Shinsuke Yamanaka

Courtesy of boxrec.com

One of the best fighters in Japan, if not the world, right now is current WBC Bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (25-0-2, 17) [山中慎介] a southpaw who has really exploded on to the scene in the last few years with his power, toughness and skill.

Born in October 1982 in Konan, Shiga, Yamanaka has become one of Japan's boxing stars under the guidance of the legendary Teiken Gym which has helped guide him to a world title.

Yamanaka was first interested in boxing having seen the likes of Joichiro Tatsuyoshi on television. Tatsuyoshi, for those who aren't aware, was an insanely popular fighter in Japan in the 1990's. This interesting later lead to Yamanaka beginning to box himself.

As an amateur Yamanaka recorded a pretty average record of 34 wins against 13 losses which had included a victory over Takahiro Ao (who would twice go on to claim WBC world titles) but lacked any success of note on the international stage.

In 2006 the then 23 year old Yamanaka made his professional debut and defeated Hitoshi Takahashi via a 6 round decision. The decision was a very good victory for Yamanaka who won every round of the 6 round bout against a much more experienced opponent.

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Although Yamanaka's debut was "easy" he would struggle in a number of his other early bouts including draws with Keiji Yokomakura and Kenichi Yamaguchi as well as close decisions over Yoichi Oguma and Toyoto Shiraishi.

It would have been easy to have written Yamanaka off after just 7 bouts, his record was 5-0-2 (2) and could well have been 3-2-2 (2) amazingly however Yamanaka would "come good".

It wouldn't take long for Yamanaka to increase confidence in the ring and over the following few years his punch power would really develop as he stopped 5 of his next 6 opponents. This saw his record improving to a drastically better 11-0-2 (7).

Having gone on a run of quick stoppages Yamanaka would get his first chance at a title as he took on the recently crowned Japanese Bantamweight champion Mikio Yasuda. Yasuda, making his first defense of the title suffered his first stoppage loss as Yamanaka ground him out in the 7th of a scheduled 10 rounds.

Yamanaka would defend his Japanese title just once in a highly entertaining all action bout with Ryosuke Iwasa. Going in to the bout Iwasa was viewed as a fighter on the fast track to becoming a future world champion due to his high school success as an amateur, that success didn't help him here though and Yamanaka would eventually stop him in the 10th round of a genuinely great must watch fight.

Due to Nonito Donaire moving up from Bantamweight to Super Bantamweight in late 2011 the WBC title became vacant. Yamanaka would face Mexican Christian Esquivel for the belt and once again Yamanaka was involved in a war with both men being dropped before Esquivel was eventually stopped in round 11.

Since claiming the WBC title Yamanaka has defended it 6 times. The first of those defenses came against former Flyweight and Super Flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan. Darchinyan was attempting to become a 3-weight world champion and gave Yamanaka a hard fight before losing on the cards ending a 9 fight T/KO streak of Yamanaka's

Yamanaka would make the second defense of his world title in eye catching fashion as he scored a KO of the year contender over former Super Flyweight champion Tomas Rojas. Rojas, who had only been stopped by Vic Darchinyan and Jorge Arce previously, was out cold and face first on canvas in what was a genuine highlight reel KO.

In his next title defence following the Rojas victory Yamanaka defeated Filipino veteran Malcolm Tunacao via a 12th round TKO in difficult bout that could well have been the final bout of Tunacao's career.

In 2013 Yamanaka added two more defences stopping the out-gunned and woefully over-skilled Puerto Rican Jose Nieves in less than a round and then stopped Mexican Alberto Guevara in the 9th. Those two victories helped Yamanaka claim the title of "MVP" of Japanese boxing for the year and pushed him further up the rankings.

To kick off 2014 Yamanaka beat up, ground down and eventually stopped Belgian challenger Stephane Jamoye who survived through 8 rounds before being stopped very early in the 9th. Jamoye had done well to survive as long as he did but was dropped 4 times in total as Yamanaka showed off his power to great effect. In his second bout of the year Yamanaka claimed a wide, but very tough, decision win over Suriyan Sor Rungvisai in what was a mandatory title defense. The bout saw Suriyan being dropped 3 times but it was still one of Yamanaka's toughest bouts to date and saw the Japanese fighters run of 5 straight defenses by KO come to an end.

To begin 2015 we've saw Yamanaka easily dispose of Argentinian challenger Diego Ricardo Santillan in a bout that was so one sided it seemed to bore Yamanaka before he finally finished off Santillan in eye catching fashion. Following that win Yamanaka faced the talented Anselmo Moreno in a divisional dream match between puncher and skillster. In the end Yamanka claimed a controversial decision win, with many suggesting the Japanese fighter had been given a gift by the 3 neutral officials. The two men were well matched however and they will face off for a second time later in 2016.

Yamanak's first bout of 2016 saw him take on former Super Flyweight champion Liborio Solis in what turned out to be one of the most dramatic fights in a Japanese ring this year. Yamanaka was dropped twice and dropped Solis twice en route to a wide decision win for the champion, but one that had fans on the edge of their seats knowing that Solis could hurt the Japanese hero if, and when, he landed.