Kazuto Ioka vs. José Francisco Rodríguez Tamayo & Yuichiro Kasuya vs. Aso Ishiwaki RBR

So what's next for Ioka ? Moving up ?

 

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Holy **** those are wildly different scorecards.

 

I agree, his performance was not confident.

Who is there available to fight at that weight ? Wangek ?

 

My quick RBR scoring of the first 4 rounds:

RD 1: Ioka - very close, and I can't argue with anyone who gives it to Rodriguez, who scored the more telling shots with his uppercuts that forced Ioka to clinch. Before that and for sometime after, Ioka was trying to establish the jab but hitting nothing but gloves. He started to connect a bit more with body shots, uppers of his own, and some hooks, landing combinations and defending against the same. Mostly point-grabbing stuff, but he landed enough that one shot - however good - shouldn't get the round from him. Again, very close, and if Rodriguez landed one or two similar shots then the round would have been his easy.

RD 2: Rodriguez - more 'competitive' than close IMO. Ioka actually did a very good job tying up Rodriguez on the inside, neutralizing his work, and landing combinations when he created a tiny bit of space. He was also able to land a few stiff jabs and a couple of hooks to the body that caught Rodriguez's attention. Yet the relentless pressure of Rodriguez kept him in punching range, and punch he did, catching Ioka every which way with hooks, slapping shots, and even a sneaky headbutt here and there. Ioka looks very uncomfortable. Again, no issue if someone scored this for Ioka, though he has less a case than Rodriguez does for the first.

RD 3: Rodriguez - This was so close that I legit just laughed and shrugged when I asked myself who won. Ioka doing some sneaky things here, like rolling his head back to avoid the jab, landing a solid uppercut, then tying Rodriguez up before he can retaliate. Creating space on the break and smacking Rodriguez up good, timing his opponent's jabs and straights to land a cross-counter. He's boxing very well, landing a lot, and seems unbothered by what is now clearly going to be a long night at the office. But Rodriguez is just relentless: uppercuts to the body, hooks to the body, hooks to the head. Not all of them are landing, and a lot of what is landing is being blocked. But when they do land, they have a very noticeable effect, and Ioka backs off. Again, won't argue with someone who says otherwise, put a gun to my head, I went with the guy who looked like he was causing more 'damage'.

RD 4: Ioka - Stop it with these close rounds already! Most action-packed round of the fight. Rodriguez's best success was in exchanges, purposely giving up his chin to tag Ioka, as he has (thus far correctly) deduced that he can better take Ioka's punches than Ioka can his. He staggered Ioka when he landed a hook after taking a body shot (could have been off balance) and at the very end of the bell they exchanged punches where it looked like he staggered Ioka? Neither the angle nor the replay were super-revealing (and looking over at Butts RBR he says that Ioka won that exchange so what do I know? Stupid angle). Yet in between was the Ioka show; getting inside, landing crisp, fast combinations upstairs and down, avoiding big shots, working in the clinch. Just amazing, great stuff from the p4p'er.

Well, those are the first four rounds and...yeah. Holy bejezus. I ended up splitting them, and think anything from 4-0 Ioka to 4-0 Rodriguez is perfectly reasonable. Scoring this is a *****.

 

Well if it's any consolation one of the nice Japanese gentlemen scoring the fight for the audience agrees with my scorecard. On with the show!

RD 5: Ioka - Oh thank goodness; a clear round. Ioka outworked him both at distance and in close, using the clinch more effectively while throwing shots on the inside. Rodriguez got frustrated, even hurt a bit with a bloody nose. He tried switching stances but it didn't do much. He landed a bit more towards the end, and some solid shots too, but too little, too late.

RD 6: Ioka - Rodriguez starts off faster this time, coming with the jab that seems to throw Ioka off. Stalking from Rodriguez, he throws more in the first minute, but Ioka's counters are still on point, and it looks like he's landing more shots. Rodriguez apparently agrees with me, as he backs off to start the second minute and resets. It doesn't go much better for him, getting picked off on the outside, eating a shot while making it to the inside, and then getting tied up. He gets headlocked to start the third and final minute, and Ioka lands a nice triple-jab. In fact, Ioka spends the minute doubling and tripling up the jab while avoiding Rodriguez's shots. Another clear round for Ioka. Did Rodriguez tire, or is he just taking the round off?

RD 7: Ioka - This round was just the Ioka show; ripping with body shots and counters, dominating the pocket, controlling the clinch, the outside has belonged to him most of the fight anyway, and the few punches Rodriguez landed aren't hurting Ioka the way they were earlier in the fight. If Rodriguez isn't gassed and is just resting, he better come out of the next round swinging, as Ioka is starting to put some distance between them.

RD 8: Ioka - Rodriguez comes in with a sense of urgency, putting on extra pressure and getting Ioka to back off, landing a few but mostly fighting dirty with pawing the face and holding on to the clinch well after the referee said break, giving him a few extra seconds of rest. Ioka looks visibly upset at this, but this could be Rodriguez's last shot and he'll do whatever he can. Ioka settles things down, getting back to form with landing shots (a lot to the body) avoiding most of Rodriguez's punches, displaying the same great stuff from the previous three rounds, even stalking Rodriguez for a spell. Rodriguez does land some flush shots but they are just not having any appreciative effect. Rodriguez must sense he's letting the round slip away from him and tries to go for it in the last 30 seconds, but nothing doing. He misses wildly, pushes Ioka down, and eats two sharp hooks for his troubles.

If the first third was so wildly competitive that there really couldn't be a wrong scorecard no matter how you sliced it, I really don't see much of an argument for Rodriguez in any of these rounds, with 5, 8, and especially 7 just being a clear display of what makes Ioka so great. Even in round 6 Rodriguez looked way too lethargic for me to give it to him.

Entering the final third of the fight, I have it 78-74 Ioka.

 

The Uchiyama judge gave Rodriguez the 5th...somehow but otherwise his scorecard looks like mine.

RD 9: Rodriguez - Rodriguez pushes Ioka to the ropes, but he does nothing but miss punches and eat jabs. Ioka gets off and sneaks in a body shot. Rodriguez is on Ioka now like saran wrap, trying to punch his way into the clinch and holding on for dear life. They separate and change exchanges, but neither really doing much to separate themselves from the other. The second half of the round Rodriguez starts to turn it on, landing some good body shots before heading upstairs, catching Ioka several times and forcing him to back off for what feels like the first time since the first third of the fight. Ioka tries to reset, but Rodriguez grabs him, elbows him, does everything he can to keep Ioka from getting a second wind. Lands a punch while heading in, totally accidentally clashes heads (totally) before blistering Ioka with a combo. He knows he's got this round, so more saran wrap action to eat out the clock. This was as clear as day a Rodriguez round as there could be, and his best round in a while; he needed it.

RD 10: Rodriguez - Rodriguez swarms Ioka right out the gate, missing wildly but throwing the champ off and Rodriguez doesn't let up. For the first time I can remember in the fight past the 4th, Rodriguez does by far the better work inside the pocket. Ioka backs off for a minute, and they start hammering away at each other once more. Rodriguez senses that Ioka is trying to take the play away and ties up again, breaking and landing several more combos. Ioka gets in sharp counters, the same sharp counters that let him take control, but Rodriguez is now using clinches appropriately to break up Ioka's rhythm, then blistering him with heavy shots before Ioka can reset himself. Ioka tries to get something going in the second minute of the fight, but gets bullied to the ropes, where Rodriguez's "combination-clinch-combination" strat continues to work. Finally Ioka has had enough and pushes Rodriguez across the ring, but may have exhausted himself doing it, and Rodriguez goes right back into the attack. The last thirty seconds is just the two going balls to the wall, cracking each other at least once apiece. Ioka may have gotten the better of it that last bit, but too little, way too late. Rodriguez is still in this.

RD 11: Ioka - Ioka has had quite enough of the 'bap and wrap' strategy and starts timing his body shots and combinations much more reminiscent of the second third of the fight. His sharp counters are getting Rodriguez to back off and even get on the back foot (which he does NOT want to be), he counters the saran wrap clinch by hanging on himself, not letting Rodriguez do anything until the referee has clearly stepped between the two. He stalks a now bleeding Rodriguez, landing two sharp counters before some more grappling. The two do mostly nothing in the last ten seconds or so, but that's to the benefit of Ioka.

RD 12: Ioka - Neither guy can possibly feel they have this fight in hand. Rodriguez attempts to go for it, but Ioka lands body shots, and finally hurts Rodriguez enough to put him in full retreat. Ioka stalks and lands a straight right up the middle. Rodriguez tries to saran wrap clinch, but Ioka is having none of it, sneaking in heavy body shots while the ref is separating them. Rodriguez decides to screw it, and they go to war again, blistering each other with uppercuts, overhands and hooks. Rodriguez nods to encourage Ioka, but Ioka needs no encouragement. They go at it, and Rodriguez forces Ioka back, but unfortunately is missing way more than he is hitting. Not so for Ioka, who mixes upstairs and down very well while in the pocket. Ioka takes back control in the last fifteen seconds, and the bell rings, neither guy feeling like celebrating a fight that close. Rodriguez does look by far the worse for wear (ironic, given I felt Rodriguez landed the heavier punches through most of the fight) with blood dripping down his nose and face, for what that's worth.

Not an all-time classic, but a very, VERY fun fight. This could have been his last shot and Rodriguez acted like it, taking it to a champion that may have had too much going on with the JBC who clearly have it out for him. I won't take too much away from Rodriguez by saying things like "Ioka's old" or "Ioka's shot" as neither was true. He just had difficulty adjusting to the style, but he was still very much Ioka. Still, Rodriguez did enough where he could have easily gotten the draw, perhaps even a win on more generous scorecards. Myself? I agree with the official judges and give it 116-112 Ioka.

 

https://www.asianboxing.info/world-...ancajas?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Article from our friend Asian Boxing. A few things:

- Rodriguez feels he won (not unreasonable), claims that on neutral territory he would have won (...eh...) and complained Ioka was hitting behind the head (oh shut up, headbutter )

- More interesting to me is that Ioka agrees this wasn't a good performance, but the next fight he wants to secure is a unification bout with IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas(!!!)

Ioka wants that smoke!

 

Good fight. Scored the fight for Ioka 7-5, it was very competitive and a fun fight. Ioka looked rusty but still pulled it off.

Really want to see him against Ancajas, Sor Rungvisai, Nietes rematch, or the winner of Chocolatito/Gallo 3.

 

Read this earlier in the Japanese media as well.
It seems he was also upset that all 3 judges were Japanese and is not happy about that.

"complained Ioka was hitting behind the head" Well isn't that calling the kettle black! lol

 

I watched the fight and I had Ioka winning 115-113 , he did the cleaner work in the swing rounds and taking the last two rounds sealed the deal for him, fight could swing 7-5 either way though, however 8-4 to either fighter means you're favoring that fighter and have given him all the swing rounds.

Props to Rodriguez Jr. though , his lead right couldn't miss Ioka in the early rounds and was very effective in closing the distance and setting the shots up, Ioka might've some ring rust but Rodriguez Jr. fought a great fight out there, did great work on the inside, had some great catch and counter shots and made Ioka work very hard for his victory.