Kazuto Ioka vs. Maikel Juvéncio Ordosgoitti Berenguel

NYE at Tokyo's Ōta-City Gymnasium. Ten rounds scheduled at bantamweight in a WBA championship eliminator. Ordosgoitti is currently ranked #11 at 118lbs by the WBA.

This will be Ioka's debut at 53.5kg, as well as his career thirteenth and perhaps final ever New Year's Eve bout. Starting with 2011, it has become a near guarantee that Ioka competes on December thirty-first - doing so every year except 2017 and 2024.

In fact, the last time Ioka tasted victory was at his most recent New Year's Eve show in 2023 when he stopped Josber Pérez. He comes into this one, for the first time in his life, coming off consecutive losses.

In the other corner is a dangerous but untested Colombian-Venezuelan a dozen years his junior. Ordosgoitti has built up a 15-1 record with fourteen knockouts, albeit over very limited opposition at home. In his one trip beyond his native soil, he succumbed to Ángel Joshua Sauceda Hinojosa in the opening round of the
Riyadh Season WBC Boxing Grand Prix. (sadly, Sauceda was unable to continue, and remains undefeated - a match-up with fellow Mexican and tourney winner Brandon Mosqueda would be a corker!)

 

Betway has:

Ioka 1/16
Ordosgoitti 17/2
Draw 25/1

 

Ioka has headlined 22 RBR threads in the forum's history (1 by @Boxing Prospect, 4 by @CST80, and 17 by yours truly) and I've had the privilege of calling eight of his twelve New Year's Eve galas to date.

...meanwhile Ordosgoitti's name was never so much as uttered on these boards once prior to a month ago.

So needless to say, if El Macizo pulls off the upset - it's the clear-cut end of an era. Very high stakes for Ioka - gunning for a championship in an historic fifth weight class if he wins, and probably immediate retirement if he loses a third straight.

 

Seeing all sorts of conflicting information on whether it's a ten or twelve rounder... BoxRec and Tapology both list the former, but it's still being called a WBA eliminator. Most sources from November when the fight was announced said twelve.

I'm of the mind that eliminators should consistently always be the same length scheduled as championships. It's very confusing how arbitrarily some orgs seem to deviate from that.

 

This content is protected

 

IB Funfacts gleaned from translations of Japanese media regarding Ioka:

1. If victorious tomorrow, he wants Seiya Tsutsumi or Takuma Inoue next in 2026. No piddling around with tuneups.
   
   
2. He was in fact considering retirement after the Pumita losses, but was inspired by Nonito Donaire competing at high levels despite being seven years older than him.
   
   
3. He shelled out - from his own purse - for 100 children under the age of 15 (along with their parents) to attend the Ordosgoitti match, giving young fans perhaps their only chance to watch him in action live before he's gone.

I ****ing love this guy.