Japanese teenage hope Koki Kameda stopped former WBA minimum weight champion Noel Arambulet with a technical knockout Saturday in what is regarded as a warmup match for his first shot at a world title.
Koki Kameda (right) lands a punch on former WBA minimumweight champion Noel Arambulet during their bout at t Saitama Super Arena.
Kameda, a 19-year-old flyweight boxer from Osaka, improved his unblemished record to 9-0 with eight knockouts after his seventh-round onslaught forced Arambulet to quit fighting in the scheduled non-title 10-rounder at Saitama Super Arena.
Kameda took control of the match from the opening bell with a series of body blows and eventually demoralized the Venezuelan with a fierce left to his body in the seventh round.
Arambulet turned his back and Kameda showed no mercy, landing a barrage of body blows before the 31-year-old was saved by the bell and did not continue fighting into the eighth round.
"My body blows must've hurt him a lot and I think they proved effective especially because he was mostly concerned about his face," Kameda said with a grin. "Arambulet is a former world champion. Of course, he was a good fighter to me."
With the win, Kameda took another step toward his goal of becoming a world champion before he turns 20 on Nov. 17 next year.
Shiro Kameda, the father and trainer of the former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation flyweight champion, wants his son to fight one more match before challenging for a world title.
But Keiichiro Kanehira, head of Kemeda's Kyoei boxing gym, said, "Koki's fight today made me want to see him fighting in a world title match very soon."