KOKI KAMEDA W12 DAISUKE NAITO (plus weekend wrap)

There are bouts in which a young fighter comes of age, and I was able to see one such contest in the early hours of Sunday morning when Koki Kameda boxed his way to a unanimous decision win over Daisuke Naito to capture the WBC flyweight title in an enthralling Japanese showdown held before a huge, enthusiastic crowd at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

I had expected more of a physical fight, with Kameda gradually breaking down Naito for a late stoppage. Kameda chose, however, to use a hit and not be hit style, and it paid off.

Kameda, who turned 23 this month, boxed beautifully. I never thought he could be this smart, disciplined and elusive.

Naito, 35, was just as tough and courageous as expected but he was winging and missing for most of the fight.

The way that Kameda controlled the fight against a much more experienced man was highly impressive. Kameda was under pressure at times but he came back with sharp punching from out of his southpaw posture. Naito got in some heavy left hooks to the body, and at times he broke through with right hands around the side of Kameda’s guard, but the younger man stayed cool and composed and usually answered back with sharp shots.

On the outside, Kameda moved smoothly away from punches, darted in to get in his quick blows, then glided away again. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a boxing exhibition by a young fighter as much as I enjoyed this one.

Naito has been in some bitter battles but he looked fresh and vibrant, which surprised me. He was fast and he did his best to be furious, but it must have been like trying to hit a phantom and there were times when Naito found himself going in the wrong direction after wild misses.

Although Kameda was briefly a champion at 105 pounds he had never faced anyone as formidable as Naito, but he boxed with the assurance of a veteran and there was a gracefulness in his movements. Time and again, Kameda would surprise Naito by sliding forward to throw two consecutive left hands from his southpaw stance, so that if the first one fell short the second punch would smack into Naito’s face.

A jarring left hand had Naito’s nose bloody in the second round, and by the later rounds the proud warrior was looking battered and swollen under and around the eyes. Kameda was unmarked apart from a slight puffiness over the left eye.

An increasingly desperate Naito threw everything he had, and his head bumped into Kameda’s face a few times. Kameda grimaced but got on with the task at hand.

The rounds flashed by as Kameda’s evasive boxing and sharpshooting allowed him to stretch out a lead on points. Naito practically hurled himself forwards in the last round, and briefly Kameda seemed to waver under the onslaught, but the challenger steadied himself and came back with some hard shots of his own in the most fiercely contested round of the fight.

Kameda has been criticised in Japan for an arrogant attitude, but I believe that he sees himself as a special type of fighter — and maybe he’s right.

Lucian Bute got the widely expected win but I don’t think anyone could have expected a fourth-round knockout over the usually resilient Librado Andrade in HBO’s Boxing After Dark main event from Quebec City.

Bute, who was almost knocked out by Andrade 13 months ago, looked a different class to him in the rematch. Andrade seemed to me to be even clumsier and more awkward than in the past. I had expected a Bute points win after a tense 12 rounds, but that wicked left hand to the body from Bute’s southpaw stance seemed to suck all the wind out of Andrade. Bute might not be the best boxer in the super middleweight division but he’s hands down the best 168-pounder who isn’t boxing in Showtime’s Super Six tournament.

The draw in the lightweight title bout between Ali Funeka and Joan Guzman on HBO’s show was surprising, but I have seen draws that were more shocking (Lewis-Holyfield, Whitaker-Chavez, and, this year, Martinez-Cintron and Botha-Carrion).

It did seem that Funeka had won clearly, but there were some hard-fought rounds that could have gone either way. Guzman won the first two rounds clearly, probably won the seventh, and I could have seen a judge going his way in a couple of other rounds. That’s 115-113 in favour of Funeka. I didn’t think Guzman could have won any more than a maximum of five rounds, but as I always say, when a fight goes to the cards you have to hold your breath. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.

What the HBO commentary failed to mention was the incredible guts that Guzman showed in this fight. His nose streamed blood in every round from the third — I think it was Funeka’s left uppercut that did the damage — and he was cut early from an obvious clash of heads, although the referee apparently considered that a punch had done the damage. Guzman almost went down from a right hand in the eighth, and he looked on the verge of being stopped in the ninth and 10th. Yet, bloodied and tiring, Guzman somehow rallied to be competitive in the last two rounds. No, he didn’t do enough to earn a draw, but regardless what one thinks of the decision I think that we all can admire Guzman’s bravery.

I keep saying we never can be sure exactly how good an unbeaten boxer is until he loses. Showtime’s special Saturday night edition of ShoBox gave us the answer regarding John Molina, the lightweight prospect from Covina, CA. Sad to say, Molina looked ordinary — although tough and game — as he was taken to school by Mexican veteran Martin Honorio in a one-sided but entertaining 10-rounder. I was impressed with unbeaten 122-pounder Rico Ramos, though, as he outclassed Alejandro Perez in their eight-rounder. Fast, sharp and athletic, Ramos had the look of a rising star.