IBF world super flyweight champion Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs) has pulled out of his rematch against former four-division world champion Kazuto Ioka (31-3-1, 15 KOs) due to a case of influenza for their previously scheduled fight on December 31st.
Rematch Delayed
There’s no word yet on when they plan to reschedule the fight. It’s going to take time, obviously, for the Argentinian Martin, 33, to recover from his illness, but it shouldn’t be too long under ideal circumstances.
That’s bad news for the fans but perhaps a good thing for the 35-year-old Ioka, who was soundly beaten in their previous fight on July 7th in Tokyo, Japan.
Ioka will have to find the Fountain of Youth to defeat Martinez in the rematch. Martinez looked very old in his loss last July. He’d been looking poor in recent fights for the last three years, but Martinez put a stamp on that with his one-sided win last summer.
The scores
117-111
120-108
116-112
Given the one-sided fight, it’s almost pointless for a rematch other than for business. It wasn’t a competitive enough fight for a rematch, but from Ioka’s standpoint, it’s understandable why he’d want to at least try and avenge the loss. He’d never been beaten so soundly before during his 15-year career.
However, his performances against Joshua Franco in 2022 and 2023 already indicated that Ioka was nearing the end of his career. Ioka looked awful in both fights and was very lucky to escape without suffering a pair of defeats.
“Good decision by the ‘Puma’ team not to let him fight with a case of influenza. We await a decision on postponement or a decision to be made in this regard,” said Salvador Rodriguez on X, reacting to the news of IBF super flyweight champion Fernando Martinez choosing not to go ahead with his rematch against Kazuto Ioka due to illness. “Champion ‘Puma’ Martinez will not fight on December 31 due to influenza.”
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