Kazuto Ioka flexed for the assembled media on hand and then calmly drank a rehydration beverage after checking in at the heaviest weight of his storied career.
The former four-division titlist came in right at the 118lbs limit for his bantamweight debut. Venezuela’s Maikel Ordosgoitti was comfortably under the mark at 117.5lbs for their bantamweight title eliminator.
Lemino will stream their scheduled 12-round main event live this Wednesday from Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.
“We successfully added the weight and are in really good condition for this fight,” Ioka assured the media during the final pre-fight press conference following the weigh-in ceremony.
The winner will become the mandatory challenger to the WBA 118lbs title currently held by Seiya Tsutsumi, 13-0-1 (8 KOs). However, Tsutsumi’s availability is in question after having surgery to repair a broken nose sustained in his thrilling December 17 win over Nonito Donaire.
Regardless, Ioka is determined to re-enter the title mix after back-to-back defeats to Martinez. He lost his WBA belt to the high-octane Argentinean during their July 2024 title unification clash in Tokyo. Their delayed rematch – as referenced in the above New Year’s Eve fallout last year – resurfaced in May and ended with Ioka dropping a questionable decision.
Ordosgoitti, 15-1 (14 KOs) travels to Japan for the first time, which also marks just his second fight outside of Venezuela.
The lone other road trip took place this past April during the opening round of the WBC Boxing Grand Prix tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ordosgoitti suffered a knockdown en route to a six-round, unanimous decision defeat to Mexico’s Angel Hinojosa.
Ordosgoitti has since returned to the win column with a first-round knockout over a walkover opponent on June 21 in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela.
Ioka, 31-4-1 (16 KOs) will headline a boxing event on New Year’s Eve for the 13th time. He was forced to skip the tradition last year when then-unbeaten IBF titlist Fernando Martinez fell ill and withdrew just hours before the weigh-in. Ioka was left without enough time to secure an emergency replacement, which forced him off the show.
The 36-year-old Osaka-born, Tokyo-based ring legend is 10-1-1 (7 KOs) overall on the year-end holiday. This year’s offering is a rare occasion where a major – or even a secondary – belt is not at stake. Ioka has either defended or fought for a title on every New Year’s Eve from 2011-2017 and 2019-2023.
Instead, he fights for the right to challenge for a bantamweight belt, which he hopes to do in his next fight with a win on Wednesday.
