… Naidjala comes up short in Japan
WINDHOEK – Namibian world title hopeful Immanuel ‘The Prince’ Naidjala suffered an unanimous defeat at the hands of Tomoki Kameda but managed to give the Japanese a good run for his money as Kameda huffed and puffed in defending his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight world title at the Bodymaker Colosseum Centre in Osaka, Japan yesterday.
Although Naidjala became the second Namibian victim on Kameda’s list of 29 casualties, the hard-punching young pugilist never wavered right from the onset and showed much determination as he matched the fast and furious Kameda pound for pound in most departments of the fight, despite the three judges scoring the bout 117-111,118-110,119-109 for Kameda to retain his title.
Naidjala never slowed down, with his accurate jab and devastating right hand on many occasions leaving Kameda and thousands of spectators teetering in their seats, but the Japanese had seen enough of the Namibian’s constant onslaughts and started aggressively moving out of his blocks with some decent close-in jabs and hooks that did much in scoring him enough points heading into the final quarter of the bout.
Rounds 9 and 10 were perhaps the best for Naidjala , although his untiring efforts didn’t translate clearly on the judges’ scorecards. Kameda was not really convincing enough but dug deep enough in rounds 11 and 12 to avoid any lingering disaster from the Namibian.
Naidjala’s first world title fight and first bout outside the borders of Namibia brought an end to his days as an unbeaten fighter, his record dropping to 17 wins (11 knockouts), 1 defeat and 1 draw from 19 fights, but definitely showed enough glimpses of a future world champion. – Additional reporting: boxingscene.com
By Otniel Hembapu