Luis Nery Vs Shinsuke Yamanaka II: Repeat or Revenge?

By Rich “Lite It Up” Lopez

On Thursday March 1, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan, a rematch will take place between Luis Nery and Shinsuke Yamanaka. This is a high stakes fight in the Bantamweight division as the WBC title and the Ring Championship is up for grabs.

The 1st fight took place in August of last year in Tokyo, Japan. Before the fight, Shinsuke Yamanaka of Tokyo, Japan was undefeated at 27-0-2, with 19 KO’s to his credit. He was the long time WBC Bantamweight Champion and made 12 defenses of the title. His championship reign lasted for almost 6 years. Yamanaka was simply too quick for his opponents. He is a southpaw and has a very quick left hand. Some former champions he defeated were Tomas Rojas, Anselmo Moreno, and Vic Darchinyan.

When he defeated Anselmo Moreno by a 7th round stoppage in their second encounter, he was awarded the Ring Championship. All these accomplishments vaulted him as one of the top fighters from Japan. For his 13th title defense, he met up with the undefeated Luis “Pantera” Nery of Tijuana, Mexico. At that time, Nery had a record of 23-0, 17 KO’s. If anybody would give Yamanaka a good challenge it would be Luis Nery. The 23 year old Nery has youth on his side and speed to compete with the quick Yamanaka. He also has power and is a southpaw just like Yamanaka.

In the fight, we noticed Nery was exchanging well with the Japanese speedster. Nery also did a good job of countering and for the most part avoiding the right hand of Yamanaka. However when Yamanaka landed his right hand at times, Nery took the punches very well. Nery and Yamanaka went toe to toe with furious exchanges, but by the 4th round it started to take a toll on Yamanaka. Nery unleashed a fury of punches and even though Yamanaka was fighting back, he was taking punishment. Towards the end of the 4th round, Yamanaka’s corner had seen enough and jumped in the ring to stop the fight. Had the fight gone any longer, it could have been worse for the Japanese fighter. This was a huge win for Nery as he defeated the long time WBC Bantamweight Champion and became the new ruler of the division.

So if Nery stopped Yamanaka in four rounds, why is there a rematch taking place?

There is 2 reasons for this. The first reason is due to some controversy as Nery failed a pre-fight drug test. He tested positive for the banned substance called Zilpaterol. Supposedly this was a result of Nery consuming large amounts of beef. The WBC ruled the stoppage victory for Nery was final, and Nery kept his title. Nery just had to fight a rematch with Yamanaka. Due to the failed drug test, Yamanaka remained the Ring Champion. The second reason for a rematch is Yamanaka deserves it. Even though the fight only went four rounds, it was exciting as long as it lasted and we saw great effort by both men. Afterwards, Luis Nery took a non-title bout in November of last year against tough Filipino Arthur Villanueva. Nery had a little scare as he was dropped in the 4th round of this bout. However he bounced back and stopped Villanueva in the 6th round.

Now, we are ready for the rematch this week. I don’t believe the fight will be televised in the U.S. or at least for now. The 1st fight was televised on Bein Sports En Espanol and hopefully they will pick up the rematch as well. So the question is what will happen in the rematch?

Will Luis Nery repeat what he did in the 1st fight and prove his win was no fluke? Will Shinsuke Yamanaka get revenge and take the belt back in his hometown? We shall find out soon and we are looking forward to it.

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