## YAMANAKA KEEPS JAPANESE 118LB BELT

March 5, 2011

TOKYO, JAPAN

Unbeaten bantam prospects encountered before a packed-house crowd at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday. WBA#3/WBC#9 Shinsuke Yamanaka (14-0-2, 10 KOs), 118, impressively kept his national bantam belt as he registered his eighth consecutive stoppage by halting previously unbeaten Ryosuke Iwasa (8-1, 6 KOs), a sensational ex-national high school champ, at 1:28 of the tenth and final session.

It was an encounter of fast and hard-hitting southpaws. Iwasa, whose amateur mark was 60-6, 42 stoppages, made a good start as he connected with left cross counters over the shoulder of the defending champ, but Yamanaka, seven years his senior at 28, found his range and timing to batter the challenger with solid and sharp lefts in round four. Since then, it became a sizzling see-saw affair that had the audience into frenzy. The tenth witnessed the champ accelerate his final surge and hurt the fading challenger with a fusillade of punches to prompt the refereefs intervention. It must be a candidate of Fight of the Year, though still in March.

Promoter: Teiken Promotions.

(3-5-11)

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