WBC bantamweight world champion Shinsuke Yamanaka will face former WBA bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno at Tokyo¡¯s Ota City General Gymnasium on Sept. 22, Teiken Promotions announced on Friday.

Yamanaka (23-0-2) will make his ninth title defense, and Moreno, a Panamanian, will arguably be his toughest opponent compared with the other foes he¡¯s faced since becoming a world champion.

The 30-year-old Moreno (35-3-1) defended his WBA title 12 straight times before he lost it due to a sixth-round TKO to Dominican Juan Carlos Payano last September.

Yamanaka said that when Teiken Boxing Gym president Akihiko Honda told him the deal was done with Moreno, he was even more psyched up than in the past for his previous fights.

Perhaps the reason for Yamanaka¡¯s excitement is derived from his instincts as a fighter who wants to compete in nail-biting bouts against stronger opponents like Moreno, who¡¯s ranked No. 3 by the WBC. But Yamanaka acknowledged the risk of being handed his first pro loss and letting his emerald WBC title belt slip out of his hands.

¡°It¡¯ll be the ninth title defense attempt, but this is a (tough) opponent that I can¡¯t afford to think about it,¡± Yamanaka said. ¡°So all I want is to just fight as well as I can and win it, and then the title defense figure will follow afterward.¡±

Yamanaka described Moreno as one of the very best in their weight division, saying, ¡°It¡¯s probably more accurate to say that he¡¯s nastier than stronger. He¡¯s not so quick-footed, but his upper body is really flexible and I¡¯ve never seen him take fatal shots.¡±

Yamanaka, a southpaw fighter, anticipated that he would have a tough time landing his punches, including his signature left, which is dubbed ¡°God¡¯s Left,¡± against Moreno.

Still, Yamanaka, 32, is happy to put on a show against Moreno. He described it as a ¡°de facto unification bout¡± for the bantamweight class.

Tsuyoshi Hamada, the president of Teiken Promotions, said that Yamanaka had requested to fight a ¡°tough opponent.¡±

His wish was granted.

¡°If I don¡¯t have confidence, I¡¯m not going to say I want to do it,¡± said Yamanaka, who¡¯s No. 9 in The Ring Magazine¡¯s current pound-for-pound rankings (Takashi Uchiyama, the WBA super featherweight champion is ranked 10th).

¡°As (The Ring Magazine) put me for the ninth spot, it made a huge difference in terms of my motivation in my practices, and I have a little bit of pressure as well. But this opponent is someone that I can prove my ability (against).¡±

Yamanaka, who¡¯s held his belt since November 2011, is scheduled to have a weeklong training camp in Okinawa, starting on Sunday, along with WBC superfeatherweight champion Takashi Miura, a fellow Teiken fighter.