When famed manager Rick Mirigian said that his fighter, WBA Super Flyweight champ Joshua Franco of San Antonio, was willing to go back to Japan to set the record straight with legendary little man Kaz Ioka. Mirigian was deadly serious. . Franco, 18-1-3 (8), had to settle for a very controversial draw with Ioka on New Year's Eve in Japan. A fight in which everyone scored in favor of Franco and by a relatively wide margin. Everyone that is, except for judges Ferlin Marsh and Jose Roberto Torres, who somehow managed to score the bout even.
Ioka, a four-division world champion, vacated his version of the super flyweight belt, the WBO belt, and agreed to fight the Texan. Ioka was quoted post-fight saying he thought Franco was the rightful winner of the first fight. He opted not to fight fellow countrymen and former 112-pound champ Junto Nakatani. Meaning only Franco's WBA belt will be on the line.
Both fighters were in apparent negotiations with WBC champ Juan Francisco Estrada. However, they ended up opting for a rematch. The rematch is targeted for June, according to multiple sources. Most observers thought the Alamo City native outworked the 33-year-old Japanese legend and also landed the cleaner, more authoritative shots.