Despite a tough task in facing Tomoki Kameda, Rey Vargas was able to come away still as the WBC super bantamweight champion.
In the main event of a Golden Boy Promotions card streamed on DAZN, Vargas defeated Tomoki Kameda by unanimous decision to retain the WBC super bantamweight title. Vargas won with all three judges scoring the bout 117-110 in his favor.
The fight was a simple chess match between the much taller and longer Vargas versus the cagey fighter in Kameda. Early on, both fighters' gameplan was evident with Vargas utilizing the jab to not only keep his distance and set up the straight right hand. Kameda, on the other hand, tried to bully his way to the inside and be more aggressive with his punches.
In the first couple of rounds, Kameda was having success landing big punches at close distance, but Vargas quickly went to work with the jab. Vargas started utilize his jab more often starting in the middle rounds as Kameda's punch output quickly started to decrease. Kameda did have his moments of landing big hooks upstairs, but Vargas was more successful in using the double jab to set up the straight right and punish the Japanese challenger.
Kameda was docked a point in the final round for throwing a punch during the break, briefly staggering Vargas. Once the action resumed, Kameda made a last-ditch effort to try and beat Vargas on the inside, but came up short as he did throughout most of the second half of the fight. When the scorecards were read, the crowd in Carson, California were booing the fact that Vargas was the winner.
It was Vargas' fifth world title defense since winning the belt back in 2017. After the fight, Vargas called out unified WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Daniel Roman, who was sitting at ringside to witness the fight. Such a unification might have to wait a bit as Roman is more than likely defending his titles against Murodjon Akhmadaliev before the end of the year.
