Kazuto Ioka wins a world title in his 7th fight

Great ending :good

Good to see the power carried down with him. The Southpaw style caused him a few issues and he had trouble seeing the straight left coming but it was only his 7th fight of course. To stop an experienced unbeaten champ was a great effort.

I don't think he is anywhere near Gonzalez yet...but the potential is certainly there, a very exciting fighter for the future.

 

I don't see him moving up beyond flyweight. Remember that the lower weights are the marque ones in Japan, so even if he moves up to, say, bantamweight his exposure levels will be pretty much the same (unless he becomes a superstar like Hasegawa, which I don't see happening) in that country at least. And Japanese fighters have very rarely had global exposure (Fighting Harada being an exception to the norm).

He apparently had a hard time getting down to minimumweight, so I see him going back up to light fly very soon (the only reason he moved down was because he couldn't secure a 'world' title fight with Baas).

 

There was another Ioka who won the straweight title as a teenager back in the eighties. Any relation?

 

http://www.secondsout.com/world-boxing-news/world-boxing-news/ioka-regains-family-heirloom

:good

 

Cheers! The nephew looks a good fighter.

 

Your loss.

New talent seems to crop up at SW every other minute. There's always some precocious upstart who makes waves before eventually climbing up to light flyweight and beyond.

Ioka seems like that type. :good

 

As impressive a feat as this is, and I did pick him to win, I think that Sithsamerchai is past his best should be taken into consideration. It's still an extraordinary acheivement though, and whether or not his opponent is probably irrelevant in this case.

Coincidently, Nobuo Nashiro, who on the same card lost to Tomas Rojas, won a world title in his 8th fight vs Martin Castillo. He didn't hold onto it for very long though, it'll be interesting to see how Ioka does.

 

It wasn't on the same card, mate. Nashiro lost a week ago.

 

Ah yeah, my bad. What fight was I thinking of then? Or have I just gone mad?

 

Dunno, the only other notable name on today's card was flyweight Ryo Miyazaki and he just beat some unremarkable Thai. :conf

 

No, wasn't that. It was probably because I only got round to watching the Rojas-Nashiro fight today and just got them mixed up, what with seeing that and Ioka-Sithsamerchai back to back.