Japanese southpaw Koki Kameda (24-1, 15 KOs), 118, acquired the vacant WBA bantamweight belt as he finally caught ex-WBA 115-pound champ Alexander Munoz (35-4, 27 KOs), 118, dropped him with a left-right combination in the last round and pounded out a unanimous decision (115-111, 116-109 and 117-109) over twelve hot frames on Sunday in Saitama, Japan. For Kameda it was his third belt in as many different divisions, but it was true Munoz wasn’t who he used to be and neither had any credentials in this 118-pound category.

It was a see-saw affair as Munoz kept throwing roundhouse punches, and Kameda defended himself with a peek-a-boo guard and occasionally countered with southpaw lefts. The sixth saw Munoz penalized a point because of repeated rabbit punches. In the final session Kameda came out fighting and exploded a left-right combination to the fading Venezuelan and sent him reeling to the deck. Kameda had him at bay and almost stunned him again with solid shots to the groggy ex-champ.