By Jake Donovan

Juan Carlos Reveco and Kazuto Ioka did their part for their flyweight title fight to move forward for Wednesday evening at Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka, Japan.


Reveco (35-1, 19KOs) will travel to Japan for just the second time in his career, with the bout coming just one day shy of his 11-year anniversary in the pro ranks. The previous trek to the Far East resulted in a 12-round win over Masayuki Kuroda in his first official defense as a full flyweight titlist, having reigned as an interim titlist since 2010.

His lone other road trip outside of Argentina came way back in Dec. '07, ending his brief stay as a 108 lb. titlist with a points loss to Brahim Asloum in France. 

Ioka (16-1, 10KOs) makes his second attempt at become a titlist in three weight classes. The 26-year enjoyed alphabet title stays at strawweight and junior flyweight before moving up to flyweight last year. The move up the scales resulted in his first career loss, dropping a 12-round decision to unbeaten Amnat Ruenroeng, who still serves as one of the best flyweights in the world. 

Two wins have since followed for Ioka, both coming against water-treading competition. More than half of his career has been spent in title fights, beginning with his 5th round knockout of Oleydong Sithsamerchai in 2011, winning a strawweight title in just his 7th pro fight.

The last fight of his strawweight reign served as the first time in history that two fighters from Japan met in a title unification match. Ioka and Akira Yaegashi did their part to commemorate the moment, throwing down for 12 vicious rounds, with Ioka earning a close but clear decision to unify two belts at strawweight.

Both fighters abandoned the division following the fight. Yaegashi went on to win the World flyweight crown, while Ioka enjoyed a year-long stay as a 108 lb. titlist. The World flyweight championship is now in the lethal hands of unbeaten rising star Róman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez.

The flyweight title bout will air live on TBS in Japan.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox