Ryuya Yamanaka’s career comes to an end, though the reason is most unfortunate.
In a recent press conference, Yamanaka revealed that after losing his WBO minimumweight title against Vic Saludar earlier this year, he suffered an acute subdural hematoma. Such a diagnosis meant that the 23-year-old Yamanaka was forced to retire, something he said he did not expect to happen so soon in his life.
"I couldn't accept it at first. I thought I could keep boxing until I was 30," Yamanaka said. "I wanted to continue fighting for as long as I felt strong enough. (Retirement) came a lot faster than I thought it would, but I want to thank everyone around me for their support."
Yamanaka would then explain that after the fight against Saludar, which took place on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao's WBA welterweight title win over Lucas Matthysse, he felt sick and was then hospitalized for a week.
If subdural hematoma sounds familiar to wrestling fans, then it is because it was the reason New Japan Pro Wrestling star Katsuyori Shibata was forced to retire back in 2017 after a match against IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada.
Yamanaka retires with a 16-3 record after making his pro debut back in 2012. Yamanaka enjoyed a brief period where he was the OPBF minimumweight champion in 2017 before moving on to fighting for a world title. It was in August 27, 2017 when Yamanaka won the WBO title with a close unanimous decision win over Tatsuya Fukuhara. After one successful title defense against Moises Calleros back in March, Yamanaka would lose the title against Saludar, a loss that ultimately ended a career.
