Kazuto Ioka-Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez Unification Bout Set For July 7 In Tokyo

Kazuto Ioka will once again attempt to unify two junior bantamweight titles.

The four-division titlist has finalized terms for a 115-pound unification bout versus Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez. Ioka will risk his WBA title while Martinez puts his IBF belt at stake. Their bout is confirmed to take place on July 7 at a location to be determined in Tokyo.

VIVA Promotions, Martinez’ promoter, announced on Friday that a deal was reached, confirmed a previous report from The Ring.

Argentinian IBF Super Flyweight Champion Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez is set to unify his belt against Japanese WBA Super Flyweight Champion Kazuto Ioka on July 7 in Tokyo, Japan.#MartinezIoka#MaidanaPromotions#VivaPromotions#Knuckleheads pic.twitter.com/gQz2XabO85

— VIVA PROMOTIONS (@VIVAPROMOTIONS1) April 19, 2024

A press conference is scheduled for Monday afternoon in Tokyo to formally announce the event.

The bout will come just eight days after another terrific matchup in the division. As previously reported by The Ring,  Juan Francisco Estrada will next face Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez on June 29 in Phoenix, Arizona. Estrada (44-3, 28 KOs) is The Ring champ and WBC titlist and risks both versus San Antonio’s Rodriguez, No. 1 at 112 and No. 10 pound-for-pound, Rodriguez returns to 115 after he unified the IBF and WBO titles at flyweight.

That deal was struck after a second round of talks collapsed between Estrada and Ioka. The next best-case scenario worked out for both fighters.

Martinez will enter the fight after a 54-week inactive period. The unbeaten Argentinean has not fought since an eleventh-round knockout of Jade Bornea last June 24 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It was Martinez’ third straight win versus a Filipino, all with the IBF 115-pound title at stake. Martinez dethroned Jerwin Ancajas for the belt in February 2022 and soundly outpointed him in their October 2022 rematch.

The pending fight versus Ioka will mark the first career fight in Asia for Martinez.

Ioka last fought in a seventh-round knockout of Venezuela’s Josber Perez on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo. The bout took place at Ota-City General Gymnasium.

It was the first defense of the WBA title he  lifted off San Antonio’s Joshua Franco in their rematch last June 24. Ioka won via unanimous decision, though it came at a cost. He and Franco (18-2-3, 8 KOs) fought to a draw in their December 2022 WBA/WBO unification bout. Ioka was then ordered to face countryman and mandatory challenger Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs), now No. 1 at 118.

A rematch with Franco proved financially worth the decision to vacate the WBO belt he’d held since June 2019.

The universe rewarded him with another shot to unify at least two 115-pound belts, though without history at stake. Had Ioka defeated Franco in their first fight, he would have become Japan’s first-ever fighter to unify titles in at least two weight divisions. Ioka previously held the WBA and WBC strawweight titles.

Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) beat him to the punch last summer. The Ring’s No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter dethroned WBC/WBO 122-pound titlist Stephen Fulton via eighth-round stoppage last July 25. The win saw Inoue win his fourth divisional title and second unified reign. He moved up to 122 after he fully unified the bantamweight division.

Ioka now has the chance to become the second fighter to accomplish that feat. He is already Japan’s first-ever four-division titlist, having reigned at 105, 108, 112 and 115.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox