91,289 pro boxing events. That's every pro event on record across 23 Asia-Pacific countries, from the history books right up to today.
Impressive ? Look closer.
Australia alone has staged 38,627 of them, 42% of the lot. Japan (16,498) and the Philippines (14,381) come next. Add Thailand (7,048) and those four make up more than 80% of all the boxing ever staged in the region.
Now do the maths on people.
Australia (about 27 million) and New Zealand (about 5 million) hold roughly 32 million people between them. Together they've staged 43,421 events, nearly HALF (47.6%) of everything on the list.
China, India and Indonesia hold more than 3 BILLION people. Their combined total ? 4,654 events. About 5%.
That's about 100 times as many people, and around one-ninth of the shows.
Then the cliff.
South Korea, once a powerhouse, sits at 3,667. China, with 1.4 billion people, has 1,034. Vietnam has 128. Papua New Guinea has 138. Cambodia has 19, Laos 14, Nepal 9.
So let's play "what if".
Australia has staged roughly 1,430 events for every million people. Give the rest of Asia the same appetite and here's what the record books would look like:
🇯🇵 Japan: about 176,000 events (11x today's total)
🇵🇭 Philippines: about 165,000 (11x)
🇻🇳 Vietnam: about 144,000 (more than 1,100x its 128)
🇮🇩 Indonesia: about 405,000 (130x)
🇨🇳 China: about 2 MILLION (nearly 2,000x)
🇮🇳 India: about 2 MILLION (nearly 4,000x)
Fantasy numbers ? Of course. But they show how much room there is to grow. The fighters are there. The fans are there. What's missing is the shows.
And here's the part nobody wants to say out loud. Back in the heyday of the '90s, the region was running 5 to 10 times as many shows as it does today. Fight nights were weekly. Fighters stayed busy. Talent got built.
Today ? Too many good fighters, too few dates.
Hungry dogs fight harder, but they still need somewhere to fight.
Vietnam's number is small. It's also only just getting started.
Stay tuned !
🥊 Top 10 by events:
🇦🇺 Australia 38,627
🇯🇵 Japan 16,498
🇵🇭 Philippines 14,381
🇹🇭 Thailand 7,048
🇳🇿 New Zealand 4,794
🇰🇷 South Korea 3,667
🇮🇩 Indonesia 3,099
🇨🇳 China 1,034
🇸🇬 Singapore 814
🇮🇳 India 521
#VSPPromotions #BoxingVietnam #AsianBoxing
December 24, 2024
Dear Partners,
I would like to take this moment to first wish you and your family a safe and blessed holiday season.
This annual report serves as a benchmark for our progress and a commitment to transparency in our operations. In 2024, a notable decline occurred in the number of professional boxing events held domestically. This downturn was primarily attributed to the cessation of grassroots events by VSP Promotions, a key promoter that played a crucial role in introducing new talent to the domestic professional boxing scene.
The challenges faced in organizing professional boxing events in Vietnam intensified in 2024 compared to the previous year, a reflection of the current market conditions. We anticipate this trend to persist in 2025 due to the continued existence of an unsupportive environment for event organizers, fostered by the local amateur boxing federation.
VBO organized the gathering of 10 commissions in Asia in 8/2024. It is our view that Asia has a fundamental challenge in how boxing is managed and supervised. Standardization and coherent cooperation models that have actionable and measurable outcomes will need to be developed in order to create more regional opportunities for the industry participants.
DOMESTIC REPORT 2024
INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2024
The VBO remains dedicated to securing international fight opportunities for Vietnamese boxers within safe environments. While the organization provides recommendations, the final decision to accept a fight rests solely with the boxers and their coaching teams.
OFFICIALS OF VBO REPORT 2024
VBO collects detailed performance data of each official in their assigned roles at every event. We compile these data for use towards training requirements to further improve their performance.
We hope that 2025 will bring more opportunities for the boxers between partnering countries and jointly continue to improve the quality of our officials. Have a wonderful holiday season! See you all in 2025.
Sincerely,
Lim Song
President of Vietnam Boxing Organization
Bacolod's Genesis Servania will fight China's rising star Aketelieti Yelejian for the WBO Asia Lightweight title this November.
The highly-anticipated match up will take place on the undercard of the IBF world title fight between Pedro Taduran and Zhu DianXing at Jeju Island, South Korea.
Aketelieti Yelejian, who suffered a narrow loss to the Prince Albert Pagara in June, rebounded with an impressive IBF Asia victory against Korean Jin Su Kim in Vietnam recently. He is a very rangy and deceptive boxer known for his relaxed combinations, and he's supremely confident in his ability to take down Servania and claim the title.
"I've studied Servania's style, and I know I have the skills to outmaneuver him," Yelejian said yesterday.
"I'm excited to represent China on the international stage once more, and bring home an impressive win against a top and proven boxer like Genesis."
Servania, a seasoned veteran with a 35-4 record, boasts a reputation for toughness that has come from battles at the top level. And has still possesses some of the best body shots in the sport of boxing.
This important title shot gives the filipino the opportunity to re-establish himself on the world scene once more, and it's best remembered that his only defeats have came against world-ranked champions like Oscar Valdez and Andres Cortes.
But the China team have already confidently stated that Yelejian's youth, speed, height, and reach may all prove too much for the Filipino boxer.
Their optimism also exudes for the world title bout, where surprisingly, they are quite dismissive of Pedro Taduran's hopes of beating star Zhu DianXing. They actually rate their boxer so highly, they have predicted that the champion has no chance of retaining the belt.
These claims set up an intriguing backdrop for two massive Philippines v China feature bouts.
Fight Details :
- Date: Saturday, November 23rd
- Location: Jeju Island, South Korea
- Title: WBO Asia Lightweight
- Contenders: Aketelieti Yelejian (China) vs. Genesis Servania (Philippines)
