Undefeated mandatory bantamweight contender Luis Nery of Mexico will challenge WBC titleholder Shinsuke Yamanaka on August 15, Zanfer Promotions matchmaker and liaison Sean Gibbons confirmed to RingTV.com.

The 12-round bout will take place at the Shimazu Arena in Kyoto, Japan and will likely air on Azteca TV in Mexico and on tape-delay in the U.S. on beIN Sports en Espanol.

Nery (23-0, 17 knockouts), who resides in Tijuana, moved up the ranks in the division by impressively defeating modest opposition, especially over the last 18 months.

In his most recent bout on March 11, the southpaw Nery stopped Jesus Martinez of Colombia in a title eliminator. Martinez refused to come out for round five in a bout Nery was easily winning from the opening bell.

Nery’s most impressive victory occurred on October 22, when he stopped former two-division title challenger Richie Mepranum in the second round.

Other than being the mandatory challenger for the WBC title, Nery is also ranked No. 3 by the WBO and No. 6 by the WBA. He is ranked No. 7 by THE RING Magazine.

Nery has accumulated an unbeaten record with a high-volume of combinations and will take a significant step up in opposition when he faces Yamanaka, who resides in Tokyo, Japan.

Not only will Yamanaka (27-0-2, 19 KOs) be making the 13th defense of his title on August 15, he will also defend his THE RING Magazine 118-pound championship.

Yamanaka, who is also a southpaw, scored a one-sided technical knockout victory in his most recent bout on March 2, overwhelming and stopping bantamweight contender Carlos Carlson of Mexico in round seven.

The 34-year-old Yamanaka has defeated Anselmo Moreno (twice), Liborio Solis, Alberto Guevara, Malcolm Tunacao and Vic Darchinyan.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper, BoxingScene.com and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.

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