Rex Tso forced to seek new title path after Daiki Kameda vacates IBF title
Hong Kong fighter must now focus his attention on the WBC crown after Japanese fighter's surprise move
Unbeaten Hong Kong star Rex Tso Sing-yu's path to a world title has suddenly got a lot harder. He has been forced to change direction after Japanese super flyweight Daiki Kameda, the opponent he was supposed to meet in November, relinquished his International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt.
The 26-year-old southpaw (12-0-0, 8 KOs) had his mind set on challenging the 25-year-old Japanese star, one of three Kameda brothers who held world titles, at the CotaiArena in Macau, but that plan has been scuppered by Kameda's surprise move.
Tso will now have a potentially more difficult path towards achieving super stardom - he will set his sights on challenging reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand (24-3-1, 22 KOs).
I had studied Kameda for months and I am very disappointed that I won't fight him when I heard he gave up his title
The 27-year-old Thai is considered a stronger opponent than Kameda (29-4-0, 18 KOs), although the Tso camp remain confident of an upset victory if the WBC, fight promoters Top Rank and Srisaket give the fight the go-ahead.
Reports suggest South Africa's Zolani Tete and Japan's Teiru Kinoshita, the number one and two ranked contenders, are likely to challenge for the vacated IBF title and Tso will play no part in it.
Tso was surprised by Kameda's IBF decision but remained committed to achieving his ultimate dream of winning a world title.
"I had studied Kameda for months and I am very disappointed that I won't fight him when I heard he gave up his title," said Tso, who is ranked 11th in the WBC rankings.
"I was eager to fight Kameda and I was thinking how to beat him. I was excited about the prospect of fighting him, and I was confident I would have beaten him," he said. "Now I have to take a different path but I still remain hopeful of becoming world champion one day."