Tomoki Kameda won a unanimous decision over Abigail Medina to claim a vacant interim junior featherweight world title on Monday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Japan’s Kameda, 27, defeated Medina, 30, of Spain, by scores of 117-111, 117-111 and 116-112.
Kameda, a former bantamweight world titleholder whose older brothers Koki and Daiki also have won world titles, claimed an interim 122-pound world title made available because full titleholder Rey Vargas has been sidelined since May following shoulder surgery and a bout of pneumonia.
Medina, the European junior featherweight champion, came into the fight riding a 10-fight winning streak since 2013, but Kameda (36-2, 20 KOs), with his strong left hand and quick jab, was able to keep Medina at bay for much of the fight.
Medina (19-4-2, 10 KOs) came on strong in the later rounds, but Kameda had piled up enough rounds that it was too little, too late.
Kameda won his fifth fight in a row since back-to-back decision losses in the United States to England’s Jamie McDonnell in bantamweight world title bouts in 2015.
Vargas (32-0, 22 KOs), 27, of Mexico, will eventually be ordered to face Kameda, though it might not be the next fight for either of them. Vargas is expected to return in early 2019, and a world title unification fight between him and Danny Roman (26-2-1, 10 KOs), 28, of Los Angeles, is under discussion.