Martinez survives knockdown to beat Ioka in rematch

Fernando Martinez gritted out another victory over Kazuto Ioka to retain the WBA super flyweight title in hostile territory yesterday

Despite a heroic effort from legend Kazuto Ioka, Fernando “Pumita” Martinez made it 2-0 over the four-division champion yesterday morning with a unanimous decision victory in Tokyo.

In what was reportedly an extremely entertaining affair, Martinez (18-0, 9 KO) once again jumped out to an early lead before Ioka’s (31-4-1, 16 KO) grit and withering body attack took over down the stretch. Ioka sent Martinez to the canvas with a nasty counter hook in the tenth, but it wasn’t quite enough to make up the difference, with the judges turning in scores of 114-113, 115-112, and 117-110 for the WBA super flyweight champ.

Social media cards ranged from a narrow Ioka victory to a competitive-but-clear win for Martinez, with near-universal condemnation for Howard Boyle’s 117-110. This marks the second consecutive bout in which Ioka, who’s long had an adversarial relationship with the Japanese Boxing Commission, received questionable scores; Edward Hernandez Sr notoriously scored their first meeting a shutout for Martinez.

A few kind souls have uploaded the bout to YouTube, but as per my usual protocol, I’ll leave you to find them on your own so as to better hide them from takedown notices.

Martinez now finds himself in prime position to battle the winner of Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vs Phumelela Cafu in a three-belt unification bout in the tail end of 2025, or potentially whoever wins the IBF title rematch between Rene Calixto and Willibaldo Garcia later this month.

As for Ioka, he’s clearly still got the skills to compete with high-level fighters; I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a legends bout between him and Juan Fracisco Estrada even without the hardware that bout merits. If he elects to retire, though, he’ll do so as a genuine icon of the game and obvious Hall-of-Famer.