May 29, 2006
TOKYO, JAPAN
Unbeaten and sensational WBA#2 ranked Koki Kameda (11-0, 10 KOs), a 19-year-old fast-rising Japanese southpaw, has decided to face the top contender Juan Landaeta (20-3-1, 16 KOs), Venezuela, in a quest for the vacant WBA 108-pound belt in Yokohama, Japan, on August 2. It was publicly announced before great many press people today (Monday) in Tokyo, and the press conference was shown nationwide live by TBS TV.
It will be an encounter of the hard-punching lefties, where Kameda aims to win the world throne prior to his 20th birthday. Having defeated Mexican Carlos Bouchan and Nicaraguan Carlos Fajardo both within the distance, Kameda has zoomed up so remarkably and sensationally that he now becomes a household name here. Kameda is better known among the general public than our five world champs.
The WBA light-fly crown was recently vacated by Panamanian Roberto Vasquez, who will reportedly have a mandatory shot at the WBA flyweight belt against Lorenzo Parra of Venezuela. Kameda flamboyantly predicted his coronation by a KO triumph within five rounds. But Landaeta is a much more experienced southpaw, who once acquired the WBA interim 105-pound throne by defeating ex-champ Chana Porpaoin in Venezuela in January 2004. The Venezuelan barely kept it by a 12-round draw with the Thai veteran Chana in Thailand in May that year. Landaeta then came to Japan to meet the legitimate champ Yutaka Niida only to lose a split duke in Tokyo in October. The Venezuelan southpaw scored four wins since, including an important victory over Carlos Melo in Argentina in May of the previous year.
Japanese people will pay great attentions to this title bout, since all of us truly wish to see whether Kameda is as real a thing as he has been boasting of his strength. Should he become a world champ, he will become much more popular than now (as his last Fajardo bout amazingly gained a 33% TV rating so far). We wish to see if Kameda will follow a footstep of Fighting Harada and Hiroki Ioka, both of whom acquired the world belt in the teens.
This show will be presented by Kyoei Promotions.
(5-29-05)