Analyzing The Kazuto Ioka-Juan C. Reveco Scorecards
Apr 22, 2015 • 2:45 AM ET
By Jake Donovan
Kazuto Ioka picked up a belt in a third weight class (one full reign, two secondary reigns) following a 12-round win over Argentina’s Juan Carlos Reveco in their flyweight title fight Wednesday evening in Osaka, Japan.
Judges Carlos Sucre (Venezuela) and Silvestre Aibainza (Philippines) both had Ioka winning by scores of 116-113 and 115-113, respectively. Judge Raul Caiz Sr. (Unites States) scored the contest 114-114 even.
(Click HERE for the official master scorecard)
The concern over the course of the night was the potential for a wide disparity in scores given the number of close rounds. There was also the matter of style preference in the absence of definitive rounds, whether you liked Reveco’s aggression or Ioka’s technical superiority
Fans watching and commenting through social media leaned towards Ioka. The broadcast team for TyC Sports in Reveco’s native Argentina had their countryman winning handily, going as far as to calling the fight a horrific injustice to the sport.
If there’s a conspiracy theory to be found not as ridiculous as the claims made by the TyC crew, it’s that Ioka already had the fight won before the 12th and final round began. The action in the ring dictated otherwise, that the 26-year old from Japan needed a strong three minutes to seal the deal.
Despite what the eye test suggested, Ioka was up 106-103 and 107-103 on the cards of Aibainza and Sucre, while Caiz Sr. had Reveco winning 105-104 heading into the final round.
In the eyes of the three judges, six of the 12 rounds were clear-cut. The three ringside officials all scored unanimously in favor of Reveco (35-2, 19KOs) in rounds three and seven, while Ioka swept the cards in rounds one (surprising, given it was a very close round), five, eight and nine.
Round four saw judges Caiz and Abainza score in favor of Reveco, while Sucre scored the bout 10-10, the only even round scored among the combined 36 from the three judges’ scorecards.
Abainza was in agreement with at least one other judge for all 12 rounds. The veteran official was in line with Caiz for the most part; the two agreed on nine of the 12 rounds, giving Ioka rounds 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9, while both awarding Reveco rounds 3, 4, 7 and 10.
Caiz also agreed on nine of the 12 rounds with Sucre. The two judges scored rounds 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 in favor of Ioka; and rounds 3, 7 and 12 in favor of Reveco.
Sucre and Caiz did not agree on any of the six rounds (2, 4, 6, 10, 11 and 12) that weren’t scored unanimously for either fighter.
Had majority scoring been in place to determine the winner, Ioka (17-1, 10KOs) still would have come out ahead in the end by a score of 115-113, which matches the total turned in by Aibanaza. Ioka won on at least two scorecards in rounds 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11, with Reveco granted rounds 3, 4, 7, 10 and 12 on two or more cards.
The loss ends Reveco’s title reign, having held a regular or interim title since 2010. It also snaps an 18-fight win streak stretched out over eight years. His lone other loss came in Dec. ’07, dropping a 12-round decision to Brahim Asloum in France in their 108 lb. title fight.
With the win, Ioka has now claimed titles at strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight. He joins Koki Kameda as just the second fighter ever from Japan to accomplish the feat, doing so in seven fewer fights.
Kameda won belts at junior flyweight, flyweight (World championship) and bantamweight (secondary title) by his 25th pro fight. Ioka collected his three belts in 18 fights, although at age 26 was two years older than Kameda (24) at the time of the achievement.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home.
