Lerato Dlamini is confident the rematch against Tomoki Kameda will be a repeat rather than revenge.
Dlamini and Kameda will square off in a 12-round IBF featherweight title eliminator Saturday at the Yamato Arena in Suita (Osaka Prefecture), Japan. Their second act will once again stream live on ABEMA TV, as well as in Africa on DAZN (9 a.m. UK/ 4 a.m. ET).
At Friday’s weigh-in, Dlamini weighed in at 125.2 pounds. Kameda came in at 125.7 pounds.
Colin Nathan, who trains and manages Dlamini, is confident his charge could again get the job done on foreign soil. Doing so will allow the resurgent contender to set his sights on a clash against newly-crowned IBF world featherweight titleholder Angelo Leo.
“Preparations have gone exceptionally well, and if anything, we have put in a harder training camp this time around,” Nathan told The Ring early Friday morning. “We expect Kameda to be more aggressive and start faster for this rematch. However, whatever he does, we’ll have an answer for (him) and beat him in every department.”
Dlamini (20-2, 11 knockouts), who resides in Linksfield, South Africa, earned a split-decision victory over Kameda on October 7. The fight took place in Tokyo, Japan.
The 30-year-old Dlamini has won his last two bouts since losing a close split decision to James Dickens in October 2022.
Earlier this year, the IBF ordered Dlamini to face Arnold Khegai in a title eliminator. Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) won the purse bid on April 30, on behaf of Nathan. The plan was to promote the card on July 13 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Nathan resides and trains his fighters out of his privately owned gym.
Khegai, who recently signed a promotional deal with Top Rank, decided to go the route of the WBO. He is currently ranked No. 1 by the sanctioning body.
Osaka’s Kameda (41-4, 23 KOs) last fought on March 31, stopping Kevin Villanueva after round five. Prior to the loss to Dlamini, Kameda had won his previous four fights since a unanimous decision defeat to then-WBC world junior featherweight titleholder Rey Vargas in July 2019.
The 33-year-old won the WBO world featherweight title in August 2013, defeating Paulus Ambunda by unanimous decision. Kameda made three successful defenses before he was stripped of the title for facing secondary WBA titleholder Jamie McDonnell in Sept. 2015. McDonnell twice beat Kameda.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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