Koki Kameda keeps WBC belt, eyes boxing history with brother Tomoki

CEBU, Philippines - Japanese ring star Koki Kameda soundly beat his Filipino challenger John Mark Apolinario via lopsided unanimous decision to retain his WBC bantamweight title the other night at the Tokyo Big Sight in Japan.

According to Carlos Costa of philboxing.com, Kameda completely dominated the bout, knocking down the hapless Filipino fighter twice during the one-sided 12-round duel.

The official scores were 119-107, 118-108 and 117-109 all in favor of the 26-year-old Kameda, who improved his record to 32-1 dotted with 17KOs. Apolinario fell to 17-3-3 (4KOs).

It was Kameda's seventh successful defense of the WBC belt he seized after beating Mexican Alexander Muñoz by unanimous verdict on December 26, 2010 at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Koki is the older brother of Tomoki "El Mexicanito" Kameda, who is set to challenge WBO bantamweight champion Paulus "The Rock" Ambunda of Namibia on August 1 at the Pacific grand ballroom of Waterfront-Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

The Tomoki-Ambunda showdown bankrolled by RWS Promotions International of Cebuano topnotch promoter Rex "Wakee" Salud and Kameda Boxing of Japan features an exciting battle of skillful fighters who have never been beaten in their respective careers.

Ambunda sports an unblemished 20-0 record spiked with a 50 percent knockout rate, while Kameda carries a clean 27-0 slate packed with 18KOs.

If victorious, Tomoki and Koki Kameda will make history as the first fighting brothers to have held two world boxing crowns in the same weight division but in different organizations. — EBV (FREEMAN)