Japanese “Bad Boy” Koki Kameda 22-0 (14) defeated WBC flyweight champion Daisuke
Naito 35-3-3 (22) by unanimous decision today to win the coveted belt in the all
Japanese “Battle of Destiny”.
There was always going to be a bit of bad blood in this fight as in 2007, Naito beat Kameda’s younger brother Daiki in an ugly fight in which Daiki threw down Kameda in a football tackle and the brothers father was suspended for abusing the referee.
Kameda, before the fight announced that he would win by knockout in the third round but in a strange reversal of expected styles, Naito came forward constantly while Kameda stayed on the outside. While the defending champion threw far more shots than the young challenger, it was Kameda who seemed to be the more accurate. However the veteran Naito did seem to win the first few rounds.
The fight seemed close to this writer but the 35 year old now ex champion’s nose
was bleeding as early in the second and his badly swollen features may have made
the judges think that Kameda was dominating. More surprising was the WBC open scoring
that after 8 rounds, had Kameda well ahead when there seemed little to choose between
them. However Kameda seemed to control the last few rounds except the last where
the dogged veteran Naito threw everything he had at the younger fighter.
The judges all scored for Kameda by scores of 116-112 and 117-111 twice.
After the fight Kameda thanked his fans for their support and said that this was a dream. It will be interesting to see if the Japanese take Kameda to their hearts now as the conservative Japanese people do not like the cockiness of Kameda and most fans wanted the hard working Naito to retain his crown.
By JIMMY LAST (EDITOR)
