By Cliff Rold

2010 has not been the best of year’s for the best of Japanese boxing.  It’s biggest attraction, Koki Kameda, was upset by Thailand’s Ponsaklek Wonjongkam for the lineal and WBC Flyweight crowns in March.  It’s best fighter, Hozumi Hasegawa, was a knockout victim versus Mexico’s Fernando Montiel the following month.

One thing is certain in this intriguing Saturday crossroads clash: Japan wins.

Whether it wins with youth or wins with experience, both titlist and challenger call Japan home and provide the week’s most intriguing clash.  The aforementioned Kameda’s younger brother, won the WBA belt in his second try in February and now makes his first defense against that belt’s former holder.  Kameda the younger has struggled with veteran’s in the past but he’s also learned in those defeats.  Has he learned enough to keep his strap?

Let’s go the report card.

The Ledgers

Daiki Kameda
Age: 21
Title: WBA Flyweight (2010-Present, 1st Attempted Defense)
Previous Titles: None
Height: 5’6
Weight: TBA
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 114.5 lbs.
Hails from: Tokyo, Japan
Record: 17-2, 11 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #3 at Flyweight
Record in Title Fights: 1-2
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 2 (Issac Bustos, Denkaosan Kaovichit)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 2 (Daisuke Naito, Denkaosan Kaovichit)

Vs.

Takefumi Sakata
Age: 30
Titles: None
Previous Titles: WBA Flyweight (2007-08, 4 Defenses)
Height: 5’4
Weight: TBA
Average Weight – Last Five Fights: 113 lbs.
Hails from: Tokyo, Japan
Record: 36-5-2, 17 KO
BoxingScene Rank: #9 at Flyweight
Record in Title Fights: 4-3-1, 1 KO, 1 KOBY No Contest (4-4-1, 1 KO, 1 KOBY including interim title fights)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated or Drawn: 4 (Daisuke Naito, Lorenzo Parra, Roberto Vasquez, Denkaosan Kaovichit)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 3 (Lorenzo Parra, Roberto Vasquez, Denkaosan Kaovichit)

Pre-Fight Grades
Speed – Kameda B; Sakata B
Power – Kameda B; Sakata B
Defense – Kameda B; Sakata B
Intangibles – Kameda B-; Sakata B+

Daiki has certainly learned some maturity from his veteran experiences.  His first title shot came way too early, against Naito in only his eleventh outing, and it showed.  Outfoxed and well behind, Kameda turned to tactics so foul both he and his father/cornerman suffered lengthy suspensions.  Papa Kameda won’t be in the corner on Saturday based on another suspension incurred following Koki’s loss to Wonjongkam.  Will that affect the young titlist?  It might but he’s shown growth in a loss and win over Kaovichit. 

The activity of Sakata will be the bigger concern.  While the two men are about even in terms of hand speed, it is how they employ those hands that could make the difference.  Kameda has an odd offensive rhythm.  Sometimes he leads with a quick jab; sometimes he lobs the right.  He’ll use his feet to create distance and then fall into clinches to blunt an opponent.  Where he can get in trouble is in not consistently landing leather between ploys.  Alternately, Sakata fires in bursts and mixes up sound body work with hard rights, left hooks, and a snaking right uppercut. 

Sakata’s issues could be age derived.  Since a shocking second round knockout loss to Kaovichit for the WBA belt in December 2008, he’s gone to scratch only three times and not at all against the better Flyweights.  He’s looked good because of it but this is the test.  Kameda isn’t a huge puncher but if he can sting Sakata, do the memories of his lone knockout loss mess with his head?

And, even if not, can Kameda’s unorthodox attack mitigate the offense of Sakata?  Both men are hittable but Sakata can be more open by taking more chances in a by the book approach.  The shot that felled Sakata was a blind blast to the temple.  Kameda is all about catching guys from angles they are not expecting.  Even if Sakata isn’t hit often, being knocked out violently once can sometimes make it easier to do it again.  If Sakata is too defensive, if he is halting, he plays into Kameda’s hands.   

One place Sakata can feel secure is in knowing he’s been on this stage often before and usually given as good as he’s got.  While Kameda has faced a pretty strong crop for someone his age and with so few fights, Sakata has seen many of the best Flyweights of his era and some more than once.  A draw with Naito, two competitive decision losses to Parra before defeating him for a title in a weight influenced fiasco, a fiery split with the talented Roberto Vasquez and the first draw with Kaovichit creates one of the best opponent dossiers available at 112 lbs.  Kameda will enter still with something to prove.  Sakata can be calm in merely seeking to remind.   

The Pick

In the end, the biggest gap between the two is unlikely to be age or experience.  Sakata is probably just, still, a bit more talented overall and he will impose his style.  The Kameda’s appear to be, so far, bigger stars than talents and their controversial images haven’t given them much in the way of benefit of the doubt on the cards.  Sakata’s lesser opposition of late should help him here, his legs fresh because of it, and his offensive output will make a difference.  He’ll force Kameda to work when he doesn’t want to and reduce unorthodox to erratic.  Those who seek it out on YouTube later are likely to find an often ugly fight but it’s one Sakata should win on a close decision. 

Report Card Picks 2010: 23-11

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com