Whilst we have several world title fights on Saturday across the world it's also worth remembering that this weekend also has a world title fight on Sunday as the attention of the hardcore boxing world turns to Japan.
Although originally the Teiken promoted super-card at the Kokugikan in Tokyo was supposed to have two world title fights the pull out of Cuban Abril has left us with just one as the popular Shinsuke Yamanaka (19-0-2, 14) fights the teak tough Alberto Guevara (18-1, 6) in a defense of the WBC Bantamweight title.
Yamanaka has become one of Japan's most notable boxers of the last few years due to a series of high quality wins. Like Toshiaki Nishioka before him Yamanaka has become of the of the Japanese fighters who has been facing notable opponents that are known by international fans. Not only as Yamanaka beaten fellow Asian's such Malcolm Tunacao but also international opponents such as Vic Darchinyan, Tomas Rojas, Christian Esquivel and Jose Nieves.
The key to Yamanaka's success is his over-all skill. He can be made to struggle, as he did against Tunacao, Darchinyan and Esquivel, but he refuses to be beaten and when required to go to the well he does it. He combines this refusal to lose with genuine KO power, a tricky southpaw stance, solid boxing fundamentals and very impressive defense for a Japanese fighter.
Although generally happy to box and wait for an opportunity Yamanaka can steamroll opponents when he feels like it, as he did against Nieves. This poses three problems to opponents. Will Yamanaka box their head off, go to war with them in a brawl-as he did with compatriot Ryosuke Iwasa or will he just try to get them out of there as he did with Nieves?
American fans should be aware Guevara who gave the insanely talented Leo Santa Cruz one of his toughest bouts late last year. Against Santa Cruz we saw Guevara move excellently and give Santa Cruz real problems in pinning him down for 5 or 6 rounds. Although lacking genuine power Guevara has developed a style, like Miguel Vazquez, which makes him difficult to punch.
Talented as a counter puncher or as a stick-and-move pure boxer Guevara is a tough test for anyone. He's not the best pure boxer in the division, that's a title certainly held by Anselmo Moreno, but he's well inside the top 10 and he could actually be a better pure boxer than Yamanaka, unlike many of the champions recent opponents.
Although I expect Guevara to really test the Japanese fighter it's difficult to see the upset here. Guevara probably has the toughness to see out the final bell, but not take the decision in what is a very interesting contest.
Prediction-Yamanaka UD12
Showing posts with label Shinsuke Yamanaka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shinsuke Yamanaka. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 November 2013
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Shinsuke Yamanaka v Jose Nieves
The conversation as to who the best Bantamweight on the planet is is a conversation that has two answers. One may say the technically excellent and defensively amazing Anselmo Moreno of Panama, the other answer however is the hard hitting Japanese fighter Shinsuke Yamanaka (18-0-2, 13) who has been thoroughly impressive over the past few years.
Yamanaka jumped into the boxing consciousness back in 2011. First by defeating domestic rival Ryosuke Iwasa in a thrilling contest, then stopping Christian Esquivel in a hard fought contest for the WBC world title.
The following year Yamanaka added notable victories over Vic Darchninyan and a KO of the year contender over Tomas Rojas. Both of those men were former world champions and victories over both men helped to inflate the reputation of Yamanaka as a genuine top tier champion.
Earlier this year Yamanaka added his 3rd world title defense stopping former Flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao in a hard fought bout that saw Tunacao being dropped several times.
In the ring Yamanaka combines a southpaw stance with solid boxing fundamentals. He can box off the jab if he so desires or he can wage war. He can use his jab to create space and control the tempo of the bout, or he can use his power, especially from his left hand, to render an opponent unconscious.
There are very few flaws that Yamanaka has. He's not unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination but he'll always be difficult to beat because of everything he has, the power, the skills, the toughness, the fact he has several game plans and the fact that when the going gets tough he refuses to quit, as seen against Tunacao.
Yamanaka's challenger this time around is Puerto Rican Jose Nieves (22-2-3, 11), a man who is highly ranked by the WBC and WBO, despite the fact many won't really have seen too much of him.
Nieves is a 32 year old who has been a pro for more than 12 years. He started his career excellently with an 18 fight unbeaten run, 16-0-2, including victories over Angel Antonio Priolo and Tomas Rojas. Since then however Nieves has suffered defeats to Victor Fonseca and Chris Avalos, arguably his 2 most notable bouts.
Whilst Nieves has ran up a string of 5 victories, including 2 over Cuauhtemoc Vargas, he's not looked like a world champion in the making. In fact if anything he's looked fortunate and limited. He was very lucky to beat Vargas, both times and was dropped by Danny Flores in his most recent contest.
The knockdown by Nieves is really the biggest issue with him. It's not the first time he's been stopped and it won't be the last. So far he has been down in the bouts with Rojas, Fonseca, Avalos and Flores. None of those are feather-fisted but none hit like Yamanaka. If they can drop Nieves then Yamanaka can, and will.
For the first time in his career Nieves is fighting in the East and and for the first time he's facing a genuinely top fighter who can really bang. Those facts don't bode well for a man with a suspect chin and it's very hard to imagine Nieves seeing out more than 8 rounds with Yamanaka, in fact it's hard to see Nieves standing up to more than just a handful of straights from the Japanese fighter.
Prediction-Yamanaka TKO6
Yamanaka jumped into the boxing consciousness back in 2011. First by defeating domestic rival Ryosuke Iwasa in a thrilling contest, then stopping Christian Esquivel in a hard fought contest for the WBC world title.
The following year Yamanaka added notable victories over Vic Darchninyan and a KO of the year contender over Tomas Rojas. Both of those men were former world champions and victories over both men helped to inflate the reputation of Yamanaka as a genuine top tier champion.
Earlier this year Yamanaka added his 3rd world title defense stopping former Flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao in a hard fought bout that saw Tunacao being dropped several times.
In the ring Yamanaka combines a southpaw stance with solid boxing fundamentals. He can box off the jab if he so desires or he can wage war. He can use his jab to create space and control the tempo of the bout, or he can use his power, especially from his left hand, to render an opponent unconscious.
There are very few flaws that Yamanaka has. He's not unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination but he'll always be difficult to beat because of everything he has, the power, the skills, the toughness, the fact he has several game plans and the fact that when the going gets tough he refuses to quit, as seen against Tunacao.
Yamanaka's challenger this time around is Puerto Rican Jose Nieves (22-2-3, 11), a man who is highly ranked by the WBC and WBO, despite the fact many won't really have seen too much of him.
Nieves is a 32 year old who has been a pro for more than 12 years. He started his career excellently with an 18 fight unbeaten run, 16-0-2, including victories over Angel Antonio Priolo and Tomas Rojas. Since then however Nieves has suffered defeats to Victor Fonseca and Chris Avalos, arguably his 2 most notable bouts.
Whilst Nieves has ran up a string of 5 victories, including 2 over Cuauhtemoc Vargas, he's not looked like a world champion in the making. In fact if anything he's looked fortunate and limited. He was very lucky to beat Vargas, both times and was dropped by Danny Flores in his most recent contest.
The knockdown by Nieves is really the biggest issue with him. It's not the first time he's been stopped and it won't be the last. So far he has been down in the bouts with Rojas, Fonseca, Avalos and Flores. None of those are feather-fisted but none hit like Yamanaka. If they can drop Nieves then Yamanaka can, and will.
For the first time in his career Nieves is fighting in the East and and for the first time he's facing a genuinely top fighter who can really bang. Those facts don't bode well for a man with a suspect chin and it's very hard to imagine Nieves seeing out more than 8 rounds with Yamanaka, in fact it's hard to see Nieves standing up to more than just a handful of straights from the Japanese fighter.
Prediction-Yamanaka TKO6
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Shinsuke Yamanaka v Malcolm Tunacao
In arguably the most interesting bout on the wonderful Tokyo title trio is the WBC Bantamweight title defense of Shinsuka Yamanaka (17-0-2, 12) who faces Filipino veteran and former WBC Flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao (32-2-3, 20).
Going in to this bout the 35 year old Tunacao will know that this will be the last major chance he will get in his career. In fact at 35 years old he is ancient for a Bantamweight and is possibly living on borrowed time as it is. Saying that however he's a fighter who knows that he's getting a chance he has been owed for a few years now.
Having been a professional since 1998 Tuncao has had several ups and downs in his career with the most notable up being an upset victory in 2000 over Medgoen Singsurat which saw Tunacao claiming the WBC Flyweight title. Sadly his reign back then was short lived and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam destroyed the young Tuncao inside a round in just his second defense.
Since losing to Wonjongkam in 2001 Tuncao has been the forgotten man of Filipino boxing despite claiming various titles including the OPBF Bantamweight title and the WBC International Super Flyweight titles. In fact since losing Wonjongkam we've seen Tunacao go 21-1-2 in his career over the last 13 years as he has fought hard against unrewarding opponents such as Kohei Oba (who Tunacao has beaten and drawn with), Rolly Matsushita (the only man to beat Tunacao in the last decade) and Christian Esquivel. In fact it was the win over Esquivel that opened up the door for Tunacao to get his first world title bout since his loss to Wonjongkam.
Interestingly Esquivel actually links the two men with a victory by Yamanaka over Esquivel being the fight that put Yamanaka on the world stage and saw him winning the WBC Bantamweight title. Prior the to bout with Esquivel Yamanaka was almost unknown in the West despite having been the Japanese champion (and despite having been in an excellent bout with Ryosuke Iwasa).
Aged 30 himself, Yamanaka is no spring chicken though having only turned professional in 2006 he's a fighter who is notably younger than Tunacao in both age and ring years.
Yamanaka is a much improved fighter to the one who drew 2 of his first 7 bouts (and could well have started his career 3-4) in fact he's now arguably one of the most under-rated champions in the sport and yet also one of the most feared. In the last 2 years or saw he not only battled the highly regarded Iwasa to a stand still but stopped the aforementioned Esquivel, out pointed Vic Darchinyan and stopped Tomas Rojas in eye catching fashion.
With his own power Yamanaka is a dangerous fighter, though we've also seen him hurt. Not only did Iwasa manage to rattle him at times but Esquivel managed to drop him in their encounter before Yamanaka stopped Esquivel in the 11th round showing his power carries through late. Interestingly however Tunacao had a much easier job with Esquivel than Yamanaka, though admittedly Yamanaka did take something out of Esquivel in their battle.
Going in to this bout we know both men can be hurt and we know both men are hard hitters. Sadly for Tunacao I can't help but feel he's facing a man who is just that bit fresher and a bit less battle scarred in Yamanaka. With this in mind I'm going to have to go with Yamanaka to score the victory and although I imagine Tunacao will put his all in to it I think he'll get stopped late.
Prediction-Yamanaka TKO10
Going in to this bout the 35 year old Tunacao will know that this will be the last major chance he will get in his career. In fact at 35 years old he is ancient for a Bantamweight and is possibly living on borrowed time as it is. Saying that however he's a fighter who knows that he's getting a chance he has been owed for a few years now.
Having been a professional since 1998 Tuncao has had several ups and downs in his career with the most notable up being an upset victory in 2000 over Medgoen Singsurat which saw Tunacao claiming the WBC Flyweight title. Sadly his reign back then was short lived and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam destroyed the young Tuncao inside a round in just his second defense.
Since losing to Wonjongkam in 2001 Tuncao has been the forgotten man of Filipino boxing despite claiming various titles including the OPBF Bantamweight title and the WBC International Super Flyweight titles. In fact since losing Wonjongkam we've seen Tunacao go 21-1-2 in his career over the last 13 years as he has fought hard against unrewarding opponents such as Kohei Oba (who Tunacao has beaten and drawn with), Rolly Matsushita (the only man to beat Tunacao in the last decade) and Christian Esquivel. In fact it was the win over Esquivel that opened up the door for Tunacao to get his first world title bout since his loss to Wonjongkam.
Interestingly Esquivel actually links the two men with a victory by Yamanaka over Esquivel being the fight that put Yamanaka on the world stage and saw him winning the WBC Bantamweight title. Prior the to bout with Esquivel Yamanaka was almost unknown in the West despite having been the Japanese champion (and despite having been in an excellent bout with Ryosuke Iwasa).
Aged 30 himself, Yamanaka is no spring chicken though having only turned professional in 2006 he's a fighter who is notably younger than Tunacao in both age and ring years.
Yamanaka is a much improved fighter to the one who drew 2 of his first 7 bouts (and could well have started his career 3-4) in fact he's now arguably one of the most under-rated champions in the sport and yet also one of the most feared. In the last 2 years or saw he not only battled the highly regarded Iwasa to a stand still but stopped the aforementioned Esquivel, out pointed Vic Darchinyan and stopped Tomas Rojas in eye catching fashion.
With his own power Yamanaka is a dangerous fighter, though we've also seen him hurt. Not only did Iwasa manage to rattle him at times but Esquivel managed to drop him in their encounter before Yamanaka stopped Esquivel in the 11th round showing his power carries through late. Interestingly however Tunacao had a much easier job with Esquivel than Yamanaka, though admittedly Yamanaka did take something out of Esquivel in their battle.
Going in to this bout we know both men can be hurt and we know both men are hard hitters. Sadly for Tunacao I can't help but feel he's facing a man who is just that bit fresher and a bit less battle scarred in Yamanaka. With this in mind I'm going to have to go with Yamanaka to score the victory and although I imagine Tunacao will put his all in to it I think he'll get stopped late.
Prediction-Yamanaka TKO10
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Shinsuke Yamanaka v Tomas Rojas
Talented Japanese Bantamweight Shinsuke Yamanaka (16-0-2, 11) will make the second defense of his WBC Bantamweight title in just a few days as he faces Mexican veteran Tomas Rojas (39-13-1-1, 26) in what promises to be a genuinely difficult bout.
Yamanaka turned professional in 2006 and has swiftly risen up the rankings despite not being the most active of fighters. Rather than fighting numerous time wasting bouts, Yamanaka has been pushed and forces to either climb the rankings quickly or find another career, thankfully he's climbed and climbed well.
The Japanese warrior claimed his first professional title in 2010 when he claimed the Japanese Bantamweight title via a 7th round TKO over Mikio Yasuda and after defending that belt once (stopping the highly touted Ryosuke Iwasa in 10 rounds) he moved swiftly on to the world scene. In his first world title bout Yamanaka defeated the highly regarded Mexican Christian Esquivel in a thrilling battle for the WBC title.
Since becoming the WBC Bantamweight champion Yamanaka has defended his title once, defeating the always fun to watch Vic Darchinyan. Despite not looking great early on against Darchinyan, Yamanaka eventually found his rhythm and started to out box the much less refined Darchinyan and seemed to think that he could go out and stop Vic in the final round if it was needed. Whilst it's fair to say that Vic isn't the fighter he was at 115lb he has since gone on to defeat the very highly regarded Luis Orlando Del Valle.
Despite not having a record of an out-and-out puncher Yamanaka had stopped 9 straight before the Darchinyan fight. Whilst he's certainly a thunderous 1-punch KO artist he's generally able to mix controlled aggression with hurtful shots eventually breaking opponents down bit by bit. In fact interestingly 5 of Yamanaka's stoppage wins have come in (or after) the 7th round. Whilst he certainly can take out lesser opponents early on (having taken out 6 opponents in the opening 3 rounds) against the high caliber opponents we expect him to just break opponents down.
As well as being a hard hitter Yamanaka is a very skilled boxer who can use his jab and straight to keep opponents at a comfortable range when he wants. Despite his ability to box however his most memorable bout so far was the 10 round war with Iwasa which suggests that Yamanaka is happy for a tear up when he has one, even though he was dropped by Esquivel.
Whilst the champion will be the favourite, the challenger, the freakishly tall Tomas Rojas is a very live under-dog and with good reason.
Despite having numerous losses on his record Rojas has one of the most misleading records in the sport. Sadly this is what happens when you regularly face top quality fighters. Rojas has suffered losses to a relative who's who of the boxing world including Rosendo Alvarez, Cristian Mijares, Gerry Penalosa, Luis Maldonado, Anselmo Moreno, Jorge Arce, Vic Darchinyan and Suriyan Sor Rungvisai.
Having been a professional since 1996, the 32 year old Rojas has really seen everything in the ring and should really be considered a bit of an old school fighter in that he's been willing to not only fight hard fights but use them as his development. He's never avoided a tough fight to keep his record pretty and likewise he's never been one to refuse to travel having fought around in Mexico, Nicaragua, USA, Philippines, Panama, Japan and Thailand. In fact going to Yamanaka's backyard may well be a good thing for Rojas who has never lost in Japan (having beaten both Kohei Kono and Nobuo Nashiro in the land of the rising sun).
Early in his career Rojas was too willing to give away his height for a fight and the 5'8" Banatamweight (who was once making Flyweight!) suffered a number of losses as a result of not boxing clever. He's not only tall, but rangy and more importantly a southpaw making life for all of his opponents a nightmare. When he finally started to use his freakish physical features however Rojas started to have real success and became the WBC Super Flyweight champion as a result, a title that he defended twice before losing to Suriyan Sor Rungvisai in Thailand.
Whilst Rojas is a bit of a physical anomaly his advantages won't be as telling here as Yamanaka is also a taller, rangier fighter and will be almost able to match Rojas for both height and reach (likewise Yamanaka is also a southpaw). Though an advantage that Rojas does have is experience and genuine toughness. In a career spanning 16 years the Mexican has only been stopped twice, most recently by Darchinyan in 2009 with the other coming in 2007 at the hands of Jorge Arce.
Whilst I imagine a hard fight here for both men, I also imagine it'll start as a technical fight with two talented, rangy southpaws cautious of each other. The bout however will warm up and by the middle rounds I can see both men trading a bit more freely with Yamanaka slowly but surely grinding down Rojas and probably even dropping him late on but maybe not quite forcing a stoppage.
Prediction: Yamanaka UD
Yamanaka turned professional in 2006 and has swiftly risen up the rankings despite not being the most active of fighters. Rather than fighting numerous time wasting bouts, Yamanaka has been pushed and forces to either climb the rankings quickly or find another career, thankfully he's climbed and climbed well.
The Japanese warrior claimed his first professional title in 2010 when he claimed the Japanese Bantamweight title via a 7th round TKO over Mikio Yasuda and after defending that belt once (stopping the highly touted Ryosuke Iwasa in 10 rounds) he moved swiftly on to the world scene. In his first world title bout Yamanaka defeated the highly regarded Mexican Christian Esquivel in a thrilling battle for the WBC title.
Since becoming the WBC Bantamweight champion Yamanaka has defended his title once, defeating the always fun to watch Vic Darchinyan. Despite not looking great early on against Darchinyan, Yamanaka eventually found his rhythm and started to out box the much less refined Darchinyan and seemed to think that he could go out and stop Vic in the final round if it was needed. Whilst it's fair to say that Vic isn't the fighter he was at 115lb he has since gone on to defeat the very highly regarded Luis Orlando Del Valle.
Despite not having a record of an out-and-out puncher Yamanaka had stopped 9 straight before the Darchinyan fight. Whilst he's certainly a thunderous 1-punch KO artist he's generally able to mix controlled aggression with hurtful shots eventually breaking opponents down bit by bit. In fact interestingly 5 of Yamanaka's stoppage wins have come in (or after) the 7th round. Whilst he certainly can take out lesser opponents early on (having taken out 6 opponents in the opening 3 rounds) against the high caliber opponents we expect him to just break opponents down.
As well as being a hard hitter Yamanaka is a very skilled boxer who can use his jab and straight to keep opponents at a comfortable range when he wants. Despite his ability to box however his most memorable bout so far was the 10 round war with Iwasa which suggests that Yamanaka is happy for a tear up when he has one, even though he was dropped by Esquivel.
Whilst the champion will be the favourite, the challenger, the freakishly tall Tomas Rojas is a very live under-dog and with good reason.
Despite having numerous losses on his record Rojas has one of the most misleading records in the sport. Sadly this is what happens when you regularly face top quality fighters. Rojas has suffered losses to a relative who's who of the boxing world including Rosendo Alvarez, Cristian Mijares, Gerry Penalosa, Luis Maldonado, Anselmo Moreno, Jorge Arce, Vic Darchinyan and Suriyan Sor Rungvisai.
Having been a professional since 1996, the 32 year old Rojas has really seen everything in the ring and should really be considered a bit of an old school fighter in that he's been willing to not only fight hard fights but use them as his development. He's never avoided a tough fight to keep his record pretty and likewise he's never been one to refuse to travel having fought around in Mexico, Nicaragua, USA, Philippines, Panama, Japan and Thailand. In fact going to Yamanaka's backyard may well be a good thing for Rojas who has never lost in Japan (having beaten both Kohei Kono and Nobuo Nashiro in the land of the rising sun).
Early in his career Rojas was too willing to give away his height for a fight and the 5'8" Banatamweight (who was once making Flyweight!) suffered a number of losses as a result of not boxing clever. He's not only tall, but rangy and more importantly a southpaw making life for all of his opponents a nightmare. When he finally started to use his freakish physical features however Rojas started to have real success and became the WBC Super Flyweight champion as a result, a title that he defended twice before losing to Suriyan Sor Rungvisai in Thailand.
Whilst Rojas is a bit of a physical anomaly his advantages won't be as telling here as Yamanaka is also a taller, rangier fighter and will be almost able to match Rojas for both height and reach (likewise Yamanaka is also a southpaw). Though an advantage that Rojas does have is experience and genuine toughness. In a career spanning 16 years the Mexican has only been stopped twice, most recently by Darchinyan in 2009 with the other coming in 2007 at the hands of Jorge Arce.
Whilst I imagine a hard fight here for both men, I also imagine it'll start as a technical fight with two talented, rangy southpaws cautious of each other. The bout however will warm up and by the middle rounds I can see both men trading a bit more freely with Yamanaka slowly but surely grinding down Rojas and probably even dropping him late on but maybe not quite forcing a stoppage.
Prediction: Yamanaka UD
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