By Jake Donovan

Shinsuke Yamanaka and Anselmo Moreno are set for their highly anticipated bantamweight title fight Tuesday evening in Tokyo, Japan.

Both fighters made weight for the evening's headlining act. Yamanaka weighed in at 118 lbs., while Moreno was just shy of 117 lbs. 

Yamanaka (23-0-2, 17KOs) attempts the ninth defense of the bantamweight title he claimed in Nov. '11. The unbeaten southpaw from Japan scored a 7th round knockout of Diego Santillan in his most recent bout this past May. 

Nearly three years of his reign ran parallel with Moreno's stay at the top, though sadly their long-awaited clash missed unification status by a year.

Moreno (35-3-1, 12KOs) earned his championship in 2008, scoring a 12-round decision over the excellent Wladimir Sidirenko on the road in Germany to ignite what would be a six-year reign. The rangy southpaw from Panama ranked up 14 title defenses, several of which took place on the road. His championship status came to a close last September, dropping a six-round technical decision to Juan Carlos Payano in Texas. 

The showdown with Yamanaka marks the first piece of ring action for Yamanaka, just four days shy of a full year of inactivity.

The bout will air live on Nippon TV in Japan. It has yet to be confirmed if the main event will be picked up by TV Max Channel 9 in Panama, which airs most of Moreno's bouts.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com.

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