Saturday night at Chicago’s UIC Pavilion, Al Haymon‘s Japanese import Tomoki Kameda was only able to pull off a Split Decision win over veteran war-horse Alejandro Garcia. Heading into the fight, which was for Tomoki’s WBA World Bantamweight title, the Japanese fighter was a big (-1000) favorite over Hernandez, who returned at (+700).
Kameda and his two brothers, all world champions, and their trainer father were banned from boxing in Japan. Some of the circumstances surround father Shiro Kameda advising son Daiki to fight dirty while cornering him, but the situation is certainly much more complicated than that. The family has relocated to the U.S. and Tomoki is now (31-0) at 23 years old. He is beginning to face the high expectations that come with his high profile signing with powerful advisor Al Haymon, and though he started out strong in this fight, he was not at his best in the latter rounds where he appeared to hold back. He was clearly the sharper technical boxer, but Hernandez got all ‘Mexican’ on him and turned it into a close fight.
Local Chicago favorite Andrzej Fonfara, who was a big (-750) favorite in his fight with French-Congolese fighter Doudou Ngumbu, and he won a Unanimous Decision in a fight that many observers felt was even closer than the final cards of (98-92, 97-93, 97-93). Ngumbu set the pace early and netted many of the early rounds, forcing Fonfara to fight from behind in a battle of attrition.
In a bit more impressive showing, Koki Kameda, brother #2, took out Omar Salado in the 4th round of his scheduled 10 rounder. Though Tomoki is the ‘big deal’, Koki is also a fine Bantamweight who has a career mark now at (33-1) at 27 years old. The middle brother, Daiki is yet to make his debut stateside but at 25, he is 29-4 with WOrld TItles at Flutweight and Super Flyweight so expect to hear from him as well. After each of his wins, Daiki likes to lead the audience in a sing a long, although what he might sing to an American audience isn’t clear.
Part of the hype around the young protege Tomoki is his desire to fight like a ‘Mexican’, and he has been courting that market. For those Spanish-speaking fans, here is Tomoki managing an interview in Spanish very, very well. Very impressive.
