Anselmo Moreno came up short against Shinsuke Yamanaka but improved his stock.

Yamanaka, rated No. 1 at bantamweight and No. 9 pound for pound, defeated No. 3 Moreno by a split decision in a very close fight before Yamanaka’s fans Tuesday in Tokyo.

The bad news for Moreno is that he failed in his bid to take his opponent’s WBC title and has now lost two fights in a row, including a technical decision against No. 2 Juan Carlos Payano last September.

The good news for the 30-year-old Panamanian is that he demonstrated that he remains an elite fighter, one who obviously is capable of competing with the best in the business.

As a result, Yamanaka (24-0-2, 17 knockouts) retains his No. 1 position and Moreno (35-4-1, 12 KOs) stays put at No. 3.

In other divisions:

HEAVYWEIGHT

No. 1 Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) took out surprisingly tough Frenchman Johann Duhaupas (32-3, 20 KOs) in the 11^th round Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama, to retain his position.

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT

Fedor Chudinov (No. 9 last week) defeated unrated Frank Buglioni (17-2-1, 13 KOs) by a one-sided unanimous decision on Saturday in London. Thus, Chudinov (14-0, 10 KOs) swaps places with Robert Stieglitz (No. 8 last week).

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT

Julian Williams (No. 7 last week) stopped unrated Luciano Cuello (35-4, 17 KOs) in the first round Tuesday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to retain his position. Williams (21-0-1, 13 KOs) reportedly has his eye on former titleholder Austin Trout.

LIGHTWEIGHT

Richar Abril (No. 1 last week) hasn’t fought since Sept. 20 of last year and has no fight scheduled. Thus, he is dropped from the ratings.

Abril (19-3-1, 8 KOs) will receive strong consideration for re-entering the ratings when he resumes his career.

He was replaced by Rances Barthelemy (23-0, 13 KOs), who enters at No. 10.

FLYWEIGHT

Juan Francisco Estrada (No. 1 last week) stays put after stopping veteran Hernan Marquez (unrated last week) in 10 rounds Saturday in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Estrada (33-2, 24 KOs) put Marquez (39-6-1, 28 KOs) down seven times.

Also, victories by Kazuto Ioka (18-1, 10 KOs) and Juan Carlos Reveco (36-2, 19 KOs) set up a rematch of their close fight (won by Ioka) earlier this year.

Ioka (No. 4 last week) almost shut out unrated Roberto Sosa (26-3-1, 14 KOs) on Sunday in Osaka, Japan, to retain his position. Reveco (No. 5 last week) remains where he is after easily outpointing unrated Breilor Teran (14-13-1, 7 KOs) on Saturday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

STRAWWEIGHT

Katsunari Takayama (No. 2 last week) knocked out Ryuji Hara (No. 7 last week) in the eighth round on the Ioka-Sosa card in Osaka. Takayama (30-7, 12 KOs) stays put. Hara (19-2, 11 KOs), who now has been stopped in two of his past three fights, drops out of the ratings. He is replaced by Fahlan Sakkreerin (28-4-1, 15 KOs), who comes in at No. 10.