April 28, 2011
TOKYO, JAPAN
The Japan Professional Boxing Association (JPBA), consisting of all club owners here, named WBA#3/WBC#3 national bantamweight champ Shinsuke Yamanaka (14-0-2, 10 KOs) Boxer of the Champion Carnival on Wednesday after all the compulsory defenses of our national champs and mandatory challengers were successfully over. Yamanaka, 28, impressively kept his belt by halting previously unbeaten and highly regarded Ryosuke Iwasa via tenth round TKO at the Korakuen Hall on March 5. It was a sensational encounter of the unblemished southpaw prospects, but Yamanaka eventually had the upper hand over the aggressive but less experienced Iwasa.
The technique award was given to WBC#5/WBA#6 national super-fly champ Yota Sato (21-2-1, 11 KOs) who finely defeated two-time world challenger Yohei Kono by a unanimous decision this April. The fighting spirit award was rendered to WBA#7/WBC#10 Japanese lightweight ruler Nihito Arakawa (19-1-1, 13 KOs), who looked sharp in stopping Hiroshi Nakamori in eight rounds in January. The award-giving ceremony will take place at the Korakuen Hall on May 19, the Boxing Day in Japan, when Yoshio Shirai captured the world flyweight belt from Dado Marino to become this country’s first world champion fifty-nine years ago.
(4-28-11)