By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Rey Vargas of Mexico will take on former WBO Bantamweight Champion Tomoki Kameda of Japan in Carson, California this Saturday July 13th.. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on DAZN. Vargas last fought in February when he beat Franklin Manzanilla by a wide unanimous decision even though he was dropped in the second round. Kameda last fought in November when he beat Abigail Medina over 12 rounds in a bout that was supposedly for the interim WBC Super Bantamweight Crown. Vargas won the vacant title in February, 2017 via majority decision over Gavin McDonnell.
The 28-year-old Vargas of Mexico City will climb into the ring with a perfect record of 33-0 along with 22 Kos and will be defending his title for the fifth time. Vargas has also beaten former two-time world titleholder Alexander Munoz as well as former world title challengers Juanito Rubillar and Cecilio Santos, so he has good big-fight experience. He also owns wins over Ronny Rios, Luis Lugo, Marcos Cardenas, Eduardo Mancito, Oscar Negrete, Azat Hovhannisyan and Alexis Kabore.
Vargas stands just over 5-feet-7-inches tall and has a reach of 70.5 inches. He’s fought 188 rounds since turning pro in 2010 and has quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 67 per cent. However, he’s gone the distance in his last five outings and in six of the last seven. He’s a solid pro with a good chin and skills but hasn’t been particularly impressive in the past few bouts. Vargas enjoyed a fine amateur career and has won the IBF Youth, WBC Youth Intercontinental, and WBC Youth Silver Super Bantamweight Titles since turning pro.
Kameda will celebrate his 28th birthday a day before the fight. He hails from of Osaka and will climb through the ring ropes with a mark of 36-2 along with 20 Kos. Kameda can box and also has pretty good power on his punches with a current knockout ratio of 53 per cent. But like Vargas, he hasn’t stopped anybody lately and has gone the distance in his last four fights and in nine of his last 11. Kameda needs to get back to his aggressive style of a few years ago and go after his opponent if he has him hurt.
His only two losses came against Jamie McDonnell when McDonnell was the WBA Bantamweight king. Kameda had him down in the third round of their first meeting in 2015, but dropped a close unanimous decision by scores of 114-113 across the board. McDonnell then beat him in their rematch by unanimous decision four months later. Kameda turned pro back in 2008 and has boxed 267 rounds since then. He stands 5-feet-7-inches tall and has a 66-inch reach which means he gives up 4.5 inches in reach to Vargas.
Kameda won the WBO Bantamweight title in 2013 with a unanimous decision over Paulus Ambunda. He then defended it against Immanuel Naidjala by unanimous decision, against Panya Uthok by seventh-round KO and Alejandro Hernandez by split decision before vacating the championship. Since turning pro he’s also won the WBC Silver, NABF, WBC Youth World, WBC CABOFE, and WBC FECARBOX Bantamweight Titles. He’s also the younger brother of fellow boxers Koki and Daiki Kameda.
Prediction…
Both Kameda and Vargas can be very exciting boxers when they let their hands go and they also have dependable chins. Their power hasn’t been evident lately though as neither of them have stopped anybody since 2016. They’re both world class boxers though and this is a good matchup. Vargas will use his reach advantage which means Kameda needs to get inside. I think I’ll go with Kameda in a bit of an upset here since Vargas hasn’t looked as sharp as he should lately.
