Fans eagerly counted down the days until Kazuto Ioka squared off against Fernando Martinez on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo. However, Ioka’s Shisei gym said on Monday that the Argentine WBA super flyweight champion had come down with the flu, forcing them to cancel this highly anticipated bout at the last minute.
Martinez was already showing signs of illness when he called off a public workout last Thursday. He also missed Sunday’s signing ceremony, which set off alarm bells that something was seriously wrong. It’s a blow to Ioka, who was itching for a comeback after Martinez defeated him by unanimous decision in July’s WBA-IBF unification bout.
Martinez reportedly relinquished his IBF belt and skipped a mandatory title defense to make this rematch happen.
