debuting Riccy Hood (0-0). Anecito is nothing like the fighter Mercito is though we're hoping for a double Gesta victory. (Poster courtesy of boxmob.jp) Some weeks are action packed from Monday to Sunday. Other weeks however are slower, a bit more drab and fail to really come alive. This week is a week between the two with some action dotted about before a monster Saturday and Sunday finish the week on a high. The first real highlight of the week however comes on Thursday however as we get the first notable title fight of the week. Tokyo, Japan The fight in question takes place as the headline bout of this Thursday's Korakuen Hall show and sees current Japanese Flyweight champion Suguru Muranaka (19-2-1, 5) defending his title for the first time. Muranaka, who beat Takuya Kogawa for the belt last year, is in for a difficult defence against former world title challenger Masayuki Kuroda (21-4-3, 13), who gave Juan Carlos Reveco an interesting fight last year, though was the clear loser. For Muranaka this is a tough first defence though he is the natural Flyweight and should be favoured in terms of form even if both men match up very well in terms of skills. We are expecting this one, despite it only being a national title fight, to be a bit special and very much a bout where both men let their hands go from the opening bell to the final bell. As well as the title bout this show also features a further 7 bouts. Amongst them is a bout for former female OPBF champion Kimika Miyoshi (8-7-1, 3). Miyoshi will be fighting a Thai opponent as she tries to put back-to-back losses behind her. Whilst this is an easier bout than her last two Miyoshi will be all to aware that a loss could spell the end of her career. Although Miyoshi needs a win to resurrect her career we actually think the key under-card bout is a Light Welterweight bout between Shamgar Koichi (17-5-1, 10), a OPBF and JBC ranked fighter, and Takashi Inagaki (17-11-1, 7), who himself is ranked by the JBC. Koichi enters this bout 4-3 in his last 7, including a shock upset loss to recent OPBF title challenger Jung-Hoon Yang, and whilst that's not great it's not significantly worse than Inagaki who is 5-3-1 in his last 9, including a stoppage loss to Takashi Miura at 130lbs. (Poster courtesy of boxmob.jp) After a few days break from fights action returns to Asia on Wednesday for, what we currently believe, will be the first fights in the continent since Sunday, giving everyone a chance to calm down after the great "Ring of Diamonds" show. Hua Hin, Thailand Amongst the action on Monday is a televised Thai card from Hua Hin. The show, which hasn't been fully announced, will be televised on Thai Channel 9 and be headlined by former world champion, and true veteran Sirimongkol Singwancha (76-2, 48). Sirimongkol is a former WBC Bantamweight and WBC Super Featherweight world champion. Although he is now campaigning all the way up at Welterweight his best days were certainly in the 1990's when he was rushed to the Bantamweight title. No opponent has been confirmed for Sirimongkol though we're not expecting anyone too testing for the veteran who hasn't faced an opponent of worth since 2005, when he beat Michael Clark more than 30 fights ago. Tokyo, Japan In Japan we have 4 Japanese ranked fighters in action in a card that s set to feature a total of 7 bouts. One of the highest of those ranked fighters is Masaki Saito (10-9-3, 2) who is ranked by both the JBC and the OPBF. Saito will be up against Tsukada Yusuke (5-4, 3) in a bout that is scheduled for 6 rounds. As well Saito the card will have fellow OPBF and JBC ranked fighter Ryuichi Funai (20-6, 14) in action. Funai, who is a former OPBF title challenger, will be taking on Akinori Hoshino (11-5-1, 8) in what looks like a bout between guys with power. Although Funai goes in as a clear favourite Hoshino's power could make things very interesting if, and only if, he can tag Funai. A JBC only ranked fighter in action is Hiroki Sato (7-4, 5) who will be up against Ryutaro Taira (8-3-1, 3) in what looks like a fantastically even bout on paper. If anything the records would make you favour Taira though Sato has one of professional boxing's most misleading records and we have to seriously favour Sato. Another notable bout on this show will see the ferociously big punching Taiki Minamoto (8-3, 7) battling against Seizo Kono (14-5-1, 9) in what looks to be a fantastic domestic level match up. For those interested, it's this card that the poster is taken from. New South Wales, Australia As well as the action in Asia we also have fights in Australia that we'll be keeping an eye on. The most notable of these will be the 6 rounder between Thailand's Thongthai Rajanondh (16-17, 4) and then unbeaten George Kambosos Jr (4-0, 2). This will be a tough, tough fight for the Thai journeyman but Kambosos hasn't really proven he's much more advanced than this level so far. Another bout on the same show that we're interested in will see Dennapa Bigshotcamp (12-30, 4) fighting against Ahmed Dib (12-0, 7). This is a bout that we struggle to see Dennapa even keeping competitive and in all honesty Dib's team is doing him a disservice by even putting their man in with the Thai. We had expected Daud Cino Yordan to also appear on a show in Australia though it seems like he's no longer in action, sadly, for this date. (Image courtesy of Watanabe gym) We know in Japan that the best shows really are amazing shows whilst the smaller ones can, in some cases, be very poor. This Sunday gives us both of those distinctly different levels of shows as we get a few domestic cards as well as a show which can only be described as a super show. Tokyo, Japan We'll start with the obvious "Super Show", a show dubbed "Ring of Diamonds". This show, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Ohashi Gym is one of the most out standing cards, from top to bottom, that will be put on this year and it really shows in the match ups. The kicks off with some extremely aggressive match making as young novice Takuma Inoue (1-0) takes on world ranked Thai Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr (23-2, 15). Takuma Inoue, the younger brother of Naoya Inoue, did say he wanted to win a Japanese title in his 3rd professional contest however if he beats Sakkreerin here there is every possibility that he could challenger for a world title next time out and tie the long standing record of Saensak Muangsurin. Of course the Thai is no push over and stopped former world champion Ryo Miyazaki at the end of last year in a big upset victory. The second bout on the show is again aggressive match making as the unbeaten, and highly touted, Ryo Matsumoto (9-0, 8) takes on multi-time world title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka (22-11-1, 10). This is a big step up for Matsumoto though he should be the favoured fighter here with some viewing him as a nailed on Super Flyweight world champion somewhere down the line. In the show's third contest we get the first of 3 title bouts. This one, a Japanese Featherweight title bout, will see former world title challenger Satoshi Hosono (24-2-1, 18) fight against the unbeaten Yuki Ogata (19-0-1, 3) in what we feel is a fantastic match up between power puncher and skilled boxer. It's hard to imagine Hosono not connecting on Ogata though if the unbeaten man can take the power of Hosono we may see another star break out of this show. Breaking up the three title fights is unbeaten Nicaraguan sensation Roman "El Chocolatito" Gonzalez (38-0, 32) who will be partaking in a show case bout against Filipino opponent Juan Purisima (11-4-1, 1). This is as much a mismatch at it looks on paper though for Gonzalez this bout is all about getting his face back out there in Japan ahead of a bigger bout later this year. The bigger bout that Gonzalez is expected to be in is against Akira Yaegashi (19-3, 9) the current WBC Flyweight champion. For Yaegashi to get the Gonzalez fight however he'll need to be successful on the same card as he takes on Mexican challenger Odilon Zaleta (15-3, 8). For Yaegashi this is his third successive Mexican opponent and whilst we do expect he'll win he does need to make sure that he's focussed on Zaleta and doesn't think too much about Gonzalez. In the main event fans will see rising young star Naoya Inoue (5-0, 4) attempt to lay down the marker for other top young prospects. The 20 year old Inoue, Takuma's older brother, will be looking to set a Japanese national record as he battles WBC Light Flyweight champion Adrian Hernandez (29-2-1, 18). A victory for Inoue here would see him becoming the fast Japanese fighter to win a world title and would also mark him down as potentially the #1 fighter at 108lbs. Although this is clearly a huge test for the youngster he is actually favoured to win and few would back against him going on his recent performances. At least the two world title fights from this show will be televised on Fuji TV with studio guests reportedly being Takashi Uchiyama and Ryota Murata. Aichi, Japan As well as the Tokyo show we also have two in the Aioi Hall. The first of these is a 9 fight card promoted by Yakushiji Promotions. Although their are 9 fights on the show only one really sticks out as being worthy of making a note of and that's the main event. In that bout the #11 Japanese ranked Lightweight Daiki Koide (20-6-2, 9) will be fighting against Filipino visitor Jose Maxian (9-3, 7). The bout isn't great but is meant to be a return to the ring for Koide who lost last time out. The second Aioi Hall card is promoted by Midori (Green)and will be headlined by a fight between Japanese ranked Light Welterweight contender Kazuya Maruki (15-2, 10) who faces Filipino RJ Ano-os (8-5-1, 2), who is ranked by the OPBF, in a 10 round contest. As well as the Maruki/Ano-os bout this card also features former Japanese Heavyweight title challenger Kotatsu Takehara (9-9-3, 4) who battles Frenchman Cyril Leonet (6-7-2, 1) in an interesting Heavyweight bout with an international feel. Although neither man has a great record we do feel this could be an entertaining scrap and Takehara is certainly better than the numbers indicate. Okayama, Japan One of the lesser shows, in the Mimasaka Bunka Center, will see 7 bouts in total. For this card the main event will see Hirohito Fukuhara (16-8-9, 8) battling against Filipino foe Adones Aguelo (29-9-2, 12). Both of these men are ranked in the top 15 of their respective domestic divisions though we're going to go with the naturally bigger Fukuhara to come out on top. Another interesting looking bout on this card will see Japanese ranked Lightweight Kazuhiro Nishitani (12-2, 6) take on the big punching Gabriel Royo (9-8-2, 8).Although limited Royo could certainly give Nishitani issues if he can connect. Fukuoka, Japan The remaining card is in the Kokura Kita Gym and will feature 5 bouts. The only real bout of note on this show is Yoshihiko Matsuo's (16-5-5, 3) fight with Yudai Matsumoto (8-8-3, 1) and this is only notable due to the fact Matsuo is ranked by both the JBC and OPBF. (Image courtesy of Ohashi Gym) |
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