Yamanaka Retains WBC Title Against Darchinyan

Former flyweight and super fly world champion Vic Darchinyan has yet again come up short in a bantamweight title bout as the 36 year old Aussie failed to lift the WBC crown from local man Shinsuke Yamanaka on Friday night at Japan’s Tokyo International Forum.

The far more experienced Darchinyan had been expected by many to wrest the WBC strap from Yamanaka, who was putting his belt at risk for the first time since climbing off the canvas to gun down Christian Esquivel for the vacant title this past November.

However, Yamanaka put his advantages in youth, height and reach to win this battle of southpaws quite convincingly.

From the first bell, Darchinyan used his trademarked aggressive come forward approach, winging off balance bombs that initially drove the champion back as Yamanaka was unsure how to blunt the pressure in the early rounds.

Ultimately it was the lack of concussive power at bantamweight that once again doomed the efforts of Darchinyan, a certified slugger at lighter weights, as his punches could not put a dent in his Tokyo based opponent.

By the middle rounds Yamanaka had gained control of the contest, taking the fight to Darchinyan, winning exchanges behind a sharp jab and good fundamentals.

Darchinyan slowed down his approach but couldn’t find the path to victory despite a late surge in an attempt to KO the champion.

After 12 rounds, Yamanaka swept the cards by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112, improving to 16-0-2 (11).

Darchinyan has now lost his last two appearances and three of his last five to stand at 37-5-1 (27).
There was another world title scrap on the bill, which also featured two southpaws, as Takahiro Ao, 23-2-1 (10), put together his sixth consecutive victory and third WBC super feather title defense by outfighting seasoned Thai veteran Terdsak Kokietgym, 46-4-1 (31).

Ao won a unanimous decision by margins of 118-110 and 116-112 twice.

Former WBC bantam and featherweight champ Hozumi Hasegawa, 30-4 (13), successfully came back from his dethronement a year ago at the hands of Jhonny Gonzalez to halt Felipe Carlos Felix at 2:28 of a scheduled 10 rounder.