On May 11, at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, the WBA World Super Flyweight Title Match was held.
Reigning champion Fernando “Puma” Martinez (Argentina) – undefeated in 17 fights with 9 KOs – faced former WBA world champion and current No. 6 ranked Kazuto Ioka (Shisei Gym, Japan) – 31 wins (16 KOs), 3 losses, 1 draw.
It was a direct rematch approximately 10 months after their first encounter, with Ioka aiming to reclaim the title.
The WBA belt is held by Martinez’s promoter, Marcos Maidana (Argentina), a former two-division world champion.
From the left in the photo: Shoji Kobayashi (Celes Kobayashi), Chairman of the Japan Pro Boxing Association; Jose Oliver Gomez (Panama), WBA Supervisor; and Minoru Hagiwara, Commissioner of the Japan Boxing Commission.
Naoki Sudo, ring announcer.
The fight began with Martinez coming out aggressively. Ioka focused on defense and targeted the left side of the body.
Martinez quickly countered with a left to the body.
Ioka’s left hook landed perfectly, catching Martinez with precise timing
Martinez, pressing forward, landed a powerful right straight on Ioka
Ioka responded with a right counter.
Martinez threw a left to the body. Ioka responded with a right uppercut.
Martinez pressed Ioka back with his trademark aggressive boxing style.
The fight entered its final stages.
As Martinez pressed forward, Ioka stood his ground, responding with jabs and left shots to the body.
The fierce back-and-forth battle continued.
In Round 10, despite taking a left to the body from Ioka, Martinez came forward—but Ioka landed a counter left hook, scoring a knockdown.
After the restart, Ioka launched a flurry of attacks.
Martinez moved forward with a counteroffensive stance. However, Ioka refused to back down and exchanged heavy blows with him.
In the final round, Martinez charged in wildly, throwing left and right hooks. Ioka answered the exchange, and in the closing moments, both fighters traded punches with no guard until the final bell.
The fight came to an end. Both fighters showed mutual respect for their efforts. It was an excellent bout. And the winner was Martinez. The referee was Luis Pabon (Puerto Rico).
The official scores were: Robert Hoyle (USA) 117–110, Raul Caiz Sr. (USA) 115–112, and Bence Kovacs (Hungary) 114–113 — all in favor of Martinez.
After emerging victorious from a hard-fought battle, Martinez expressed his desire to face “Bam” in a unification bout. He referred to the upcoming unification match on July 19 (July 20 Japan time) at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas, between WBC World Super Flyweight Champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (USA/Teiken) – 21 wins (14 KOs), undefeated – and WBO Champion Bumeleli Khuh (South Africa) – 11 wins (8 KOs), 3 draws, undefeated. Martinez predicted a Rodriguez victory and expressed interest in facing him next.
(Boxing event tickets)
Although Ioka narrowly missed reclaiming the title, he commented after the fight, “I’m honestly frustrated by the loss, but I gave it everything I had. I feel at peace,” denying any plans to retire.
His performance, building on the experience from their first bout, was impressive and showed his capability to execute his strategy. “I put everything into this fight, so I can’t think about what’s next,” he said, but he may move up to bantamweight in the future, aiming to become the first Japanese male boxer to win titles in five weight divisions.
With all four major world titles currently held by Japanese fighters, the division will become even more exciting if Ioka moves up in weight.
This article has been translated and published with permission from BOXING MASTER.
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