I was watching this fight over the weekend and was looking forward to seeing another impressive win for Yamanaka, but he failed to delivered. I was surprised by how easy Sor was able to land is right and how weak technically and physically Yamanaka was on the inside against a former jr bantamweight. He didn't seem to have the quickless to seperate himself from Sor and seems to only be effective on one side. If he wants to move up, Santa Cruz, Frampton, Quigg or Martinez would beat him unless he learns more tactics of in fighting.
That definitely wasn't my takeaway. Yamanaka' stock didn't go down. Kaikanha performed better than expected; that is to his credit. That was a commendably world class effort on his part - and to Yamanaka's credit he repelled that effort and still took a fairly comfortable decision (particularly with all the knockdowns, and the questionable point deduction) showing off his boxing skills instead of relying on power. Kaikanha was more of the bull in there on the night but that doesn't tell me Yamanaka is weak at the weight...nor do I think his tactics were deficient. He did exactly what he needed to do and walked away still champion.
I actually did read your report of the rounds. Good jobs as usual, but how would Yamanaka do against those 4 top super bantamweights.
Sor was down three times, but to his credit he got up and never stopped trying even though he was down big on the cards. Lesser opponents would have stayed down. It’s time for Yamanaka to seek title unification against either Kameda or Payano and see who is the best at 118.
