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A rematch between Kazuto Ioka and Joshua Franco has always been in doubt, despite being requested shortly after their recent 12-round draw.
WBO has sent a reminder as to why that is always the case.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Ioka has been formally ordered to defend his countryman Junto Nakatani for the upcoming WBO Junior Bantamweight Championship. The order said at the sanctioning bodies’ annual convention last October that he would be within 180 days from his WBO/WBA unification match on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo, where his Franco winner was next to Nakatani. Based on a ruling that requires you to play against
Their thrilling 12-round clash ended in a stalemate, with both boxers retaining their respective titles. Along with that, a new mission awaits Ioka.
“The WBO World Championships Committee hereby
The president of the WBO Championship Committee, Luis Battista Salas, notified the respective promoters of Ioka and Nakatani in an official letter, a copy of which was obtained by BoxingScene.com. , may negotiate and reach an agreement accordingly within thirty (30) days from the date of issuance of this letter.If no agreement is reached within the period set forth herein, the purse bidding procedure will be terminated in accordance with the WBO Rules for World Championship Contests. will be called.”
Ioka was promoted to Yusuke Ninomiya of Shisei Boxing, and Nakatani was promoted to Honda’s Teiken Promotions.
Nakatani (24-0, 18 KOs) was named a mandatory challenger during the WBO competition because he was promised rankings in exchange for leaving the WBO flyweight title list. The southpaw made his junior bantamweight debut on November 1, passing former Unified Strawweight titlelist and current junior bantamweight top 10 contender Francisco ‘Chiwas’ Rodriguez (Saitama, Japan).
The fight was Nakatani’s first bout after a two-year stay as the WBO flyweight title list, where he made two successful defenses before moving out after revealing he could no longer achieve the 112-pound limit. Did.
Ioka (29-2-1-15 KO) defeated Aston Paricte by KO in the 10th round to enter his seventh defense of the WBO Junior Bantamweight Championship, which he has held since June 2019. The Osaka native, now based in Tokyo, became the first Japanese male boxer to win titles in four divisions for the feat, while San Antonio’s Franco (18-18 W-3, 8 KOs) , denied Ioka the chance to become Japan’s first unified title list in two separate weight classes.
Ioka has won titles at flyweight, junior flyweight and strawweight. His strawweight run capped off with his thrilling 12-round victory over compatriot Akira Yaegashi in his WBC/WBA unification fight in June 2012.
Before and just after the draw verdict on New Year’s Eve, both Ioca and Franco further united with lineage/WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28KOs) who flew from Mexico to Tokyo to capture the ringside view. We talked openly about our plans to do so. With Estrada and Franco in the voluntary stages of their respective title reigns, there’s still a chance we’ll meet if you’re interested.
The same cannot be said for Ioka, and when sanctioning bodies formally order a compulsory title fight, the current title holder cannot even file an exception to his voluntary defense.
Jake Donovan is a Senior Writer at BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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