July seventh at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. Super flyweight world title unification, with both the IBF and WBA straps (third defense of Martínez and Ioka respectively) on the line. Ioka is three years older with more than double the pro experience, and a 2½" height and ½" reach advantage. Martínez brings a perfect undefeated record and has only ever lost a handful of rounds, even after stepping up in class beyond Argentina's borders.
Martinez is a beast and I can see him taking Ioka into deep waters but I think Ioka will find a way to pull out a close victory in a hard fought fight. I can't wait for this one.
When it comes to Japanese fighters it's always worth waking up early to watch their fights. This fight is guaranteed to be highly entertaining. Ioka is a crafty veteran and he'll use his greater experience to overcome Martinez's aggression.
I’m a huge Ioka fan (and I think I’ve made this clear on here before) but this fight… has me worried for him honestly. He just looks pretty old these days, he’s clearly slipped since his prime and while he still has the skills, experience, and heart to beat everybody else at 115 somebody with the youth, agression, and power in combination with a very awkward style just seems like a bad recipe for an ageing Ioka. Maybe he counters Martinez to the moon, or maybe he gets walked down, I don’t know and that’s what makes this such an interesting fight. If he does pull off the win though, he’ll have venerated his claim to being a true, bona-fide ATG.
I love Ioka, but this will unfortunately be another changing of the guard type match. Martinez is much, much, much, much, much, much better than Rodriguez, Fukunaga, Franco, and Cintron, all of whom he barely got past. Fernando will walk down, beat down and stop Ioka.
I know Ioka undercards are not usually star-studded events - at least not the mid-year ones, the NYE show is a different story - but man, having unbeaten Seiya "Punch Burger" Tsutsumi waste time with a Thai novice in the co-main seems like a missed opportunity. Punch Burger drew with Daigo Higa in 2020 and then went on to capture the JBC bantamweight title in 2020 and make five defenses before vacating to move up to 122lbs. I can't imagine Weerawat Noolae is really the best opponent they could find.
It is his first time back in the ring since the passing of Anaguchi though. That will surely be weighing on him and his promoters probably know not to send him back in with a live opponent when he’ll still be overly tentative and cautious I’d imagine.
Oh that's right! Yeah those incidents usually weigh very heavily on fighters; I remember Sergey Kovalev almost retired after the Roman Simakov tragedy. Okay yeah in light of that context, six months off and then a soft touch makes a lot of sense. I just still don't understand that being the co-featured bout. Ioka is a big draw by himself and doesn't really need an undercard, but this one doesn't exactly seem like it will have Sumo Hall bumping hot ahead of his ring walk.
For me this is the fight of the weekend.. Not a huge fan of Shakur nor Zepeda.. Tough fight for Ioka.. but I’m riding the train with him till it falls of the cliff. Hopefully not yet!
