Real name Kazuto Ioka Wins 19 Parents Kazunori Ioka Reach 66 in (168 cm) Name Kazuto Ioka Division Flyweight | Nationality Japanese Role Boxer Total fights 20 Height 1.65 m | |
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Rated at MinimumweightLight FlyweightFlyweight Similar People Hiroki Ioka, Naoya Inoue, Katsunari Takayama, Koki Kameda, Takashi Uchiyama | ||
Kazuto ioka highlights knockouts
Kazuto Ioka (井岡 一翔 Ioka Kazuto, born 24 March 1989) is a Flyweight boxer from Japan. He is the current WBA (Regular) Flyweight champion. He is also a former unified Minimumweight champion, holding the WBA and WBC titles, and a former WBA Light flyweight champion, therefore becoming a boxing triple champion. He was born in Osaka Prefecture, grew up in Sakai city, and currently lives in Osaka. As of May 2017, he is ranked as the world's best Flyweight by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and second by BoxRec.
Contents
- Kazuto ioka highlights knockouts
- Kazuto Ioka Arroyo was tough I want to fight the best super flyweights
- Amateur career
- Early career
- Minimumweight
- Light flyweight
- Flyweight
- Titles
- Awards
- References
Kazuto Ioka: Arroyo was tough; I want to fight the best super flyweights
Amateur career
Kazuto Ioka is the nephew of flyweight champion Hiroki Ioka. Kazuto asked his father to teach him how to box as a teenager. His father, Kazunori Ioka, would continue training him through his amateur and professional career. Ioka amassed a record of 95-10 as an amateur, winning six national high school tournaments along the way. He reached the semifinals of the 2008 King's Cup, an amateur boxing tournament held in Thailand, before losing to Amnat Ruenroeng. Ioka joined Tokyo Agricultural University, hoping to represent his country in the 2008 Olympics but he would fall short on the qualifiers.
Early career
Upon failing to qualify for the Olympics, Ioka dropped out from college and turned professional in 2009. On April 12, 2009, he fought against Thongthailek Sor Tanapinyo, and won his debut via a third-round technical knockout. After this victory, he won six straight victories. After winning 5 fights, Ioka competed for the vacant Japanese light flyweight title. Ioka captured the national title by stopping Masayoshi Segawa in the final 10th round.
Minimumweight
On his next fight, Ioka won the WBC strawweight title from Thai Oleydong Sithsamerchai via a fifth-round technical knockout in the latter's seventh title defence in Kobe at the World Memorial Hall on February 11, 2011. Sithsamerchai was knocked down twice over the course of his first professional loss.
On June 20, 2012, in a match that marked the first time two Japanese fighters had met to unify world titles, Ioka defeated the WBA champion Akira Yaegashi via a unanimous decision at the Bodymaker Colosseum. When asked whether the result would have been different unless he got swollen eyes, Yaegashi said "We should not think about it. There is no if's in boxing". The day after the fight, Ioka decided to move up a weight division.
Light flyweight
On December 31, 2012, Ioka beat undefeated José Alfredo Rodríguez for the vacant WBA light-flyweight title at the Bodymaker Colosseum. Ioka became a two-division World champion with the win.
Flyweight
On February 28, 2014, Ioka would vacate the title to move up to the Flyweight division in order to aim towards becoming a three division World champion. On May 7, 2014, Ioka lost his first bout of his professional career going down to undefeated Thai IBF Flyweight Amnat Ruenroeng in a split decision at Osaka's Bodymaker Colosseum.
On April 22, 2015, Ioka realized his quest to be a three division champion when he defeated the Argentine WBA Regular Flyweight champion Juan Carlos Reveco in a majority decision. The fight saw Reveco take the early rounds but Ioka came on strong in the later rounds on his way to victory. Reveco appealed the decision to the World Boxing Association, which ordered an immediate rematch.