About six months after the first fight between Joshua Franco and Kazuto Ioka, they will return to the ring for a rematch for the World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight title at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

The two fighters had a thrilling showdown at the end of 2022, which ended in a draw, so Franco retained his WBA belt. At that time, Ioka owned the WBO belt and also remained in his possession.

However, now only the WBA belt will be at stake as Ioka vacated the WBO belt in order to get a rematch with Franco, the fight he wanted after what happened last year. 

Franco is a fighter with a great boxing style who has already proven that he is capable of fighting at the highest level outside the United States. The San Antonio native is well remembered for his trilogies against Oscar Negrete and Andrew Moloney, great moments that helped him become the world champion today. 

“The Professor is 27 years old and will be looking to make his fourth title defense against a veteran fighter like Ioka.

The Japanese has been world champion in four categories from the minimum to the super fly and now wants to return to a black and gold belt, which he has not held since April 2017 when he vacated the flyweight belt to move up a category. 

Franco has a record of 18 wins, 1 loss, 3 draws and 8 knockouts. Ioka has 29 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw and 15 knockouts.