IT WAS a change of the usual faces last Thursday night at the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel and Casino when I witnessed the championship bout between Japan?s Tomoki Kameda and Paulus Ambunda of Namibia.
It was actually a bit surreal watching boxing on a Thursday and being surrounded by a sea of Japanese faces crowding the hotel lobby just before the preliminaries began.
But it was a welcome sight to behold for sure, and many of our Japanese brethren went home that night with smiles on their faces as their compatriot romped off with WBO bantamweight diadem via unanimous decision.
THE FIGHT. Both fighters went through the quintessential feeling out round in the first, but by the second round, they picked up the pace.
Kameda lashed out with jabs while circling the ring, while Ambunda stalked him. It was to be the complexion of the entire fight and it was apparent that the Japanese warrior had a distinct advantage in speed.
I was seated next to media boxing personalities Rico Navarro and Edward Ligas and we had a grand time exchanging notes.
After a few minutes, GMA-7?s Chino Trinidad sat behind me and I could not but help but overhear the running commentary he had with a gentleman seated beside him.
From what I gathered, one of them was apparently of the opinion that Kameda needed to show more as he was the challenger.
I couldn?t have disagreed more, but I of course, kept my silence.
While Ambunda was indeed chasing around Kameda, in reality, Kameda was the one pushing the pace as he exhibited lateral movement, and would win the frequent bulbous exchanges with the aggressive Ambunda.
To this writer, the magic word in determining the winner of a particular round is ?effectiveness.? Was the fighter moving around being effective or was it the fighter coming forward?
It does not ipso facto imply that the more mobile fighter is losing the round simply because he is ?moving away.?
If that were the case, Muhammad Ali would have lost majority of his fights, as he was very adept in lashing out with his protuberant jab, while moving away from his opponent.
To his credit, Ambunda was landing his hooks and clubbing overhands, but he was palming some of his punches and Kameda was catching them on his gloves and arms.
By the last quarter of the fight, Ambunda appeared to tire while Kameda was still strong and fresh. He staggered Ambunda in the 10th and 11th and by the final round, the defending champion appeared ripe for the taking.
However, he lived up to his ring epithet, ?The Rock? and the bell rang with both men on their feet, seemingly ready to go another round.
The margins turned in by the judges (118-110, 117-111, 116-112) were emblematic of the complexion of the fight. I?ve become vitriolic lately about all the erroneous scoring, but in that fight, the judges were spot on.
UFC 163. Speaking of erroneous verdicts, how the hell did Lyoto Machida lost that fight against Phil Davis at UFC 163?
While Davis was indeed able to score some takedowns, Machida dominated the stand-up exchanges all throughout the three rounds.
Again, the criteria is effectiveness. Machida has a knack of playing it close and likes to counter-strike. However, he also stuffed several takedown attempts by Davis and I could not see how Davis was the more effective fighter.
The scores were 29-28 unanimously. Huh?
VERBATIM. ?Wow!!. I had Machida winning all 3 rds, but that?s what happens when u leave it up to the judges?-UFC President Dana White on his twitter account @danawhite.
LAST ROUND. It?s on Maricar Cayenne Ong who recently celebrated her birthday. Cheers!
