By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

WBC bantamweight champion, unbeaten Japanese southpaw Shinsuke Yamanaka (27-0-2, 19 KOs), making his thirteenth defense, scaled in at the class limit of 118 pounds, while the official challenger Luis Nery (23-0, 17 KOs), also unbeaten from Mexico, tipped the beam at the same 118 pounds on Monday in Kyoto, Japan.

The WBC officials are as follows:
Referee Michale Griffin (Canaa); judges Oren Shellenberger (US), David Sutherland (US), Joel Scobie (Canada); supervisor Duane Ford(US).

We are looking forward to watching a highly competitive title bout of the unbeaten southpaw hard-punchers that will be telecast live in Japan and Mexico as well.