SHINSUKE YAMANAKA retained his WBC world bantamweight title in Kyoto, Japan earlier today by trading knockdowns with Venezuelan Liborio Solis to win on the scorecards.
The unbeaten 33-year-old dropped the challenger in the third, only to find himself on the canvas on two separate occasions in the following stanza.
He rose both times to once again floor Solis in the ninth before picking up scores of 117-107 from all three judges at ringside.
“I was down twice and couldn’t show you my best and I’m sorry,” Yamanaka, who made his 10th title defense, told the crowd after the fight.
“I didn’t dwell on the knockdowns and began to use my footwork from midway through to display my boxing.”
In the co-feature, Yu Kimura relinquished his WBC world light-flyweight title to Mexico’s Ganigan Lopez, dropping a majority decision after 12 rounds.
Kimura won the title from Lopez’s compatriot Pedro Guevara in November, but was a clear loser earlier today, despite one of the judges scoring it a draw at 114-114. The other two scores were 119-109 and 118-110.
