By Jake Donovan
Perhaps the third time’s a charm… if there will be a third time.
Daiki Kameda is 0-for-2 in flyweight title bids, dropping a majority decision to Denkaosan Kaovichit of Thailand at the Osaka (Japan) Central Gym, Tuesday evening (local time).
Judges Levi Martinez and Silvestre Albainza had it 115-113 for the defending titlist, while Sergio Caiz surprisingly saw the bout even at 114-114.
It wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing of title fights, which was marred by excessive clinching late in the fight by the defending titlist. Kaovichit jumped out to an early lead, thwarting Kameda’s attack with combination punching.
As the bout progressed, Kameda established his body attack, but was already down on the cards and running out of rounds. A late rally was offset by the veteran Kaovichit digging into his bag of tricks, clinching whenever the Japanese challenger tried to work his way inside.
The official scoring suggested a closer fight than was actually the case, with the visiting champion seemingly never in danger of losing his title.
Viewed as a vulnerable titlist, Kaovichit keeps rolling along. The 33-year old improves to 48-1-1 (20KO) in just his fourth fight outside of his native Thailand, and his third trip to the Land of the Rising Sun.
His previous two appearances both came against Takefumi Saketa, fighting to a highly controversial draw in November 2007 before coming back to blast him out in two rounds 13 months later to win the very title he has now successfully defended for the second time.
Kaovichit’s only loss came almost seven years to the day in his lone trip to the United States, succumbing to Eric Morel in 11 rounds in their Showtime-televised title fight.
Kameda falls to 15-2 (11KO) with the loss, ending a five-fight win streak.
The bout came nearly two years after Kameda’s disgraceful performance against World flyweight champion Daisuke Naito, a points loss littered with dirty tactics that earned the then-18 year old Kameda a one year suspension.
He rebounded well, racking up five wins over a stretch of less than ten months, but ultimately bit off more than he can chew in Tuesday’s matchup.
A win would’ve set up the opportunity for Daiki to serve along with older brother Koki Kameda as one of the few brother acts in boxing history to simultaneously hold major titles in the same weight class.
Koki challenges Naito for the true flyweight championship later next month, but will have to settle for the My Brother’s Keeper angle since Daiki will obviously be without a title belt going into the highly anticipated world title fight in Saitama, Japan.
Should the elder Kameda emerge victorious, there’s always next year for Daiki to rebound and attempt to join his older brother in the winner’s circle.
However, his options are running few and far between. Japan only recognizes the WBC and WBA as world titles, which means a bid at any other belt would require a road trip, something he has yet to do, having fought exclusively in Japan through nearly four years as a pro.
While his 20 years of age and less than four years in service normally suggest a career just ready to get going, it’s quite possible that Daiki Kameda has already run out of chances to prove he belongs at the top level of the flyweight division.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
