Mexico's Sebastian "Logan" Hernandez proved that stamina, pressure and volume still travel very well in Japan, as the 25-year-old WBC #7 super bantamweight contender edged hometown favorite Kyonosuke Kameda by split decision in Tuesday's main event.
Promoted by former three-division world champion Koki Kameda's Kameda Promotions at the Sumiyoshi Ward Center in Osaka, the featherweight 10-rounder - originally scheduled for eight, but pushed to ten at the strong request of Hernandez's camp - saw the Mexican impose his relentless style to earn a 2-1 verdict on the cards.
Judges Nobuyuki Kitamura (97-93) and Masahiro Noda (98-92) both correctly scored it for Hernandez, while Tomohiro Imamura inexplicably had it 96-94 for Kameda. Kenji Kondo was the third man in the ring.
The result marked a bitter homecoming for 27-year-old Kyonosuke Kameda of MR Gym, the WBA #7 featherweight, who entered carrying extra weight on his shoulders. With his cousin Tomoki Kameda, 35, closing in on another world title shot, Kyonosuke had promised him to "win convincingly and pave the way for you, Tomoki," feeding off the loud Osaka cheers.
That's why we should be careful when we make promises, diba? Because the tough, hard-hitting, world-ranked Mexican from Tijuana was no walk in the park.
Hernandez, who earned wide respect for troubling pound-for-pound star Junto Nakatani over the distance last December, brought the very same abundant gas tank and high punch output that made him a real problema for Nakatani.
From the middle rounds on, Hernandez doubled and tripled his jab, dug hard to the body, and never let Kameda reset - turning what had been a sharp, back-and-forth chess match into a gritty, all-out war.
Both ranked warriors exchanged fierce punches early on, but Hernandez's confidence in requesting 10 rounds proved decisive, mga kababayan. While Kameda tried to box and counter behind his hometown crowd, Hernandez closed the distance, smothered Kameda's work, and clearly out-landed the Japanese contender down the stretch. Gusto talaga manalo ni Logan.
For Hernandez (22-1, 19 KOs), this split-decision win over Kameda is the biggest victory of his career so far, and should lift him firmly into the featherweight world rankings, positioning him for a possible world title eliminator.
For Kameda, ranked 7th in the WBA featherweight division, it is a disastrous setback in a fight designed to bring him closer to a world-level shot. Sayang talaga.
Kudos to both boxers for the awesome effort.
Good work "Logan" Hernandez, Viva México!
The author is boxing writer and PhilBoxing Contributing Editor Carlos Costa in Cebu 🇵🇭 Philippines, carlos512@hotmail.com
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