Boxing In Japan: Kameda Retains WBA Crown In Tokyo

Local flyweight Daiki Kameda kept hold of his WBA title last night in a clash against former titlist Takefumi Sakata at Tokyo’s Big Sight Arena.

Kameda, just 21, effectively held off his more seasoned crosstown rival over the course of the twelve round contest, but it wasn’t easy as Sakata drew upon his long experience.

The 30 year old former WBA champion, who retained four times during 2007-2008, took the initiative to get on the inside against the taller Kameda and worked a stern body assault to take an early lead.

Kameda looked for opportunities to counter and the heavy-handed youngster rocked the challenger when he hit the target but the crafty Sakata was still maintaining a higher workrate.

The second half of the bout saw Kameda gain control as Sakata began to lose energy from his earlier efforts and the final frames featured a one-sided fight in favor of the champion.

Kameda swept the cards by scores of 118-110, 117-112 and 116-112, retaining the WBA belt for the first time since winning the title last October and improving to 18-2 (11). Sakata drops to 36-6-2 (17), snapping a three bout win streak.

Ex-WBC flyweight title challenger Daigo Nakahiro, 21-3-1 (8), headed up the undercard but lost his Japanese super flyweight strap to Interim titlist Yota Sato, 19-2-1 (10), on points, 99-89, 99-90 and 97-92 after ten frames.