Franco Heads to Tokyo Again to Beat Ioka (Again)

San Antonio native "El Profesor" Joshua Franco is no stranger to being a victim of poor decisions. Perhaps, none were worse than the decision he received on December 31st in Tokyo, Japan. Franco, the WBA champ, dominated Kaz Ioka, then WBO champ, in their 12-round unification bout. Nearly all observers including Ioka himself thought Franco earned the points victory. He clearly did, however, two of the judges did the unthinkable and scored the fight a draw. Franco, the clear winner, was in talks for many other big-money fights in the star-studded 115-pound division. However, he wanted to set the record straight with Ioka. The biggest win of his career was stolen from him and he is focused on righting that wrong. He is going back to the scene of the crime and will take Ioka on again at the same venue where the robbery took place, the Ota-City General Gymnasium, and will square off with Ioka for a second time. This time the WBO belt will not be on the line, so it is not a unification bout. Ioka was forced to vacate his version of the Super Flyweight title to make the rematch with the Alamo City native. Franco will look to take the decision out of the judges' hands and remove all doubts. He told the DAZN boxing show, “We don’t want it to go to the judges this time. We want to make it so everyone is able to see that I’m the clear winner.” Franco clearly outworked Ioka, a four-division former world champion, and appeared to dominate the fight after the first three or four rounds. “I was the busier fighter, but my punches weren’t as clear as I wanted." The Texan will get a second chance to beat a future first-ballot Hall of Famer Saturday night (Saturday morning in the US).