Kazuto Ioka vs. Joshua Rodríguez Franco & Hayato Tsutsumi vs. Penitente Apolinar II RBR

Round 1

Franco with battering ram body jabs and trebuchet looping/overhand rights. Ioka manning the ramparts with a full slate of siege-breaking weaponry, from hot oil barrel multiple jabs plunging on a diagonal from a high guard to straight right hand spears in the chest, and plenty of moat shark uppercuts when Franco's legs outpace his fists or indeed brain. Franco busy, Ioka precise. Body language a lesson in contrasts - Franco loose, on his tiptoes with a forward arch from his middle spine up, while Ioka has the bottoms of both feet pressed flat into the canvas, shoulders hiked up and neck squashed into compression to help absorb whatever few jabs bypass his guard.

10-9 KI

 

Round 2

Franco bringing the heat, serving up as much as septuple helpings of front-foot jabs, but at least 80% are parried off Ioka's gloves. Lots of level dropping by Ioka, placing accurate counter jabs between Franco's wrips before dipping to plant a hook on the far hip. Ioka ducking and rolling in the pocket as they waltz in ring centre, at worst getting cuffed around his partially shaved head's rear edge fade as Franco dusts him with flurries off the prodigious but lumpy jab. Ioka with just enough counters to shade it.

10-9 Ioka, close

20-18 Ioka

 

Round 3

Ioka now systemically baiting Franco into traps, sprung timely with a front knee lunge combined with a quick succession of doubled-up ab jabs or liver hooks. Ioka working some uppercuts when Franco peppers him into the ropes with jabs and lashing rights into the guard. Franco investing his full portfolio into workrate, recouping momentary dividends when Ioka navigates corners but with the returns diminishing whenever the WBO titlist gets set and begins spot up sharpshooting.

10-9 KI

30-27 Ioka

 

Round 4

Franco is collapsing atop the ducking Ioka with light forearm drum-fills against the nape and top of the skull. Once positioned inside, Franco taking advantage with heavy wrecking ball left hooks swung wide into the barn doors and then brought up into the side of the neck. Ioka doing his best to counter in bunches, except that Franco is being a bit more patient now and pulling his punches in order to counter the counters, laying heavy touches on Ioka whenever he starts opening up from a moving crouch. As they exchange while strafing, a sewn-on logo patch dislodges itself from the derriere of the WBA champion's trunks and falls onto the canvas, posing a slipping hazard. The ref calls time and has it removed. Ioka showing a low jab feint and looking for a can-opener right up top, but Franco picking his spots, and blasts Ioka with a long overhand right at the bell.

10-9 JF

39-37 Ioka

p.s. @CST80 you're absolutely right, this director of photography is a straight up Master Roshi...and goddamn I can't blame him. Look at that pair of beauties. *Groucho voce* And her friend ain't bad either!

 

Round 5

Ioka back to business, doubling uppercuts on the inside to crowbar Franco away, then circling wide and walking him onto quick hard jabs aiming for the nose. Franco insists on proximity and pays dearly for it, with Ioka's hips sinking as he slashes viciously across the waistband of Franco with both hands from the flanks. Nice sequence by Franco with some looping shots concatenating off a jab at medium range, but Ioka weathers it, shimmying and tilting himself in time with Franco's rhythm before punctuating things with a VERY stiff power jab that completely halts Franco's momentum before the bell and leaves him questioning some of his life choices.

10-9 KI

49-46 Ioka

 

Round 6

Ioka stamping the belly with a jab and trying for lunging reacharound body salvos while keeping his feet planted, but Franco is dropping his elbows to catch them and throwing hard shots to force Ioka on the backfoot. Chopping shots by Franco looming at full height above Ioka, raining down on the hairline. MASSIVE combo by Franco with Ioka trapped pitifully on the ropes, for a moment unable to slip, block or counter effectively. The storm passes and Ioka regains a bit of decorum in open waters and finishes with a nice 1-2 between Franco's thumbs, but not a lengthy or convincing enough surge to steal the frame.

10-9 JF

58-56 Ioka

 

Round 7

Ioka ducking against the ropes with earmuffs as Franco throws straight and downward clobbering flurries. Ioka uncorking selectively with counter right hand line drives. Franco throwing at least thrice as much but maybe a third of the percentage scoring. Repeated pattern of Ioka getting walked into the ropes, blasting his way free, and holding the center until Franco again drives him outward with sheer volume despite almost everything getting blocked.

10-9 KI, with the fun ping-ponging pattern preserved perfectly now since the third round.

68-65 Ioka

 

Round 8

Ioka catches a shoeshine on his mitts and doubles a hook into Franco's ribs. A quick scoot in reverse is followed by a boomerang step inside with another left hooker-cut into the sternum. Franco is pushing out with his right glove open, hoping to catch Ioka's fist when he jabs to create a lane for a chopping right. Ioka using too much lateral and vertical movement. Franco tries pecking in with body jabs, but Ioka scrunches down and positions his elbows over his waistband prior to ripping Franco with counter rights up top. Ioka now switches to spearing rights on the stomach. Franco throwing desperate pairs and triples on the outside but unable to get close without getting punished.

10-9 Ioka, c-c-c-combo breaker, first time somebody has clearly taken consecutive rounds since he swept the first three.

78-74 Ioka

 

Round 9

Franco is forking out jabs as he walks Ioka down, getting countered by quick left down-jabs on his own beltline. Franco cruises on, undeterred, and eats a counter right. Franco grinds in close and finally imposes some infighting on Ioka. Franco gets in some good body work until Ioka steps outside and throws a combo, blocked. Ioka tries jabbing into the guard to freeze his opponent before hurtling in with an uppercut but Franco's bunched arms gum up the works. Franco turning on the offensive faucet a few seconds at once, then cranking the spigot to defend when he sees that counter-punching glimmer enter Ioka's eyes. Metered aggression by Franco, resulting in much less output than in previous rounds but narrowing the percentage gap considerably.

10-9 JF, close

87-84 Ioka

 

Round 10

Really nice step-back counters by Ioka, letting the slingshot right hand fly just as Franco thinks he is about to retreat all the way into the ropes. Franco doubling the jab and throwing his entire body weight inside behind a right hand, but Ioka catching on the goalposts and riding everything like a reed in the wind, elastic waisted. Ioka letting off combinations rising up from a partial crouch, able to get off in threes or fours before sliding his feet and resetting. Franco just slapping away on him with hooks and paintbrushes or pumping out straight volleys, but all of then soggy noodle arm punches. If the 9th was a big step forward in terms of his efficiency, this was two equal steps back.

10-9 KI

97-93 Ioka

 

Round 11

Franco hammering the pinky edge of his left glove into the knuckles of Ioka's right, looking to knock it down from its perch in front of the chin and windmill in a right hand. Ioka boxing smoothly in spots, but sidestepping and throwing jabs or combinations with a bit less speed and surety as championship round fatigue begins to reveal itself. Franco clomps after him, maintaining a bombardment of leather, now landing at least one punch in every sequence at mid-range whereas Ioka had previously been able to pitch defensive shutouts more often than not.

10-9 JF, close

106-103 Ioka

 

Round 12

Franco blocks some Ioka lead 1-2s, and then flails at him with the right until they collide in a clinch. The female ref pushes them apart with such ease you get the sense that she could effortlessly pick either of them up and deliver a spinebuster, or hell, both of them simultaneously, one in either arm like a pair of sleepy toddlers. Franco is churning out long straight combinations now, driving Ioka all the way across the ring but with practically nothing getting through. Ioka spring-loads a huge neck-jerking right hand, reminiscent of the victory shots in Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Ioka lands a few backfoot shots, then stands complacent for a moment and has a Franco jab stuffed in his mouth, the mild surprise of which leaves him vulnerable to a follow-up lunging right. Inspired by probably both the desire to give a receipt and hearing the warning clack of ten seconds remaining in the contest, he forces himself to string together several hooks and uppercuts into Franco's chest, gaining steam and speed as he goes. Franco gets in two more hard jabs but misses all the rest of his wild power shots down the stretch.

10-9 KI

116-112 Ioka

 

Now, granted I do wear my Ioka bias on my sleeve (while having nothing in particular against Franco...sort of indifferent, really, aside from being mildly annoyed with having unsuccessfully picked Óscar Negrete against him thrice...and even more so annoyed that such a dull pair of fighters with such a dearth of chemistry even had a trilogy ) - but even so, I've flagged three close rounds here: two Franco and one Ioka. Swing all three his way and this is still a 115-113 loss. A draw allowing him to keep his belt was VERY fortuitous, so any whisper of him getting robbed in Japan is hokum.

Agrias uvas chicanos.

 

By the way, if there's ever boxing on TBS in Japan without a broadcast to be found elsewhere on the globe: you can always still use that old government-authorized Keyhole app from like a decade ago, if you don't mind horrendous quality and occasional lag. For all its flaws, it does remain a reliable option when all else fails and you don't want to pay for a subscription to anything.

Or, if you were in a wild and crazy mood and wanted to just started typing in random sequences of letters and numbers hoping to "hundred thousand monkeys on typewriters coming up with Shakespeare" your way into success, you could tap out an m, followed by an o, then a v, a 3, a dot, a c, an o, a slash, an e, an n, another slash, a t, a be, and finally an s before hitting enter, and see what happens. Just for the l's, and o's, and l's, you know. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯