Four-division world champion Kazuto Ioka has long courted a unification at junior bantamweight. He thought he’d get it against then Ring champion and WBC titleholder Juan Francisco Estrada late last year only for things to fall apart during negotiations.

However, Ioka, rated at No. 2 by The Ring at junior bantamweight, and his team able to broker a deal with unbeaten IBF titlist Fernando Martinez, and the two will collide at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, on Sunday.

“I’m happy to have a unification fight,” Ioka (32-2-1, 16 knockouts) told The Ring through Yusuke Ninomiya. “I think it’s a challenge to go further, and fighting an IBF champion is a big challenge. I’ve never won an IBF title before, so I want to win it!”

He was unable to secure the aforementioned fight with Estrada, who eventually decided to fight rising star Jesse Rodriguez last weekend, a result Ioka kept an eye on.

“Due to the nature of the show, negotiations didn’t go well and it didn’t happen at the end of last year,” he said though didn’t go into specifics but it is believed that Estrada’s financial demands were too much of a hurdle.

“I want to fight the winner of the Estrada vs. Jesse Rodriguez fight,” he said.

As usual, Ioka decamped to Las Vegas for four weeks to train under the watchful eye of long-time trainer Ismael Salas, where he’s been sparring with former world title challenger Angelino Cordova (18-1-1, 12 KOs), who was selected to mimic his fellow South American’s aggressive style.

The 35-year-old, who will be taking part in his 26th world title fight, remains as driven as ever, having turned professional 15-years ago.

Since then, he’s gone on to win WBA and WBC titles at strawweight before heading to junior flyweight and later flyweight where he annexed WBA belts. At junior bantamweight he has won WBO and WBA titles, though he had to vacate the WBA title to face Joshua Franco in a rematch after being initially being held to a draw instead of facing his mandatory. Such was his desire to face Joshua again.

“I’ve come this far, but I’m not satisfied with where I am now, I want to see how far I can go and prove it,” he explained. “I want to give courage to the people watching. Of course, I’ll fight for my family and the people who support me.”

This looks an interesting style matchup, the skills of Ioka versus the relentless aggression of Martinez. However, I think Ioka having home advantage and being more active tips things in his favor.

It should be noted that Martinez has had five of his last six fights outside Argentina and prevailed, although come fight he time will not have fought in over a year. In my prediction, Ioka uses his impressive skills and movement to constantly keep Martinez changing direction and wins a hard-fought but just 12-round unanimous decision.

Martinez (16-0, 9 KOs), rated at No. 3 by The Ring at junior bantamweight, was a standout amateur and represented his home country of Argentina all over the world. He appeared in the World Series of Boxing and the 2016 Olympics before turning professional in 2017.

“Pumita” won his first nine fights, all in Argentina, before venturing to South Africa to stop Athenkosi Dumezweni (TKO 11). The 32-year-old was largely unknown until he upset Jerwin Ancajas (UD 12) to win the IBF title and repeated the trick in his first defense. He followed that with a late stoppage over another Filipino Jade Bornea (TKO 11).

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