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is a Japanese former
professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 2006 to 2018. He held the WBC
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
title from 2011 to 2017, a reign where he made twelve successful defences and a reign which is the fourth longest in boxing's bantamweight division. He also held ''The Ring'' bantamweight title twice between 2016 and 2018. Stylistically, Yamanaka was known as a brawler who sought to stand and trade punches with his opponents. As a southpaw, his left cross was particularly renowned as a devastating punch. He was considered an entertaining fighter, with many of his fights featuring several knockdowns. However, he also showed the ability to box on the outside. Yamanaka's height and reach gave him a significant physical advantage over most fighters at his weight class.


Amateur career

Yamanaka became interested in the sport of boxing as a result of seeing the likes
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi is a former World Boxing Council (WBC) world bantamweight champion from Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan. His record is 20–7–1 (14 KOs). He is popular for his fight style and unique personality, and has appeared in several television variety shows ...
,
Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is cons ...
, and
Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.. Retrieved 25 February 2016. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO ti ...
on TV. He amassed a 34–13 amateur record. During this time, he defeated future world champion
Takahiro Ao is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2018. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC featherweight title in 2009 and the WBC super-featherweight title from 2010 to 2012. Professional career ...
. However, Yamanaka has referred to his amateur career as "average".


Professional career

Yamanaka trains at the storied
Teiken Gym in Tokyo, a Japan's traditional boxing club whose genesis dates back to 1926, manages professional boxers as a member of the , a subsidiary body of . Currently located in Kagurazaka, Shinjuku, its president is the International Boxing Hall of ...
in Tokyo under former pro boxer and Japanese nation champion Yamato Shin. Yamanaka has currently made twelve successful consecutive defences of the WBC and ''The Ring'' bantamweight titles and previously ranked 9th in '' The Ring''
pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...
listings.


Early career

Yamanaka debuted at the age of 23 in Tokyo's
Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...
, where he would fight 14 of his first 15 fights. Over his first 8 pro bouts he amassed a 6-0-2 with 2 razor-thin decisions. Yamanaka would improve on the ring by stopping his next 5 opponents. On June 20, 2010, Yamanaka defeated Mikio Yasuda to win the Japanese bantamweight title. He'd only defend that title once against highly touted prospect
Ryosuke Iwasa is a Japanese professional boxer. He held the IBF super-bantamweight title from 2017 to 2018 and the interim version from 2019 to April 2021. He also challenged from the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super-bantamweight titles in April 2021. Care ...
, stopping him in 10 rounds.


Yamanaka vs. Esquivel

Yamanaka captured the vacant WBC
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
title in his first world title shot against
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
's
Christian Esquivel Christian Esquivel Valdes (born September 3, 1985) is a Mexican professional boxer. He lost to Shinsuke Yamanaka for the WBC bantamweight world title. Esquivel has a losses against Manny Robles III and Rey Vargas Rey Geovani Vargas Roldán ...
via an eleventh-round technical knockout after knocking him down in the sixth and eleventh rounds at the
Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its Suspended structure, suspension roof design. It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to ...
in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
on November 6, 2011. Yamanaka was presented with the Rookie Award both in the forty-fourth Japan Professional Sports Awards and Japan's Boxer of the Year in 2011.


Yamanaka vs. Darchinyan, Rojas

Yamanaka's first defense came against former
flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...
and
super flyweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council respond ...
titlist
Vic Darchinyan Vakhtang "Vic" Darchinyan ( hy, Վախթանգ Դարչինյան; born 7 January 1976) is an Armenian former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF flywei ...
in April 2012. Darchinyan had unsuccessfully attempted to become a 3-weight world champion twice before, losing by decision to
Abner Mares Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bantam ...
and
Anselmo Moreno Anselmo Moreno (born 28 June 1985) is a Panamanian professional boxer. He held the WBA bantamweight title from 2008 to 2014 (promoted to super champion status in 2011), making him the longest reigning bantamweight world champion of all time, ...
. Yamanaka won the fight by unanimous decision (117-111, 116–112, 116–112), but Darchinyan would become the first fighter to last 12 rounds against the WBC champion since 2008. Yamanaka defended his title once more in 2012 against Tomas Rojas, knocking the former WBC super flyweight champion out in the 7th round with a left-hand cross.


Various defenses

Yamanaka would go on to face Malcolm Tuñacao on his third defense. Yamanaka would end up winning by technical knockout on the 12th round after knocking Tuñacao down three times in the course of the fight. Yamanaka's fourth defense came against José Nieves, whom he knocked out in the first with an overhand left. Yamanaka's final defense of 2013 would be against Alberto Guevara. Yamanaka would once again knock his opponent down three times before finishing him with a left-hand in the 9th. In 2014, Yamanaka notched 2 more defenses. The first came against Stephen Jamoye, whom he knocked down 4 times before stopping him in the 9th round. The second one would come against Suriyan Sor Rungvisai. Yamanaka dropped Sor Rungvisai 3 times but was unable to finish him, winning by unanimous decision (116-108, 115–109, 114–110) but ending a 5 fight knockout-streak. His first defense of 2015 came against Diego Santillan, who touched the canvas twice before being stopped on the 7th round.


Yamanaka vs. Moreno

Yamanaka would run into his toughest fight yet in his ninth title defense against former WBA champion
Anselmo Moreno Anselmo Moreno (born 28 June 1985) is a Panamanian professional boxer. He held the WBA bantamweight title from 2008 to 2014 (promoted to super champion status in 2011), making him the longest reigning bantamweight world champion of all time, ...
. The fight took place on September 22, 2015, in
Ōta, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward located in Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is often called Ōta City. , the ward has an estimated population of 716,413, with 379,199 households and a population density of 12,048.65 per ...
. Moreno, a classical out-boxer, kept Yamanaka from landing his signature left-hand using his jab and movement to neutralize the WBC champion. Moreno would pull ahead on the scorecard by landing combinations during the middle rounds. Yamanaka and Moreno traded power punches in the latter third of the fight, with Yamanaka seemingly getting the better of the fight during this stretch. The final round would end with both fighters visibly tired and resorting to holding. With no clear winner, the fight was ruled a controversial split decision (115-113, 115–113, 113–115) won by Yamanaka. The three judges were all from the United States, but many observers and Moreno himself felt they had favored the local fighter.


Yamanaka vs. Solís

Yamanaka's next defense would come against
Liborio Solís Liborio Solís (born 21 March 1982) is a Venezuelan professional boxer who held WBA super flyweight title in 2013. He also challenged once for the WBC bantamweight title in 2016 and twice for the WBA bantamweight title in 2016 and 2017. Pro ...
on March 4, 2016. Solís proved to be another tough test for the WBC champion. Yamanaka sought to establish himself early, winning the first round and knocking his opponent down in the second. However, Solís would come back and drop Yamanaka with a right-hand in the third round. Yamanaka seemed to recover, but late on that same round he was dropped again by a well-timed counter from Solís. Yamanaka would rally after that round, proceeding to drop Solís once more in the 9th round. Both fighters would continue trading punches until the final bell, but Yamanaka had dominated most of the fight and he was given a unanimous decision (117-107, 117–107, 117–107).


Yamanaka vs. Moreno II

Roughly 2 months after the Yamanaka-Solís bout, Anselmo Moreno had defeated previous WBC title challenger Soriyan Sor Rungvisai to become Yamanaka's
mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
, setting up a rematch. The rematch would take place at the
Edion Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Namba, Osaka, Japan. It first opened in 1952 and the current building was constructed in 1987. It is the venue of a professional sumo tournament (honbasho) held in March every year. The capacity of th ...
in September 2016. Moreno tried to stifle Yamanaka with his jab once again but Yamanaka had more success landing counters, even dropping Moreno once on the opening round. The two fighters would go on to trade knockdowns, with the defending champion going down in the 4th and the challenger going down in the 6th. The seventh round proved to the decisive one, as Yamanaka knocked Moreno down twice more before the referee waved the fight off. With this seventh-round technical knockout victory, Yamanaka won the vacant '' The Ring'' bantamweight title.


Yamanaka vs. Carlson

On March 2, 2017, Yamanaka fought overmatched opponent Carlos Carlson to a seventh-round TKO win. Carlson was ranked #6 by the WBC. This made for Yamanaka's twelfth successful title defense in a row, the second most title defenses in a row by a Japanese boxer ever.


Yamanaka vs. Nery

Yamanaka's 13th defense would come against #1 WBC contender Luis Nery in
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
. With this fight, Yamanaka sought to equal
Yoko Gushiken is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1981. He held the WBA light-flyweight title from 1976 to 1981, making a total of 13 successful defences. Following his retirement from boxing, he remains popular in Japan as a ' ...
's record for most successful defenses by a Japanese world champion. The bout started with both fighters trading back and forth combinations, but at the start of the fourth round Nery rocked Yamanaka with a left cross. After a brief respite in which Yamanaka seemed to regain control, Nery continued pummeling the defending champion, who was unable to defend himself. Yamanaka's corner eventually rushed into the ring to protect their fighter, giving Nery the win. The fight was seen by an audience of over 7 million people in Japan. In a press conference after the fight, Yamanaka stated that he was unhappy with the stoppage but he didn't blame his trainers for it. Yamanaka also said he was considering retirement but he was open to a rematch with Nery. Following Nery testing positive for
zilpaterol Zilpaterol (zilpaterol hydrochloride; codenamed RU 42173) is a β2 adrenergic agonist. Under its trade name, Zilmax, it is used to increase the size of cattle and the efficiency of feeding them. Zilmax is produced by Intervet, a subsidiary of M ...
, a banned substance, ''The Ring'' reinstated Yamanaka as their bantamweight champion. On October 31, the WBC made its final ruling on Nery's positive test. The sanctioning body concluded that the positive test was due to contaminated food. Consequently, the result of the Yamanaka-Nery title bout wouldn't be overturned but the WBC ordered a rematch. Days after the ruling, Yamanaka confirmed he wouldn't retire and would come back for the rematch.


Yamanaka vs. Nery II

During the weigh-in prior to the bout, Nery came in at 123 pounds, five pounds over the limit for the bantamweight division. Despite cutting two pounds before the final weigh-in, he was stripped of his title prior to the bout for failing to make weight. The fight continued regardless, leaving Yamanaka with a chance to regain the title should he win the fight. Nery knocked Yamanaka down with an overhand left near the end of the first round, and although Yamanaka beat the count, he did not appear to recover during the break, and was knocked down a further three times in the next round before the referee called off the fight at 1:03 into the second round. After the fight, the WBC announced that it would be suspending Nery indefinitely for his failure to make weight, removing him from their ranking system and preventing him from competing for any WBC belt. Yamanaka announced his retirement following the fight.


Professional boxing record


See also

*
List of WBC world champions This is a list of WBC world champions, showing every world champion certificated by the World Boxing Council (WBC). The WBC is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and certifies world champions in 18 different weight cla ...
*
List of bantamweight boxing champions This is a list of world bantamweight boxing champions, as recognized by the four major sanctioning organizations in boxing: * The World Boxing Association (WBA), established in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA). The WBA often recognize ...
* List of ''The Ring'' world champions *
List of Japanese boxing world champions This is a list of Japanese boxing world champions who have won major world titles from the "Big four" Sports governing body, governing bodies in professional boxing namely the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), Internation ...
*
Boxing in Japan The history of boxing in Japan began in 1854 when Matthew C. Perry, Matthew Perry landed at Shimoda, Shizuoka soon after the Convention of Kanagawa. At that time, American sailors often engaged in sparring matches on board their ships, with thei ...


References


External links

*
Shinsuke Yamanaka - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamanaka, Shinsuke 1982 births Living people Bantamweight boxers Southpaw boxers World Boxing Council champions Boxing commentators World bantamweight boxing champions World boxing champions People from Shiga Prefecture Japanese male boxers