As is customary, Japan concludes the boxing year with world title fights, on Tuesday at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, with Kazuto Ioka defending his WBO junior bantamweight belt against Jeyvier Cintron, and WBO flyweight champion Kosei Tanaka defending against Wulan Tuolehazi.
Ioka, 30, who has a record of 24-2; 14, will be making the first defence of his belt that he won when he stopped Aston Palicte (25-2-1) on a tenth-round technical knockout in a clash for the vacant belt in June this year.
Since making his pro debut in April 2000 he has won the WBC and WBA minimumweight and WBA light flyweight and flyweight belts.
The only losses in his career have come against Amnat Ruenroeng in May 2014 and Donnie Nietes in December 2018, both on split decisions.
The 24-year-old Cintron (11-0-1nc (1)), from Puerto Rico, has represented his country at two Olympic Games, before making his pro debut in April 2017.
In August 2019 he won the vacant WBO International junior bantamweight title with wide points margins over Koki Eto after their first fight ended in a first-round no decision.
This will be a step up in class for Cintron, the mandatory challenger, against the vastly more experienced Ioka, who should have enough to take the decision.
On the same card, Japan’s 24-year-old Kosei Tanaka (14-0; 8), who has won WBO belts at mimimumweight and light flyweight, defends his WBO flyweight belt against the No 10 rated Wulan Tuolehazi (13-3-1; 6) of China.
The 26-year-old challenger has improved tremendously since losing three of his first five fights and could extend the champion.
