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Kouki Kameda
Born	Kouki Kameda November 17, 1986 Osaka, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Other names	Naniwa no Touken (Pitbull of Osaka)
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light flyweight
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	12
Wins	12
Wins by KO	10
Losses	0
Draws	0

Kouki Kameda (born November 17 1986) is a Japanese professional boxer and the oldest of the "Kameda 3 Brothers." His younger brothers, Daiki and Tomoki, are also boxers. Currently, Kameda is the reigning WBA light flyweight champion. He is undefeated, with a 12-0 record (10 knockouts).

Legacy

Kameda and his younger brothers are perhaps some of Japan's most hyped young boxers ever. Their father trained them in their Osaka home since when they were very young. All three of them soon caught the eyes of the media as they started winning in virtually every amateur boxing tournament. Kouki and Daiki have since turned professional and are both currently undefeated. The youngest brother, Tomoki, is training for the Beijing Olympics.

Title bout vs. Landaeta

On August 2, 2006, in his first attempt for the world title, Kameda squared off with Juan Jose Landaeta of Venezuela in Yokohama, Japan. The fight was rather controversial as Kameda won the fight in a 2-1 split decision despite getting knocked down in the first round and being dominated in the final 2 rounds. Further fueling speculation was the fact that the Korean judge who scored the fight 114-113 in Kameda's favor gave the final round to Kameda 10-9, although the perception by most observers was that the clearly exhausted Japanese boxer did nothing but tie up his opponent and try to avoid being knocked out in that round. If the Korean judge had scored the final round in favor of Landaeta, the Venezuelan would have won the bout. There were mixed reactions from the Japanese public after the fight. While some hailed the 19 year old's aggressiveness and impressive technique, others believed Landaeta was obviously the better fighter and exposed Kameda's inexperience and questionable stamina. Furthermore, the match reinforced the existence of an obvious home field advantage and bias a foreign fighter must face when fighting on Japanese soil. The two are scheduled for a rematch in October of 2006.

Criticism

Kameda has often been criticized for his flamboyance, immaturity, and lack of respect (for example, Kameda does not use keigo, or courteous speech, in any context which is almost unheard of in Japan). However, the most common criticism revolves around his boxing skills. The fact that Kameda's first six opponents were all brought from Thailand and had a combined record of 0-18 brought much criticism during the early part of his professional career. Kameda's struggle in the title bout further brought question marks regarding whether he actually deserves to be fighting for a title at this stage of his career, or whether he is merely a puppet that was created and inflated by the media. Many current Japanese boxers, including current WBC Super flyweight champion Masamori Tokuyama, have indicated in interviews that they believe they could easily defeat Kameda and that his braggadocio and popularity are greatly out of proportion with his actual boxing skills.

There was also an outcry from the Japanese public about his bout aganist Landaeta being fixed. Former boxing world champion Ishimatsu "Guts" Suzuki and manga artist Misturu Yaku have also made statements saying such. Kameda's father, Shiro Kameda, responded by making death threats to Yaku.

See also

• List of current world boxing champions
• List of male boxers
• List of WBA world champions

External link

• Kouki Kameda's career record

• 1986 births
• Junior-flyweights
• Japanese boxers
• Living people
• Southpaw boxers
• World boxing champions