Kazuto Ioka is prepared to abandon one title to chase another.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Ioka—Japan’s only-ever male four-division titlist—will move forward with a desired rematch with San Antonio’s Joshua Franco. The two met in a WBA/WBO junior bantamweight title unification bout which ended in a draw last New Year’s Eve in Tokyo. The rematch will only come with Franco’s WBA title at stake, as Ioka is required to relinquish his WBO title in lieu of an ordered mandatory title defense versus countryman Junto Nakatani.
The Ioka-Franco rematch—which was first reported by Yahoo! Japan—is eyed for June at a location to be determined in Japan. The development comes immediately after the WBO ordered a purse bid hearing when Ioka and Nakatani failed to reach terms for their title fight which was ordered on January 9.
The ordered mandatory title fight didn’t come as a surprise, given the resolution reached during WBO’s annual convention last October which called for the winner of Ioka’s approved WBA/WBO unification clash with Joshua Franco to face Nakatani within 180 days. Ioka and Franco fought to a twelve-round draw in their spirited New Year’s Eve clash in Tokyo, with the competitive nature of the fight creating high demand for a rematch.
Ioka was apparently more interested in settling past business rather than having to honor what would have been his fifth ordered mandatory title defense since winning the title in a June 2019 tenth-round knockout of Aston Palicte. The 33-year-old Osaka native—now based out of Tokyo—was since ordered to face Jeyvier Cintron, Kosei Tanaka, Francisco Rodriguez Jr. and Donnie Nietes in mandatory title defenses.
Two optional defenses were permitted in between the run: a twelve-round win over Ryoji Fukunaga, who replaced then-IBF junior bantamweight titlist Jerwin Ancajas in a scrapped New Year’s Eve 2021 unification bout due to late-emerging Covid restrictions in Japan; and the aforementioned draw with Franco (18-1-3, 8KOs). Moving forward with the Franco rematch was not possible without abdicating his WBO title reign, as the sanctioning body was prepared to strip Ioka of the title for failure to comply with the mandatory order.
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, Ioka-Nakatani talks gained little traction. Ioka’s side already secured the Franco rematch before the WBO called for a purse bid hearing, which was due to take place February 28 at sanctioning body headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Franco will attempt his second defense as a full WBA titlist. The San Antonio native previously held the secondary WBA ‘Regular’ 115-pound title, receiving a status upgrade after Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28KOs) was stripped of the WBA ‘Super’ belt for failure to honor their ordered title consolidation clash.
A rematch with Ioka will count towards Franco’s one permitted voluntary title defense while the WBA figures out the mandatory challenger title status.
Nakatani (24-0, 18KOs) will await further instructions on who he will face for the vacant WBO 115-pound title. The unbeaten 24-year-old southpaw from Sagamihara, Japan relinquished his WBO flyweight title in exchange for a number-one ranking at junior bantamweight.
The process calls for the WBO to make available the fight to the next highest ranked challenger. Australia’s Andrew Moloney is ranked one spot below Nakatani and is a strong candidate to land the fight. The former secondary WBA 115-pound titlist was previously in talks with Mexico’s Pedro Guevara for an assigned WBC title eliminator, though both parties have been stuck for weeks in a holding pattern while awaiting further instructions.
Ioka has won titles at strawweight, junior flyweight, flyweight and junior bantamweight. A win over Franco would have added to his already historic career as Japan’s only fighter to unify titles in two weight divisions, having previously accomplished the feat at strawweight.
That is no longer on the table, as he will now enter as the challenger for his rematch with Franco.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox