Kazuto Ioka Captures Another World Title; Wins His Rematch with Joshua Franco

Super flyweights Kazuto Ioka and Joshua Franco fought to a draw in a spirited 12-round bout last New Year’s Eve. Tonight they went at it again in the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo and the house fighter – Ioka was making his seventh straight appearance in this building – prevailed. The match went the distance and the decision (116-112, 116-112, 115-113) was unanimous.

The first meeting was a unification fight. But in the interim, Ioka discarded his WBO belt rather than adhere to the organization’s dictate that he defend it against countryman Junto Nakatani. Hence, only Franco’s WBA belt was at stake and even that was fractured when he came in almost seven pounds overweight. The match went ahead anyway although the title would have become vacant if Franco had won. But Ioka, a disciple of prominent Las Vegas-based trainer Ismael Salas, was not compromised by the weight disparity and captured the title. Franco was the busier fighter but Ioka landed the cleaner punches and was the rightful winner.

San Antonio’s Franco, the older brother of WBC super flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, would have been making the fourth defense of the WBA diadem that he won in his first encounter with Andrew Moloney. With the defeat, his record declined to 18-2-3.

Ioka, the 34-year-old Osaka native, had previously won world titles at 105, 108, and 112. He boosted his ledger to 30-2-1 (15) while building a case that he warrants seeing his name on a plaque at the International Boxing Hall of Fame when he eventually hangs up his gloves. Both of his losses – to Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng and to Donnie Nietes of the Philippines — were by split decision. Among his potential opponents for his next fight are Fernando Martinez and Jade Bornea who clash later tonight in a super flyweight title fight in Minneapolis.

Co-Feature

The co-feature, a 10-round bantamweight match, pit two fighters who had come up short in a bid for a world flyweight title in 2018. Japan’s Daigo Higa was stopped in the ninth round by Nicaragua’s Cristofer Rosales in a WBC title fight; Thailand’s Sirachi Thaiyen was stopped in the eighth round in Kiev by Azerbaijan’s formidable Artem Dalakian, the WBA belt-holder.

Higa, who attracted a lot of buzz in Japan when he opened his pro career with 15 straight knockouts, flashed the form he displayed as he was climbing the ladder. He stopped Thaiyen in the fourth round, elevating his record to 20-2-1 with his 18^th knockout. Thaiyen, one of several Thai fighters sponsored by the Freshmart grocery chain, falls to 65-5.

In another bout of note, youth prevailed as 23-year-old Musashi Mori (14-1-1) captured a regional super featherweight title with a 12-round decision over 34-year-old Tokyo rival Takuya Watanabe (39-12-1). The scores were 117-110 across the board.

This was a rematch. Mori and Watanabe had fought to a draw in March.

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