Ill Martinez forced out of New Year's Eve rematch with Ioka
Also: Video discussion on if Usyk is all-time great heavyweight, more
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What was scheduled as the final world title fight of 2024 was canceled on Monday.
An ill WBA junior bantamweight titlist Fernando Martinez withdrew from his defense against Kazuto Ioka after coming down with influenza, promoter Kazuki Yoshino of Shisei Promotions announced at a news conference in Tokyo.
Martinez and Ioka were scheduled to square off in an immediate rematch on Tuesday — New Year’s Eve, which is a traditional date for world title action in Japan — at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.
However, Martinez, who traveled from his home country of Argentina, has been ill for the past few days.
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Martinez, who is promoted by countryman and former two-division world titlist Marcos Maidana of Chino Promotions, did not make an appearance at a scheduled public workout on Thursday and also did not go to the fight week news conference on Sunday.
“I feel very sorry not to be able to fight Martinez and wish to fight for the world championship either with him or with another organization’s champion,” Ioka said in Japanese and translated into English.
Ioka has been a mainstay on New Year’s Eve cards in Japan. The rematch with Martinez was to have been Ioka’s 13th New Year’s Eve fight in a 15-year career and seventh year in a row.
The fight was supposed to be a rematch of a bona fide fight of the year contender in which Martinez, who was making his third IBF title defense, outpointed Ioka, who was making his second WBA defense, on July 7 in Tokyo to unify the 115-pound belts in a sensational all-action battle. Martinez won 117-111, 116-112 and an outlandish 120-108.
They combined to land nearly 650 punches of the more than 2,000 they combined to throw, but in the end it was the younger, fresher Martinez who notched the big-time road victory.
Ioka (31-3-1, 16 KOs), 35, a four-division titleholder, put forth a big effort but he could not keep pace with the more aggressive Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs), 33, who took control out of the gate and maintained his lead all the way with nonstop pressure.
On Oct. 29, Martinez vacated the IBF title and kept the WBA belt he won from Ioka. The reason was because the IBF ordered him to face obscure mandatory challenger Willibaldo Garcia Perez that would have paid Martinez a fraction of the money he stood to earn in a rematch against Ioka.
The title will remain vacant for a bit longer because Perez (22-5-2, 13 KOs), 35, and Mexican countryman Rene Calixto Bibiano (23-0-1, 9 KOs), 29, fought for it in a fight bout that was ruled a split draw on Dec. 21 on a Kameda Promotions card in Shizuoka, Japan.
Big Fight Weekend
TJ and I have been doing the podcast together for the past couple of years but are also going to start using the Big Fight Weekend YouTube channel more. We put a video segment up of us discussing where lineal/unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, in the wake of his second win in a row against Tyson Fury, ranks in boxing today as well as all-time in the heavyweight division and pound for pound. Please subscribe to the channel and also check out the recent segment here:
talkSPORT appearance
I’ve been doing a segment on talkSPORT in the U.K. every week for around 15 years. In the most recent one we talked about Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch victory over Tyson Fury in their heavyweight championship rematch and whether Fury and Anthony Joshua should finally meet in their next fight. We did the recent segment on video and you can watch it on talkSPORT’s YouTube channel:
Pro Boxing Fans part 2
In part 2 of my recent appearance on the Pro Boxing Fans on YouTube, we discussed my favorite fights of 2024, which fighter I’d most like to see more active in 2025 and who gets my nod as 2024 promoter of the year. Check out the video here:
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Martinez-Ioka photo: Naoki Fukuda
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