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As far as title challenges go, for Jose Nieves at Tokyo’s Ota City General Gymnasium last night it was the good, the bad and the ugly all rolled into one, with the good expiring the minute he stepped into the ring.
The numerical won-loss record, 22-2-3 (11), of Nieves going into the contest against WBC bantam champ Shinsuke Yamanaka was respectable enough but the actual names on his resume…not so much.
Aside from a 2006 victory against future WBC super fly titlist Tomas Rojas, Nieves, who went onto lose to Victor Fonseca and Chris Avalos, hadn’t been in with the kind of competition that could have prepared him for what turned out to be a doomed first world title challenge.
Once the bell rang for this battle of southpaws, Yamanaka immediately displayed the form that has seen him defeat Vic Darchinyan, Tomas Rojas and Malcolm Tunacao in WBC title defenses since winning the vacant strap in November, 2011 over Christian Esquivel.
The local man found range against Nieves and never gave the Puerto Rican visitor an opening to launch his own offenses. By 2:40 of the very first round, Nieves was down and out courtesy of a left-handed lightning bolt from Yamanaka, who now stands at 19-0-2 (14).
Not bad for a guy who was held to two draws in his first seven bouts, only winning two of those by narrow margins. Since then the 30 year old Tokyo man has gone 14-0 with 12 KO’s.
Perhaps an ideal direction to go from here for Yamanaka would be a massive domestic showdown with newly minted WBO bantam ruler Tomoki Kameda, who won the crown on the first of this month.
It would be the biggest all-Japanese fight of the year and the winner would be in a good position to offer up two belts to either veteran WBA champ Anselmo Moreno or recent IBF titlist Jamie McDonnell in a big unification clash.
Also on the bill last night in Tokyo was a WBC flyweight title scrap, won by defending champ Akira Yaegashi, 18-3 (9), who posted a 116-110, 116-110, 115-111 decision over Mexico City’s Oscar Blanquet, 32-6-1 (23), after 12 rounds.
The undercard saw ex-WBC bantam and featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa, 33-4 (15), win his fourth straight by ironing out Mexican chinny banger Genaro Camargo, 42-16 (34), at 2:32 of the first round at featherweight.
