Shinsuke Yamanaka Aims To KO Santillan on April 16

By Hisao Adachi

WBC bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (22-0-2, 16 KOs) is very motivated for his eight defense of the crown, against unbeaten challenger Diego Santillan (23-0, 15 KOs) of Argentina, who holds the interim-WBC Latino bantamweight title. The fight takes place on April 16th at the Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka, Japan.

Yamanaka has stopped five of his seven challengers since capturing the crown in November 2011 with a stoppage win over Christian Esquivel.

"The knockout will come by itself for me. Officially my fight with Diego Santillan has been finalized. My fighting spirit gets stronger with very high dedication to avoid neglecting even the smallest thing [in training camp]. I understood that Diego Santillan is a fighter who comes to fight, rushing in to drop hard punches. I have to be very careful with [those punches and] the right hand of Diego Santillan, but I'm sure I will figure him out and eventually knock him out," Yamanaka said.