By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda (to come soon)

Mexican Luis Nery shamefully forfeited his WBC bantamweight belt on the scale as he couldn’t make the 118-pound class limit on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan. At his first trip to the scale, Nery was 123, five pounds over the class limit, and he again weighed in at 121 pounds, still three pounds over, at his second and final trial after two hours. Should Yamanaka, 117.5 pounds (a half pound under the limit), win the fight, he will be declared new champion. Should he lose or should it end in a draw, the WBC bantamweight belt will become vacant.

As for the IBF junior feather title bout, defending champ Ryosuke Iwasa, Japan, tipped the beam at 121.75 to 121.5 for Filipino challenger Ernesto Saulong.