Japanese Scene: Match-ups for July 25 Card Featuring Koki & Daiki Kameda

Sidney Boquiren of RingwalkNippon takes a look at the match-ups for the upcoming July 25 Osaka card.  For more Japanese updates, you can follow Sidney on twitter: RingwalkNippon@Twitter

July 25 card stacked… with mismatches

Opponents for the July 25 card to be held in Osaka featuring former WBC Flyweight champ Koki Kameda, Koki’s younger brother and current WBA Flyweight titleholder Daiki, and 108lb prospect Kazuto Ioka have been set. Unfortunately, all of the match-ups look to be no more than public sparring sessions with lesser opponents.

Koki, in his first ring appearance since losing the green belt to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in March, will be facing former world title challenger Cecilio Santos (24-14-3, 14KO). The 31-year old Mexican has been a stepping stone for prospects and young veterans for the past five or so years. He has lost to some of the better fighters in the 115-122 range in the past half decade, including Veeraphol Sahaprom, Fernando Montiel, Anselmo Moreno, and Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. Carrying a record of 2-6 in his last 8, and having been knocked out in 5 of his last 6, Santos should be an easy first step into the Super Flyweight division for Koki.

Based solely on the record of his opponent, Daiki surprisingly has the toughest assignment of the three as he takes on Rosendo Vega (16-5, 11KO). The WBA beltholder is partaking in this non-title fight as a tune-up for his long-delayed initial defense against countryman Takefumi Sakata. With a better-than-average record and a decent number of wins via KO, Kameda’s handlers better hope that nothing happens to endanger the September date with Sakata. It should still be a relatively safe fight for the younger Kameda – Vega was last seen dazed for over two-minutes as he was blown-out in the first round in his last appearance.

Twenty-one year old Kazuto Ioka (4-0, 2KO) has been matched with Albert Alcoy (8-4-3, 2KO), who Nikkan Sports reports is the #6 Junior Flyweight in the Philippines. Just last week, Ioka’s gymmate and national champ Ryo Miyazaki won the OPBF title. It was thought that he would vacate it so Ioka could challenge for the empty crown. Negotiations (with who exactly, I do not know) did not go through, so the fight with the Filipino was made. Alcoy is coming off his biggest win, but is only 3-3-3 against pugs with .500 or better records.

As expected, Koki was his flamboyant self, telling reporters that he plans to finish off Santos between rounds 5 and 7. This is probably the first time I think Kameda is being generous in his pre-fight antics.

Should Koki eventually win a world title in the Super Flyweight division, it would be his third in the same number of weight classes and rewrite Japanese records. There has yet to be a three-division champ from Japan. Kameda continued his jabber by stating he also wants a crown at 118.

A final note on the card – MBS (part of the TBS group of TV stations) will be broadcasting it nationwide. It has not yet to be announced if the fights will be shown live.

e-mail Sidney Boquiren

For more coverage of Japanese boxing, follow Sidney on Twitter: RingwalkNippon@Twitter