MEXICO City witnessed the successful return of Tomoki “El Mexicanito” Kameda on Saturday night. The former WBO World bantamweight champion knocked out overmatched Edgar Martinez in the second round, earning his first victory after tough back-to-back losses against Jamie McDonnell in 2015.
Kameda’s speed and power was on full display at the Gimnasio G2 in the Federal District. Nothing seemed to have been sacrificed in his move up in weight to super bantamweight. He was quick out of the gates, pouncing on his opponent and landing a couple of solid left jabs almost immediately after the sound of the opening bell.
After testing Martinez ’s chin with a solid right hand, Kameda ducked under a lazy jab from his rival and countered with a compact right hook that staggered his opponent.
Martinez was visibly stunned but resisted going into full-on retreat, keeping himself within striking distance of the former champion. Kameda further closed in on his prey and landed the final blow, a glancing left hook near the back of Martinez’s head that sent him straight to the canvas.
Martinez laid immobile, staring up at the lights, as the official waved the fight off half way through the round, improving Kameda’s record to 32-2 (20 KOs).
The rich super bantamweight division will present a lot of options for Kameda as he embarks on his campaign at 122 pounds. Guillermo Rigondeaux remains the man to beat in the weight class but an intriguing matchup down the road against fellow countryman Hozumi Hasegawa would likely be a massive fight in Japan, assuming Hasegawa can hold on to his recently acquired belt into 2017.
Or perhaps Kameda would like to try his luck against another Brit at his new weight. Both Scott Quigg and Kid Galahad are missing opponents for their year-end bouts. If he’s willing to travel to the UK, Kameda should have no problem with the quick turnaround after this weekend’s ninety seconds of work.
