Kazuto Ioka is an ATG and deserves a spot in your P4P top 5

Ioka might be the most underappreciated fighter in the sport right now. He's a 4 weight champion and an absolute maestro at his craft, his level of skill is extraordinary and his level of opposition is just as good. If you haven't seen or heard of him (or even if you have) please go watch him take apart fellow 4 weight champion and another excellent fighter in his own right, Kosei Tanaka. He's one of the most skilled, accomplished, and versatile fighters in the sport yet seldom receives the praise he more than deserves.

 

Lol, this is actually a ridiculous take. Tank fights the first guy actually ranked in his own goddamn division for the first time in, what, 3 years? And all of a sudden he’s the salt of the Earth. Ioka’s resume pisses all over your little buddy Twink’s. Tanaka, Nietes, Franco, Yaegashi, and Arroyo are all so much more accomplished than any of the B tier guys Twink drains the life out of. Ioka is more skilled, more accomplished, and has a better resume by a country mile. Whichever metric you want to use, Ioka is far and away a better fighter than Twink Davis. Oh and Ioka doesn’t need to dehydrate all his opponents or for his promotional company to fix his fights for him because he actually believes in his own talent and chooses to fight the best. If you actually knew the littlest thing about Ioka or had watched him fight, you wouldn’t have spouted such nonsense, but hey, here we are I guess.

 

Cool, I lived in Italy for a while, doesn’t make me a raging Duilio Loi fan or a de facto supporter of every Italian I meet. Saying I lived in x place so can’t dislike x group of people isn’t a logically sound argument. Tank’s main skill is counterpunching. He’s average at most other things but he’s a good counterpuncher and that’s it really. Ioka is a better counterpuncher who is also a better outboxer and a better pressure fighter than Tank. Therefore, more layered and therefore more skilled. That makes him rank higher P4P imo. Tank lost to an unknown Mexican Chihuahua and let a one-legged 38-year-old, puffed up, chinny Gamboa taking a dive still make it to the twelfth against a guy who’s supposed to be the hardest puncher in the sport. Robinson Castellanos did better against a younger Gamboa than Tank did in the prime of his career against a worse version of Gamboa for crying out loud. Tank is the most protected fighter in the sport and the majority of his opponents have been either scrubs or taking obvious dives. Your whole worldview is oriented around Tank, so even in a post trying to appreciate one of the best talents in the sport, you have to make it about your boyfriend Tank and try to diminish Ioka for no reason other than to make Tank look better in comparison. It’s in pretty poor taste honestly. Go glaze Tank in your own thread, but don’t go disrespecting my boy Kazuto just because you’re the hypeman for lil zesty ass Gervonta.