Home Fight Results Weekly Asian fight results (20/2 to 26/02): Dmitry Bivol, Petchmanee Kokietgym

Weekly Asian fight results (20/2 to 26/02): Dmitry Bivol, Petchmanee Kokietgym

Dmitry Bivol

This past week hasn’t been one of the busiest in boxing history but there has been a constant stream of fights featuring Asian fighters.

February 21st-
In Texas on Wednesday fight fans tuning into PBC on Fox Sports 1 saw Vietnamese-American Dat Nguyen (20-3, 7) score one of the biggest upsets of the year so far, as he stopped Miguel Flores (21-1, 9). Coming in to the bout Flores was a 1/25 favourite but Nguyen simple wore him down, eventually forcing the referee to save Flores in round 6.

February 22nd-
The following day Thai fans had action on a Thairath show that was streamed online. The card wasn’t a big one but it did feature two regional title fights. One of those saw the promising Downua Ruawaiking (6-0, 4) claim the IBF Pan Pacific Light Welterweight title with an opening round stoppage against Yuta Maruoka (12-4, 6), who showed near enough no punch resistance. The other man picking up a title here was Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (16-6, 11), who claimed the IBF Pan Pacific Bantamweight title with a 3rd round KO of Indonesian Zun Rindam (14-9-1, 6).

February 23rd-
Staying in Thailand, and with regional titles, fans saw talented Minimumweight hopeful Petchmanee Kokietgym (17-0, 10) retain his PABA title with an 8th round TKO win against Indonesian challenger Ellias Nggenggo (10-11-3, 3). Following this win some in Thailand did mention Petchmanee getting a world title fight in the near future, potentially with compatriot Knockout CP Freshmart.

Later on the same day Kyrgyzstan born Light Heavyweight contender Dmitry Bivol (9-0, 7) retained his WBA “interim” Light Heavyweight title with a 4th round TKO win against Kiwi Robert Berridge (29-6-1, 21). Berridge had a couple of moments of success but was dropped several times and eventually stopped due to a nasty cut.

February 25th-
On Saturday it was the turn of Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar (8-0, 8) to shine as he battled the teak tough Jhon Gemino (15-8-1, 7), and eventually broke down Gemino for a 10th round TKO. Nyambayar, who had only been 17 rounds in his previous 7 bouts,dropped Gemino 4 times before closing the show in round 10, proving his stamina as well as his skills and power. Despite this being the 8th loss for Gemino he proved himself as a genuinely capable and tough journeyman, and had come into the bout on the back of upsets over Toto Helebe and Toka Kahn Clary.

February 26th-
The week’s action finished in Kumamoto as Tatsuya Fukuhara (19-4-6, 7) become the first fighter from a Kumamoto gym to become a “world” champion. The fighter from the Honda Fitness gym claimed the WBO “interim” Minimumweight title as he took a split decision over Mexican warrior Moises Calleros (25-7-1, 14). The two guys were well matched through out through but the Kumamoto crowd helped buoy Fukuhara to the win as he came on strong in the later rounds. The win for Fukuhara completes a remarkable career turn around since losing to a then debuting Takuma Inoue in December 2013 and sets him up for a bout with the all action Katsunari Takayama!

The only sour note about Fukuhara’s great win is the lack of media it got with no channel showing the contest live, a real travesty for such a great win and such a great feel good story about a fighter fighting for his local community, which was ravaged last year by a tragic earthquake. Hopefully Fukuhara Vs Takayama will receive much more attention than this bout got.

(Scott Graveson covers the Asian boxing scene for www.asianboxing.info)