Fernando Martinez versus Kazuto Ioka rematch off

A rematch between WBA junior bantamweight titleholder Fernando “Puma” Martinez and Kazuto Ioka appears to be off.

The bout scheduled for Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan on New Year’s Eve now seems set to wait for the new year.

“What a bummer….There will be no fight between Puma Martinez vs. Ioka 2. Puma with influenza. Fernando gets better soon,” is a translated tweet from Spanish to English from Fernando Barbosa, under his Twitter account, @BarbosaBox.

Barbosa was set to serve as a broadcaster for the telecast on ESPN Knockouts. Martinez was unable to attend the media workout or press conference prior to the weigh-in. No word on if an official weigh-in took place.

Martinez entered the contest with a record of 17-0 (9 KOs), the 33-year-old Argentinian won the IBF and WBA titles in July defeating Ioka. Martinez relinquished the IBF title on October 29. This fight would have just been for the WBA title.

Ioka, 35, entered with a record of 31-3-1 (16 KOs). Ioka from Tokyo, Japan, was unbeaten in his last nine fights dating back to June 2019 until his loss to Martinez.