By Hisaso Adachi

At a press conference which took place in Tokyo, officially announcing that unbeaten Japanese WBC light flyweight champion, Ken “The Amazing Boy” Shiro’s (15-0, 8 KO’s) will make the sixth defense against the official WBC challenger, Filipino southpaw Jonathan “Lightning” Taconing (28-3-1, 22KOs).

The fight will be on July 12 at the Osaka Edion Arena in Osaka city, Japan. For Ken  it’ll be the sixth defense of the crown he conquered in 2017 in Tokyo after defeating Mexican Ganigan “The Wonder” Lopez, whom he stopped in a rematch, via a second round KO, in May 2018.

In his most recent fight in Tokyo last December, Shiro defeated Mexican Saul “Baby” Juarez, by unanimous decision.

For Taconig, this will be his third title opportunity. His first title attempt was in 2012 in Thailand for WBC light flyweight crown against the then Thai champion Kompayak Porpramook. He lost by technical decision in the fifth round. Then in 2016 in Mexico, he was defeated by then champion Ganigan Lopez.

At the press conference, Ken Shiro commented: “I am very motivated, since I am going to fight in Osaka for the first time as a world champion. Jonathan Taconing is a good puncher.  So when I fight him, I’ll  fight fast, but carefully, using distance and  throwing plenty of jabs to keep him at bay.”

Also on the card, the tough undefeated southpaw slugger Satoshi Shimizu (8-0, 8 KOs).

The card is headlined by the high stakes rematch for the WBA "regular" middleweight title between Japanese challenger Ryota Murata and champion Rob Brant.

For Shimizu, this will be his ninth professional fight since the leap to the professional ranks in 2016, after an amateur of record of 150 wins and 20 losses, and an Olympic bronze medal at bantamweight in the 2012 London games.

At the press conference, Shimizu promised to impress against Joe Noynay. 

Shimizu stressed that "I can say that I am trustworthy yet ready for whatever comes when I challenge a world champion, whether it's at featherweight or super super featherweight. I am willing to go in there and prove my unequivocal show of pugilistic power in my next fight, flaunting an overwhelming and impressive strength to win."