山中 慎介 - Left of God closing in on Fierce Eagle's historic record.

A shot at robbing him blind you mean? Did you see McDonnell/Solis?

 

I actually did not, been really busy over the last couple of months. Last one I watched was Vargas.

 

Do yourself a favor and watch that fight. One of the worst robberies of 2016.

 

Luis Nery and Emmanuel Rodriguez (should he get by Narvaez) would both be worthy contenders for Yamanaka to face to tie the record, and with Sur Rungsuvai getting popped for a positive drug test, one of them is likely to be elevated to the mandatory position.

 

Not very, they do appear to be on really good terms, and it does seem like Uchiyama has a real repsect for Yamanaka's reign, recently admitting that it's not easy to have so many defense in one paper interview.

Who cares if he does? His competition has been stiffer than Gushikens' was, with over Darchinyan, Tunacao, Rojas, Suriyan, Solis and Moreno (twice) are 7 high quality defenses. Gusiken had some awful defenses on his record, Ancieto Vargas particularly.

He's VERY unlikely to be on an NYE card unless NTV goes up against TBS and TV Tokyo splitting the audience further. Probably breaks the record on a November card though. Probably against Nery.

Asian boxing did a 2-part feature on Yamanaka Vs Gushiken, could be worth a read -
http://www.asianboxing.info/oriental-opinions/yoko-gushiken-vs-shinsuke-yamanaka-part-1
http://www.asianboxing.info/oriental-opinions/yoko-gushiken-vs-shinsuke-yamanaka-part-2

 

Yamanaka's resume, while pretty impressive for the length and the solidity of his reign, needs a huge boost: I'd appreciate, in his following fights, either a unification with the tough Zhakiyanov and the highly extravagant Tapales, or a mouth-watering encounter with Rigondeaux or one of the élite players of the super flyweight division.

 

Another good fight could be against Luis Nery

 

Rodriguez is gonna face Omar Narvaez next and this leaves Nery to face Yamanaka

 

I agree, but why hasn't he had the ambition to challenge Rigondeaux or to chase a unification in all these years of excellent dominance? His identity card shows 35 years in October, thus he's risking a career end loss à la Uchiyama due to advanced age if he doesn't show the sense of urgency to get a really big fight in the short term.

 

He made offers to pretty much every champion over the last 6 years. At one point late last it looked like a deal was close for Haskins, he called LSC out a number of times when he was a chamopion at 118, sent offers to Moreno to Hall, Tomoki and Payano in 2014. You can't make an opponent get in to the ring with you.

 

It just occurred to me that McDonnell vs Kameda 1 was a lot like Ward vs Kovalev. Kameda scored an early knock down took some early rounds with McDonnell taking the late rounds and a lot of even rounds. McDonnell somehow managed to get every even round from the judges to win in what should have been a close loss for him.

 

Oh, I didn't know this. I guess that's why he should fight Rigo in a "Battle of The Most Ducked" showdown. Guillermo against Shinsuke for the supremacy at 118/122 lbs, make it happen Teiken Promotions, certainly the Cuban Master would accept in a hurry

 

Wouldn't be surprised if Yamanaka got old overnight and lost soon.

 

That could prove to be a career defining fight for both. Plus it would be an interesting matchup featuring two very different types of southpaw sharp-shooters.