By Hisao Adachi, notifight.com

The Teiken Boxing Gym officially announced the fight involving WBA super bantamweight champion Akifumi Shimoda (23-2-1, 10 KOs), who travels to America to defend against undefeated Rico "Suavecito" Ramos (19-0, 10 KOs) on July 9 in Atlantic City. The fight will be televised by HBO as the co-feature to Paul Williams vs. Erislandy Lara.

Shimoda is very excited for the first defense of his title, since he is the second Japanese fighter in history to make a world title defense in the U.S. followed by Kuniaki Shibata, who failed in his first world title defense of the WBA super featherweight crown when he was knocked out in the first round by filipino Ben Villaflor in Honolulu, Hawaii in October 1973. Shimoda aims to make his legacy by becoming the first boxer in the history of Japanese boxing to successfully defend a world title in U.S.

Shimoda says - "My fight in the United States with Rico Ramos will be decisive for my career. It will be a crucial battle, where I will have to invest my entire soul to put on the best performance of my entire boxing career. When I enter the ring in the U.S., I'll impose my own abilities as boxer, which is to hit without being hit. Ramos is a fast fighter equipped with excellent instincts and loves to throw hard punches. I'll go out there to pressure him, use my boxing, and go for the win to decide the fate of the fight."