Kazuto Ioka and Kosei Tanaka are set to clash in a big fight in New Year’s Eve tradition from Tokyo this morning, with the full card set to begin at 3 am ET, and the main event slated to begin around 4 am ET.
Bad Left Hook will be here with fight results as they come in from Japan, and we’ll have discussion and commentary down in the comments section below.
If you’re an American looking for how to watch Ioka-Tanaka live, we’ve got some info for you here. The fight airs on TBS in Japan. In the UK, the fight will air on BoxNation at 9 am local time, and if you’re in Latin America, it will be on ESPN or ESPN2 based on your country (full info available at the same link).
The 31-year-old Ioka has won world titles at 105, 108, 112, and 115, and became the country’s first four-division world champion when he beat Aston Palicte for the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title in June 2019. He last defended exactly a year ago, holding off a solid challenge from Jeyvier Cintron on New Year’s Eve 2019.
Tanaka, 25, has already won world titles at 105, 108, and 112, and is looking to follow in Ioka’s foot steps, basically. He’s been regarded as the top flyweight in the world for a while now by many — he closed 2020 in our rankings in the No. 1 spot at 112 — and is a mild favorite to win here, but this is a terrific matchup and nothing that happens can be called a big upset, really.
Full Card (3:00 am ET)
- Kazuto Ioka (25-2, 14 KO) vs Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9 KO), junior bantamweights, 12 rounds, for Ioka’s WBO title
- Yuki Strong Kobayashi (16-8, 9 KO) vs Daigo Higa (16-1-1, 16 KO), bantamweights, 12 rounds