Kazuto Ioka
Courtesy of boxrec.com
When we talk about the new generation of fighters internationally we often hear boxing fans talking about Mexican Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and American Adrien "The Problem" Broner, who both lost in 2013. One man whose name certainly belongs in the conversation of "the best of the new generation" is Japanese youngster Kazuto Ioka (20-1, 12) [井岡一翔] a man who has fewer fights than the other two names mentioned but has already achieved more.
The 25 year old Ioka has followed in the footsteps of his uncle Hiroki Ioka, a man who won both the WBC Minimumweight and WBA Light Flyweight titles in the 1980's and 1990's both titles that the young Ioka has gone on to claim. Though there was always the expectation of the young Kazuto going a very long way in the sport.
Ioka's potential was spotted at a young age in the amateurs his talented proved to be something special. Not only did the youngster run up an eye opening record of 95-10 (64) after he started fighting aged 13 but he also picked up numerous titles nationally at a young age.
As well as Ioka's national success in the unpaid ranks the young Japanese fighter also started fighting internationally and actually competed at the 2008 Kings Cup (where he reached the Semi final losing to the highly talented Amnat Ruanroeng). Though it appears that Ioka failed to claim any major international crown despite his obvious talents.
Just weeks after Ioka's 20th birthday he made his professional debut and stopped the experienced Thai Thongthailek Sor Tanapinyo in just 3 rounds. Within a year Ioka had raced out to 3-0 (2) including a notable victory over former world title contender Takashi Kunishige. It should have been clear from the moment that Ioka beat Kunishige that we were talking about a special talent though many outside of Japan were sleeping on Ioka who they didn't really know about about at the time.
The 25 year old Ioka has followed in the footsteps of his uncle Hiroki Ioka, a man who won both the WBC Minimumweight and WBA Light Flyweight titles in the 1980's and 1990's both titles that the young Ioka has gone on to claim. Though there was always the expectation of the young Kazuto going a very long way in the sport.
Ioka's potential was spotted at a young age in the amateurs his talented proved to be something special. Not only did the youngster run up an eye opening record of 95-10 (64) after he started fighting aged 13 but he also picked up numerous titles nationally at a young age.
As well as Ioka's national success in the unpaid ranks the young Japanese fighter also started fighting internationally and actually competed at the 2008 Kings Cup (where he reached the Semi final losing to the highly talented Amnat Ruanroeng). Though it appears that Ioka failed to claim any major international crown despite his obvious talents.
Just weeks after Ioka's 20th birthday he made his professional debut and stopped the experienced Thai Thongthailek Sor Tanapinyo in just 3 rounds. Within a year Ioka had raced out to 3-0 (2) including a notable victory over former world title contender Takashi Kunishige. It should have been clear from the moment that Ioka beat Kunishige that we were talking about a special talent though many outside of Japan were sleeping on Ioka who they didn't really know about about at the time.
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In 2010, almost a year after Ioka's debut he suffered one of the very few worrying moments in his career as Indonesian Heri Amol dropped him. Although Ioka was put down for the first (and so far only) time in his career he recovered well and clearly won the bout on points as he maintain his unbeaten record and moved a step closer to a world title fight. Prior to moving on to the world stage however Ioka claimed the Japanese Minimumweight title as he defeated Masayoshi Segawa via 10th round TKO.
Although Ioka had claimed the Japanese title in just his 6th professional bout their appeared to be no real interest in capturing the OPBF title, then held by stable mate and Ryo Miyazaki. Instead the intention seemed to be focussing on a world title bout in an attempt to set a Japanese national record for the fewest fights needed to become a world champion. In just his 7th bout and after just 22 months as a professional Ioka would fight in his first world title bout taking on the then unbeaten Thai Oleydong Sithsamerchai who held the WBC Minimumweight title. Oleydong had been unbeaten in 36 bouts and had held the WBC belt since November 2008-before Ioka had even turned professional. Despite the huge gulf in experience Ioka shocked the Thai and dropped him in round 2 with a body shot before stopping him in the 5th with another hurtful shot to the midsection. As the WBC Minimumweight champion Ioka would defend his belt twice defeating Juan Hernandez and Yodngoen Tor Chalermchai before fighting in the first ever all-Japanese unification bout as he took on WBA Mnimumweight champion Akira Yaegashi. Against Yaegashi, Ioka was pushed hard, harder than he'd ever been pushed in the professional ranks and the score-cards reflected the close nature of the bout with only a round separating the fighters on 2 of the cards (and just a point on the other card) though Ioka would do just enough to claim a very hard fought unanimous decision (115-113-twice and 115-114) and unify the belts. After unifying the WBA and WBC Minimumweight titles Ioka was told that he'd have to give up one of the belts due to conflicting mandatory defenses. Instead of giving up either belt he moved up a division to fight at Light Flyweight (interestingly Yaegashi jumped straight to the Flyweight division). In his first bout in his new division Ioka defeated Jose Alfredo Rodriguez to claim the vacant WBA title and become a 2-weight world champion in just his 11th professional bout. Ioka made the first defense of his WBA Light Flyweight title when he stopped Thai veteran Wisanu Kokietgym with a nasty body shot in the 9th round. He has since added a second defense of that belt to his record stopping Kwanthai Sithmorseng in the 7th round and most recent a third defense as he out pointed the previous unbeaten Felix Alvarado in a genuinely exciting war. Since defeating Alvarado we have seen Ioka move up to the Flyweight division. Unfortunately the 25 year old suffered his first loss as he attempted to become a 3-weight world champion, Ioka lost a controversial and much debated split decision to Thailand's IBF Flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng as history from the amateurs repeated it's self in the pro ranks. Since that loss he has gone on to defeat Colombian tough guy Pablo Carrillo in a clear decision win as he has continued his campaign at Flyweight, despite the loss, and stop Jean Piero Perez. Despite the loss to Amnat we've seen Ioka continue on as a Flyweight and recently we saw his perseverance pay off with a razor thin win against Juan Carlos Reveco to claim the WBA Flyweight title. That win saw Ioka become just the second Japanese fighter to win titles in 3 divisions and also become the the fastest, in terms of fewest fights, to ever achieve the feat. In his first defense of the WBA flyweight title Ioka defeated the out-classed Roberto Domingo Sosa in a 1-sided masterclass from the Japanese fighter. Although the win was an easy one it wasn't a massively impressive one with Sosa looking completely out of his depth and unable to catch Ioka at any point. whilst he over-came Sosa with ease Ioka did have a rematch with Reveco hanging over his head and that rematch took place at the end of 2015, with Ioka becoming the first man to stop Reveco, courtesy of an excellent 11th round stoppage. For the first Ioka looked like a fully fledged Flyweight and like a man who had finally grown into the division. Ioka's third defense of the Flyweight title saw him take on gutsy Nicaraguan challenger Keyvin Lara, and Lara really did travel to Osaka to make a statement flying out of the blocks with an incredible work rate. Unfortunately for the Nicaraguan he lacked the power and the skills to really trouble the composed Ioka who turned the tables in the middle rounds and eventually saw off the challenger in round 11 as he showed the extra gears that champions have. The video below, thanks to CheckHookBoxing shows Ioka's opening round KO of Yodngoen Tor Chalermchai who entered the bout with an unbeaten 8-0 (4) record. |
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