World Boxing Organization super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka of Ambition GYM, who stopped top-ranked challenger Kosei Tanaka of Hatanaka Boxing Gym in the eighth round to retain his title for the second time in the preceding night in Tokyo, said on Jan. 1, he wants to fight the winner of World Boxing Council super flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico and World Boxing Association super flyweight super champion Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua in March.

Meeting the press online, the 31-year-old Ioka, the only Japanese who won world titles in four different weight categories, said, ‘’I will probably be the only boxer who can beat either Estrada or Gonzalez because I am still making a progress.’’ In this connection, Ioka picked Gonzales over Estrada.

Commenting on the fight with the previously unbeaten Tanaka, Ioka, whose left eye shows the swelling a little bit, said, ‘’He (Tanaka) hit me well enough and has good combination blows. I am satisfied with what I had practiced for the fight. Although I was able to fight only once in 2020 due chiefly to COVID-19, I gained a lot, and the victory on New Year’s Eve proved what I had practiced up to then was not fruitless.’’

During the rest of the new year season, Ioka said he will move through the season leisurely with his family members in Japan, not abroad.　Photo by Ambition Gym