WBC flyweight champion Daisuke Naito will take on Japanese compatriot Shingo Yamaguchi on Dec. 23 in the fourth defense of his title, his boxing gym said Wednesday.
The fight at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan was scheduled after the Miyata gym was unable to arrange a fight with former WBA light flyweight champion Koki Kameda, the older brother of Daiki Kameda, who Naito beat in a controversial title match last year.
Daiki came in for stinging criticism for using illegal tactics throughout a WBC flyweight fight against champion Naito in October 2007 and was suspended by the Japan Boxing Commission for a year. He had been coaxed on during the fight by Koki and their trainer and father Shiro.
"We looked at arranging a fight (with Koki) but we couldn't agree on conditions with the Kameda gym," said Naito's gym chief Hiroyuki Miyata.