Ioka’s left hook to the body found the mark multiple times. (Photo by Naoki Fukuda)
Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez and Kazuto Ioka are ready to bring it back.
A rematch after one of the year’s best fights is fully in play, as confirmed by Martinez’s team. The defending WBA/IBF junior bantamweight title holders are set to hit the road again as their bout will take place on December 31st in Tokyo, Japan.
Argentina’s Martinez claimed a twelve-round unanimous decision over Ioka in their tremendous July 7 unification bout at Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo. The final scores—116-112, 117-111 and a horrible 120-108 card (Edward Hernandez Sr.)—didn’t reflect the non-stop action that took place.
Nevertheless, Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs) retained the IBF 115-pound title and won the WBA belt. He also rose to the 1 place in the Ring’s junior bantamweight ranking.
Ioka (31-3-1, 16 KOs) is currently no. 3 at 115, while Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) is The Ring and WBC champion.
News of the rematch was confirmed by Martinez and Chino Promotions – led and founded by Marcos Maidana – during Friday’s ESPN Knockout broadcast in Buenos Aires.
The date continues a year-end tradition for Ioka, who regularly posts a New Year’s Eve card on the head. The four-division titleholder first appeared on the date in 2011, when he was an undefeated strawweight titleholder.
Ioka will now enter his thirteenth game on the festive break. All but one took place in Japan, with this bout marking his sixth consecutive year-end appearance in Tokyo. Ioka is 10-1-1 (7 KOs) in 31 December fights. Everyone came with a big title on the line.
His loss to Martinez snapped a nine-fight unbeaten streak dating back to his 2018 New Year’s Eve loss to Donnie Nietes in Macau, China. That loss halted his bid to become Japan’s first four-division title shot, which he achieved one fight later. Ioka knocked out Aston Palicte in the tenth round of their June 2019 WBO 115-pound title fight. He later lifted the WBA title from Joshua Franco in their June 2023 rematch.
Ioka won titles at 105, 108, 112 and 115. His father, Kazunori Ioka was a pro boxer, as was his uncle Hiroki, a former two-division titlist.
Of his fighting family, Kazuto is by far the most established. The 35-year-old Osaka-born, Tokyo-based boxer aims to add to his incredible legacy.
That said, Martinez still has plenty of goals of his own to accomplish.
The unbeaten Argentine traveled to Japan for the first time in his victory over Ioka. He previously fought at home, in Dubai and the US, the latter hosting his previous three fights.
All came in title fights, including his pair of wins over Jerwin Ancajas to win and defend the IBF 115-pound belt. He added an eleventh-round knockout of undefeated Jade Bornea last June before his career-best win over Ioka.
Martinez-Ioka I was months in the making. Martinez was in talks with both Ioka and then Ring/lineal/WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada (44-4, 28KOs).
At the time, Ioka came up short in his second attempt at becoming a two-division unified titleholder. He was already Japan’s first boxer ever to win belts in four divisions, but was denied further history in December 2022’s twelve-round draw against Joshua Franco. A win would have seen Ioka unify the WBA and WBO belts, ten years after his unified WBA/WBC strawweight title reign.
The stalemate had additional repercussions. Ioka was ordered to face compatriot Junto Nakatani but opted to vacate his WBO belt to pursue a Franco rematch. He defeated the San Antonio native last June in Tokyo to win the WBA belt.
Franco is the older Rodriguez brother, The Ring’s no. 5 pound-for-pound fighter. There was talk of Rodriguez facing the Martinez-Ioka winner at the time, as he was primed for the fight.
Rodriguez will instead enter a sequel of his own, as Mexico’s Estrada (44-4, 28 KOs), no. 2 at 115, exercised a rematch clause.
Fittingly, Rodriguez-Estrada and Martinez-Ioka took place just eight days apart. Their respective sequels later this year make for as solid a Final Four as you could ask for in sports today.
