Yemeni boxing icon Ali Raymi may have seen his historic run of opening round KO's come to an end recently but it's impossible to take the streak away from him.

Amongst his 21 success opening round stoppages was this one over the out-gunned, under-skilled and generally clueless Yaser Dalbant who really was out of his depth fro the off. Dalbant, to his credit, did seem to land 1 decent shot, though took so many in return that he seemed happy to take the 10 count, which was oddly counted down, from 10 to 1, as opposed to being counted up, from 1 to 10.

If you think of the Yemeni boxing scene you think of just one man, Ali Raymi. 

Raymi, the record holder for the most successive opening round KO's to begin a career, stopped his first 21 foes inside a round. One of the quickest victims was the relatively hapless Luke Hasan who lasted just 27 against a rampant Raymi who appeared intent to on breaking the body of Hasan.

This one is short and quick those shows Raymi at possibly his best.

Yemen boxing might not be huge but one of their fighters has become a bit of an internet sensation courtesy of the fact he recorded 21 successive opening round stoppages, setting a world record in the process.

That was, of course, Ali Raymi the Minimumweight who not only recorded 21 straight opening round victories but also 21 victories over unbeaten men.

The last of those 21 opening round victories came against Prince Maz and was some what controversial due the end looking some what suspect with the camera suddenly blanking out and the bout ending effectively off camera. Raymi went onto inform us over twitter that Maz had turned his back and quit though the footage certainly didn't show that.

The fight was, at the time, Raymi's longest bout and also the closest he had come to seeing the second round, in fact at 2:58 some supposed that the bout had been ended by the referee to keep Raymi's streak in tact and, just a few weeks later they fought a rematch, in that bout Maz lasted into the 7th round with Raymi who continued his KO streak though saw his opening round streak come to an end. Unfortunately only a small portion of that bout was made publicly availabe.

When you think of Yemen and boxing there are two names that jump out at you. The infamous Ali Raymi and the eccentric "Prince" Naseem Hamed. It appears that Yemen has has another boxer that may be worth making a note of, and one that is clearly inspired by Hamed.

That is is Hani Ansi who showed off some Hamed-like moves in his recent victory over compatriot Naser Awadh. We don't know much about the fight though the clip is entertaining for the 31 seconds. We need to apologise for not having the full fight, though we clearly have the highlight of the bout and enough to get an idea of what Ansi is like in the ring. Just a shame Awadh was so out classed.

In less than a week fans worldwide will know the name Samartlek Kokietgym. They may end up knowing him as the man who scored one of the biggest upsets of the year, or the man who ends up being the next victim of Naoya Inoue, though they will know his name, at least for a few days.

The same couldn't be said for Samartlek just 2 fights ago when he took on Indonesian journeyman Samuel Tehuayo, aka Sammy Hagler, in their second meeting following a previous fight in February 2012. 

Samartlek didn't really have many problems with the Indonesian fighter who lacked the skills and power to make life difficult for the Thai though Samartlek himself didn't really impress against his limited foe in a bout that really didn't make anyone think they were watching a future world title challenger. Boxing however is a confusing sport at times and less than 3 months after this fight Samartlek gets his life changing opportunity.

One really interesting thing about Tehuayo is his record. He started his career with an impressive 14-0 record though has since gone 4-24-2 with this bout being the 21st loss. Looking at the fight you can see why he loses so often now he has began fighting international opponents. 

In less than a week Samartlek Kokietgym will fight in the biggest contest of his life as he battles Japanese star Naoya Inoue for the WBC Light Flyweight title. With that bout arranged the Thai competed in a stay busy fight against popular and busy Indonesian journeyman Domi Nenokeba. The fight, which was never really a competitive one, really was fought as a chance for Samartlek to stay sharp and that's all he did getting a few extra rounds under his belt in the process.

Interestingly Nenokeba would return to Thailand just a few weeks later and surprisingly give Saenganan KKP a very tough test, dropping Saenganan in the process. That bout may have exposed Saenganan as nothing special but will also have added to the context of this bout considering how easily Samartlek won. On the flip side of that however Samartlek didn't look like a future world champion in the making and did show numerous major flaws.

One of the numerous promising prospects from Thailand is Petch Sor Chitpattana. Petch has been a professional for a while and is slowly but carefully climbing up the ranks through a combination of accumulative wins and a growing quality of wins. The most recent of which came against against fellow south paw Jaymart Toyco, of the Philippines.

The bout was a somewhat patient one for the most part though it was finished in some style by Petch who landed a perfect 1-2 to send Toyco down.

Although the win was never in doubt Petch was forced to take a few shots of his own before stopping Toyco and recording his third defence of the WBC youth silver Bantamweight title.

Some bouts end in amazing fashion with a spectacular KO that really should be played on a highlight reel over and over. One such KO was that scored by Thai prospect Kongfah CP Freshmart who connected with a perfect short sharp uppercut that sent Sangthong Chor Pakdee down face first.

The bout saw unbeaten men sharing the ring but not all unbeaten records are equal and it was clear that Kongfah was a much, much better fighter than Sangthong even before the fight ending beauty. Enjoy!

We often describe Thailand as the hardest country to score a win in as a visiting fighter. Their are a number of reasons for this though they aren't all to do with the officials of the Thai environment, which are both very unfriendly. Sometimes it's down to the Thai fighters involved in the bout. That was on show in 1999 when Sornpichai Kratingdaenggym pulled a KO out of no-where to stop Venezuelan Leo Gamez and claim the WBA Flyweight title.

The bout swung one way then the other. Games was down twice early on though had Sornpichai ready to go after a serious flurry that buckled the Thai's legs. It seemed as if Gamez was set to score a huge upset and then...bang! The ending is really is a great one and well worth watching over and over.

(Note-The eagle eyed amongst you may recognise adverts for both 3K Battery and Kratingdeang, or Red Bull, both of which are famous sponsors in Thai boxing.)

We all know that the Minimumweight division is one of the sports most over-looked divisions despite many talented fighters passing through it, especially in recent years. The problem for the division is typically the fact fighters can't stay there for the length of a career. After all 105lbs is next to nothing for a fighter who matures from a young professional to a fully grown man.

The issue of growing out of the division is certainly something that effected Oleydong Sithsamerchai who turned professional in 2002 at 105lbs and remained in the division until 2011 when he suffered his first, and so far only, loss, a stoppage to Kazuto Ioka. For more than 3 years he held the WBC world title and defended it successfully 6 time before the loss to Ioka. The last of those successful defences came in his second meeting with Pornsawan Porpramook, a future WBA world champion.

At times early on Oleydong looked sensational though at other times it was clear he was struggling with the 105lb limit. He lacked the power to back up Porpramook, at times he lacked the bounce in his step to escape his fellow Thai and he fought very much like a man who knew he wasn't his usual self and one who would later suffer what appeared to be a leg injury.

We won't ruin much more of the fight though we would advise you keep a close eye on the very interesting 6th round, as well as the fighters reactions at the end of the bout, which included Porpramook doing push ups in the ring as if to suggest he found the bout easy.