Iwshiwaki wins, Inoue's star in advert, unified champion teases return

Earlier today we had action at Korakuen Hall, although the card wasn’t a big one there was a bout of some real interest as JBC ranked fighters Aso Ishiwaki (13-7-1, 9) [石脇麻生] and Kaiki Yuba (11-3-2, 7) [湯場海樹] clashed in a really good looking match up. Fans who have followed the Japanese scene know what these two men bring to the ring, with Ishiwaki being a pressure fighter, who loves to bring the action and Yuba being a heavy handed boxer-puncher. Sadly though the bout wasn’t nearly as competitive as some, including ourselves, expected, with Yuba unable to cope with the pressure of Ishiwaki, The pressure from Ishiwaki was having an impact from the off, and in round 3 he had Yuba hurt, though to his credit Yuba managed to somehow stay up right. The intensity from Ishiwaki didn't stop however, and in round 4 he dropped Yuba, who recovered to his feet but was downed a second time, then a third time.

Following the bout Ishiwaki called for a Japanese Welterweight title fight, which could well come later this year, whilst Yuba was removed from the ring on a stretcher.

Staying with Japanese news, it was announced on Thursday that the Inoue’s, Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23) [井上尚弥], Takuma Inoue (19-1, 5) [井上拓真] and their father Shingo Inoue, were in a new advert for Suntory Draft Beer. Suntory, one of the biggest breweries in Japan, have long been linked to boxing, using boxers in adverts in the past, but this was still an interesting addition to their host of adverts, and can be seen below.

Outside of Japan, it was interesting to see unbeaten IBF and WBO Middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10) [Жанибек Алимханулы] suggesting their could be news coming soon regarding his career. The unbeaten champion took to social media to post a small, almost cryptic, message whilst tagging his promoter Top Rank, and Turki Alalshikh, the man responsible for the Riyadh Season of shows. Given that Alimkhanuly hasn’t fought since stopping Italian fighter Vincenzo Gualtieri, in October to unify the WBO and IBF titles, it does feel like the momentum has gone out of his career, and that Top Rank really do need to get him in the ring sooner rather later. It would also be a good chance for Alimkhanuly to build his profile, by being involved in one of the big Saudi Arabia shows that Alalshikh has been promoting.​