Shinsuke Yamanaka-Liborio Solis on March 4 in Japan

by Hisao Adachi

Earlier today at Hotel Grand Palace in Tokyo, a press conference took place where it was officially announced that a big event would take place March 4 at the Shimazu Arena in the city of Kyoto. The card will be organized by influential Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda, who is the head of the more traditional Teiken Boxing Gym in Tokyo.

In the main event, unbeaten WBC bantamweight king Shinsuke Yamanaka (24-0-1, 17KOs, 33 years old) will make the tenth defense of his crown against Venezuelan challenger #3 WBC world ranked bantamweight and former flyweight world champion of the WBA, Liborio Solis (23-3-1, 10KOs, 33 years old), who will make his third fight in Japan. Solis is undefeated in the rising sun.

In his first fight in Japan, Solis came to Tokyo in May 2013 to become the new flyweight world champion of WBA by defeating Kohei Kono. In his second appearance, in Osaka in December 2013, he lost his title on the scale but won a decision over then IBF world champion Daiki Kameda.

Also on the card, WBC flyweight champion Yu Kimura (18-2-1,  3KOs, 32 years old) will face #6 WBC Ganigan "Maravilla" Lopez (26-6,  17KOs, 34 years old), who tries again to become a champion in Japan.

Yamanaka comes back from a very tough fight last September, where he won a split decision over Panamanian challenger and former champion Anselmo "Chemito "Moreno in a very competitive fight.