The UIC Pavilion in Chicago will host Showtime boxing this weekend, with a card that features Japan’s WBO Bantamweight Champion Tomoki Kameda as he faces off against tough veteran Alejandro Hernandez. Kameda is a (-1000) favorite over Hernandez, who comes back at (+700).
Kameda is the big story here, as he is 23 years old and a perfect (30-0) in his career. This will be the third defense of the WBO title he won in August of last year. Kameda is breaking away from the Japanese boxing scene where he came up. Whereas many of Japan’s top champions are comfortable fighting at home and attracting opposition with bigger paydays, Kameda has signed with Al Haymon, which shows he is thinking beyond Japan when it comes to his career.
With a bold plan and such a strong backer in Haymon, it is unlikely that Kameda will be facing a match-up that doesn’t favor him skill-wise. Kameda is part of a trio of brothers (Koki and Daiki are the other two) who have won World Championships, making then the first trio of siblings to own pieces of the world title. The three are trained by their father, a controversial figure in Japan who has been banned by the commission there. Of the group, it is Tomoki who has youth and the most upside to his career. Keep your eye on this guy.
The second line being offered for this card has hometown favorite Andrzej Fonfara a solid (-750) favorite over his opposition, French Congolese fighter Doudou Ngumbu, who pays (+550). Fonfara lost his last outing, as he was decisioned by WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, and this match is designed to get him a win. Ngumbu has a lot of fights (33-5) and he has faced a lot of tough competition in Europe, but Fonfara is unlikely to falter as he returns to a buidling and a fanbase that he has headlined for more than half a dozen times already.
Here is Showtime’s 30-second promo for the event. Though BetDSI has lines on just these two fights, some of the other books out there are carrying four or five fights from this card, that is scheduled for roughly a dozen fights. One of the other features is Koki Kameda, who is (33-1) and also is a world title holder:
