Wake becomes mandatory for Frampton, Amagasa bounces back, Takano claims a belt and Suriyan picks up a win!

Tokyo, Japan
The big show this past Wednesday came from the Korakuen Hall where fans got a real treat of a card with several notable names in significant bouts.

The most notable of the bouts was the shows main event which saw talented southpaw Shingo Wake (19-4-2, 11) show off his ability and dominate Thai veteran Mike Tawatchai (35-8-1, 21) in an IBF Super Bantamweight world title eliminator. The bout was all Wake who dropped only a round or two against a man who really had no answer to his skills, speed or movement. The fight was for the right to become Carl Frampton's mandatory and it's fair to say that Wake will be a very interested party when Frampton defends his title against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in July.

Another notable man in action was former world title challenger Hisashi Amagasa (29-5-2, 19) who easily out pointed Patomsith Pathompothong (12-4, 5) in what was Amagasa's first bout since his loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux last December. Although Amagasa failed to get the knockout he was completely in charge from the opening round.

Another one sided bout saw popular female fighter Tomomi Takano (8-1, 5) claim her first title as she won the OPBF female Super Bantamweight title with a dominant display against Thailand's Nongbua Lookpraiaree (9-13-1, 1). Takano used her reach and height to keep Nongbua at range where she was unable to land anything of note. Although the win was a clear one for Takano it seems obvious that she was fighting a tailor made opponent who never had anything to threaten her with.

On the bottom part of this card there was a trio of 8 round under-card bouts. One of those saw the return to the ring of the touted Kenta Onjo (5-1, 3) who easily out pointed San Saknarong (2-3). This was Onjo's first bout since his surprise defeat to Jonathan Baat earlier this year.

Another of the under-card bouts saw Takaaki Ishikawa (11-6, 6) score a 4th round TKO against Kanae Onogi (6-8-1, 3) whilst another saw Kazuki Matsuyama (12-5, 6) score a 3rd round TKO against Yoshiyuki Suzuki (5-8-5, 1).

Khon Kaen, Thailand
As well as the card in Japan there was also one in Thailand.

The headline bout here saw highly regarded Bantamweight hopeful Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (42-6-1, 21) score a 2nd round KO against Filipino slugger Jomar Fajardo (14-8-2, 7). Sadly this bout ended with Fajardo suffering a nasty looking injury to his shoulder.

Another bout here saw the exciting but limited Kongfah Nakornluang (22-0, 14) defeat Filipino visitor Wilber Andogan (10-20-4, 4) in a gruelling contest. Andogan retired in his corner with what appeared to be another injury.

We also know that Jirapan Nakornluang was in action on this show though we're unsure on who he was facing or the eventual result from from the bout.

Friday Night Fights recap: Mike Tyson and Teddy Atlas, Iron Mike's sobriety, and a pair of good fights

 

Tom Casino/Iron Mike Productions

Argenis Mendez and Arash Usmanee went to a draw in tonight's main event, while Claudio Marrero was upset by Jesus Cuellar. But Mike Tyson and Teddy Atlas stole the show, including a post-fight quote from Tyson that wasn't on TV.

Tonight's ESPN Friday Night Fights had a Teddy Tantrum, some controversy in the main event, a world title that didn't change hands, and an upset in the co-feature. Mike Tyson's debut as a promoter (which is about as legit as Jack Tunney the WWF President) went pretty well in terms of in-ring entertainment, as both of the bouts on tonight's card were spirited affairs, but Tyson predictably stole the show, and after the cameras were off, perhaps not in a good way.

Tyson and ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas have a long and unpleasant history with one another, as Atlas was one of Mike's early trainers at Cus D'Amato's camp in Catskill, New York, a relationship that ended very badly in 1983, when Tyson was sexually inappropriate toward an 11-year-old niece of Atlas', which led to Atlas pulling a gun on Tyson.

The show started tonight with a shot of Atlas and Tyson at ringside, shaking hands and embracing. It was a nice moment between a man who says he has changed his ways and started to walk a new path in life (more on that in a moment) and a man who had a legitimate beef going back 30 years. Atlas only would say on camera that Tyson came to him as a man, and he respected that.

Tyson later spoke with ESPN's Todd Grisham, the host of FNF, and discussed his sobriety and his desire to make amends with people he's hurt in the past. It came off very sincere, and it probably was. Corey Erdman was on the scene tonight in Verona, New York, though, and tweeted that after the show, Tyson said, "I've been lying to everyone saying that I've been sober," admitting he hadn't drank or done drugs in just the last six days.

What you make of that -- and what you make of Mike Tyson in general, really -- is up to you. Now that we've got that all out of the way, let's just talk about tonight's fights, a pair of good scraps that closed shop on a fine season of Friday Night Fights that had an extremely limited budget, even more than before.

In the main event, Argenis Mendez (21-2-1, 11 KO) and Arash Usmanee (20-1-1, 10 KO) went to a disputed draw, with most feeling that Mendez had clearly won the fight, even if I saw nobody that had it as lopsided as Atlas, who scored it 119-109 for Mendez. BLH had it 115-113 Mendez, which was a score I saw quite a bit on Twitter, along with 116-112 for Mendez. I didn't see any 114-114s or scores for Usmanee, so in the end, it looks like Arash Usmanee started the FNF season on January 4 by getting robbed, and ended it on August 23 by getting a very lucky draw.

Atlas ranted and raved at ringside as he often does, pleading with the public (I guess?) that we need to have someone overseeing the sport's judges. My questions on that are many, but that's beside the point, really. Atlas isn't wrong when he rails against the shoddy and possibly corrupted scoring in boxing, but OK, fine. Now what? Teddy's got some connections in the sport. He'd be a great mouthpiece for some kind of serious movement of this nature. Is there anything that can actually be done, or do we all just have to sit back and accept the sport for what it is, warts and all? Probably that, but maybe not. I'd be very interested in seeing Atlas put his money where his mouth is, or whatever. I don't have any suggestions for how to go about it. That's for Atlas. He's the guy. Not me. I'm just a blogger.

Anyway, in the co-feature, Argentina's Jesus Cuellar made about 6000 people ask "What's in the water there?!?!?!" by scoring an upset over house prospect Claudio Marrero, winning on scores of 115-112, 114-113, and 116-111. BLH had it 115-112 for Cuellar, who may have been the more crude of the two, but was also by far the more determined fighter, scoring a knockdown on Marrero (14-1, 11 KO) in the sixth round and basically brawling his way to the victory. It was a really fun fight, and Cuellar (23-1, 18 KO) probably earned himself a return TV date in the States. So, too, should Marrero, who has things to work on, but did show some real promise. There's plenty of time for him to learn from this setback.

Canada’s Arash Usmanee returns to Alberta on Friday’s KO Boxing “Collision Course” card in Edmonton!

News and notes about KO Boxing’s latest “Collision Course” card featuring the Alberta homecoming of top lightweight world contender Arash Usmanee that takes place Friday night in Edmonton, Canada!

After another exciting showing on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley II undercard, Afghan-Canadian warrior Arash Usmanee (20-2, 10 KOs) returns home to Alberta Friday night in Edmonton when he will headline KO Boxing’s “Collision Course” card. All of the action goes down Friday night, June 13 at the beautiful Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. The action is set to get underway at 7:15pm. General Admission Tickets available at Ticketmaster.ca
“It feels great for me to be back home to showcase my talent for my family and friends,” Usmanee told FightFan.com this week. “I’m looking forward to putting on a show and excited to produce what will hopefully be another epic moment, God willing!”

Edmonton fans will be in for a treat as fast rising Alberta-based prospect Josh Wagner (4-0, 3 KOs) will fight in a co-featured bout against the always durable Dave Aucoin. The bout has fire-fight written all over it as both men like to come forward and bang, although the edge should rest with Wagner who is an adept boxer-puncher.

“I love fighting on these cards at the shaw conference centre,” Wagner told FightFan.com this week. “Mel and Milan put on great shows and I’m so happy to be a part of the team. My career is progressing just how I pictured it and it’s only going up from here. We plan on being 10-0 by the end of the year and then let the titles begin! For any Fight Fans out there… remember the name Josh ‘The Boss’ Wagner!”

Surging Canadian lightweight Cam O’Connell of Red Deer, Alberta was set to see action in the co-main event, but his opponent pulled out at the last minute and unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to find a replacement.

“I’d like to say sorry to my fans, friends and family,” O’Connell said on his Facebook page. “Unfortunately my opponent has pulled out at the last minute and a replacement couldn’t be found. I apologize to those who were planning to make the trip but I promise the card will still be a good one because my big bro Arash Usmanee was looking mean in camp and he will surely put on a great fight. Please come out and support him and what will be a great night of boxing in Edmonton!”
There is no shortage of action, however, with Cody Ries, Taylor Bull, Suki Keo, Justin Hocko and Sheena Kaine all slated to throw down.

Computational Geometry, C++ and Wykobi

A brief introduction in computational geometry algorithms using Wykobi and C++

Introduction

Good C++ computational geometry libraries to date have been hideously over-designed and incorporate usage patterns that in most cases require extensive redesigns and rewrites of code in order to functionally integrate within an existing project.

Sometimes a lightweight portable solution that has a bit of error is deemed to be more appropriate and reasonable. However these libraries even though being more than able to cater for such a requirement still burden the end user with undue code clutter, very steep learning curves and in some cases unnecessary overheads.

The solution to such a situation is to simplify use, implementation and application. This can be achieved by reducing the number of contact points between the computational geometry back-end and the developer-application combo. But at the same time giving full control of the computations and ensuing folding processes to the user to the extent where the user can decide between using a general solution for a particular problem or a more specialized solution.

For example, say you have two line segments and you want to know if they are intersecting, one could use a general solution, but say if you had prior knowledge that the line segments were either always going to be vertical or horizontal, this would allow one to use a more efficient method to obtain the same result. Typically (but not always) a generalized result is less efficient than a specialised result for the specialised case - by virtue of the fact that the generalised result has to take into account the 1001 other possible scenarios.

A possible solution to the above mentioned problem is Wykobi. Wykobi is an efficient, robust and simple to use multi-platform 2D/3D computational geometry library. Wykobi provides a concise, predictable, and deterministic interface for geometric primitives and complex geometric routines using and conforming to the ISO/IEC 14882:2003 C++ language specification.

The design and structure of Wykobi lends itself to easy and seamless integration into projects of any scale that require a robust yet efficient 2D/3D computational geometry back-end.

Wykobi as a library can be used to efficiently and seamlessly solve complex geometric problems such as collision and proximity detection, efficient spatial queries and geometric constructions used in areas as diverse as gaming, computer aided design and manufacture, electronic design and geographic information systems - just to name a few.

Wykobi provides a series of primitive geometric structures for use within the various algorithms of interest such as intersections, distances, inclusions and clipping operations.

An assessment of recent Iranian fertility trends using parity progression ratios

Abstract

Background: In 2013 a draft population bill was introduced in the Iranian Parliament. Based on the presumption that fertility in Iran had fallen to a very low level, the bill proposed a wide range of pronatalist policies with the aim of increasing fertility to 2.5 births per woman. The draft law called for restrictions on the employment of women and young single people and inducements for women to marry in their late teens. New estimates of fertility, such as those provided in this paper, cast doubt upon the view that fertility had fallen to a very low level. In May 2014 a statement issued by the Supreme Leader provided guidelines for a more moderate approach to sustaining fertility at around the replacement level.

Objective: To measure the trend in fertility in Iran, especially from 2000 onwards.
Methods: Using the 2010 IDHS, the synthetic cohort parity progression ratio method is used to measure the fertility trend in Iran. Synthetic parity progressions are compared with real cohort parity progressions to examine the presence of tempo effects. Comparison is made with age-based measures from surveys, censuses, and the birth registration system.
Results: This paper demonstrates that fertility in Iran was constant for the decade 2000-2009, at a level of around 1.8-2.0 births per woman.
Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence supporting a more moderate approach to sustaining fertility in Iran at around the replacement level.
Comments: The paper demonstrates the advantages of parity-based measurement over age-based measurement when tempo effects may be involved.