Via Brian Webber: WBA super flyweight champion Joshua Franco (18-13, 8 KOs) and WBO champion Kazuto Ioka (29-2-1, 15 KOs) battled out a questionable 12-round draw Saturday night in their standard match at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.
Although Franco was much younger and larger than the 33-year-old former four-category world champion Ioka, the judges tied the score:
- 115-113 – Franco
- 114-114
- 114-114
With the home crowd in Japan going wild every time Ioka landed anything, it was not surprising that the referees rated it a draw, but the match didn’t end.
Franco dominated the competition with his relentless pressure, combo punches, and the number of hits he landed in teamfights. His combo punches are beautiful to watch, as he unleashes punches that overwhelm Ioka’s defensive shell.
Franco’s fighting style is like the WBA lightweight champion Dmitri Bivol with the way he fought Canelo. He’s like a smaller version of Bivol, and it’s fun to watch him at work. The only difference between Franco & Bivol is the lack of defense for the smaller boxer.
Franco got hit in the middle of his combos and didn’t do a good job of stopping Ioka’s odd shots.
However, Franco unleashed so many combinations and delivered TONS of punches that it was impossible to give Ioka more than one round of the match.
You could argue that the best round of the fight for Ioka was the 11th round, in which he caught Franco with a couple of delicious headers with his right hand. With that said, Franco still beat Ioka by a big margin in the eleventh round and kept him up against the ropes the whole time.
This writer won the 27-year-old Franco 11-1, when he passed an Ioka who looked very defensive and much older. For most of the round, Ioka would lean back against the ropes and try to counter Franco by taking out his single shots between rounds.
All Franco unleashes during the match are lighter punches aimed at contact. However, with Franco unleashing combinations of 3 to 7 punches at everything he throws, it is not possible to give Ioka a round because he is bombarded by the younger boxer.
WBC super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada is already in the ring, keeping an eye on the two champions and will likely face one of them next. Estrada has more punches than Franco and & Ioka, and he’s going to cause them trouble.
I still prefer Franco over Estrada due to his youth, size and high work rate. Franco is an excellent combo boxer from the Bivol mold, and that would be too much for the old Estrada.
