FIGHT WEEK
Kazuto Ioka and Joshua Franco will meet in a 115-pound title-unification bout on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo.
KAZUTO IOKA (29-2, 15 KOs) vs. JOSHUA FRANCO (18-1-2, 8 KOs)
- When: Saturday, Dec. 31
- Time: 5 a.m. ET (main event later in show)
- Where: Ota City General Gymnasium, Tokyo
- TV/Stream: Not available in U.S.
- Division: Junior bantamweight (115 pounds)
- At stake: Franco’s WBA and Ioka’s WBO titles
- Pound-for-pound ranking: Ioka, Honorable Mention
- Odds: Ioka 1½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Hayato Tsutsumi vs. Pete Apolinar, featherweights; Ryuto Owan vs. Robin Langres, junior featherweights; Ryo Nakai vs. Kai Watanabe, junior lightweights
- Prediction: Ioka UD
- Background: Ioka and Franco will unify two 115-pound titles in the annual New Year’s Eve show in Japan. Ioka has won six consecutive fights since he lost a split decision to Donnie Nietes in 2018, including a one-sided decision in his rematch with Nietes this past July. The 33-year-old native of Osaka is arguably the second best fighter from Japan, after Naoya Inoue. Franco is coming off back-to-back-to-back fights against Andrew Moloney in 2020 and last year. The 27-year-old from San Antonio won the first fight by a close unanimous decision, the second fight was ruled a no-contest (the result of an accidental head butt that injured Franco’s eye) and Franco won a clear decision in the third fight. He will have been out of the ring since that final bout, which took place more than 16 months ago. Franco was elevated from secondary titleholder to full WBA champ when Juan Francisco Estrada gave up the title this past August.
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