Ioka vs Franco Prediction on December 31, 2022

Match info

On New Year’s Day (Saturday, December 31), the Ōta City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, will host a fight for the men’s boxing WBO and WBA (unified) world titles in the super flyweight (52.16 kg) between Japanese Kazuto Ioka and American Joshua Franco. The bout will start at 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Moscow time).

Meeting statistics

Note that Franco was supposed to meet WBA super bantamweight champion Juan Estrada last August, but the Mexican fighter chose to give up the title, so Franco became the only WBA champion in this division. One more attempt to organize the face-off between these two failed this March. In early December, Estrada ended the trilogy with Román González with his victory and now, most likely, will meet the winner of the Ioka vs. Franco fight.

The current form of Ioka

Ioka is the first Japanese boxer to win four weight divisions and now holds the WBO title, having successfully defended it five times already. He’s incredibly technical, with a great ‘school’, more of a counter puncher. Yes, he has had defeats, but these were in very close confrontations and against really top rivals, all by referee decisions.

In his previous fight, Ioka confidently dealt with Donnie Nietes, not giving him a single round out of 12.

The current form of Franco

This boxer isn’t as famous as Ioka, and among his rivals, it’s difficult to find top fighters. It differs in that he can take rounds when pressured, and even when pressured by boxers of a higher class, not getting tired throughout all 12 rounds.

Franco defeated Andrew Moloney by unanimous decision in his last fight.

The fighters’ comparison

A very interesting confrontation between the ‘techie’ and the ‘aggressor’. The comparison table contains objective indicators of opponents, this will help you make the right prediction for the fight and find a good bet on the best betting sites for boxing.

Match analytics

Bookmakers and experts see the Japanese as a favorite here, and not only because he fights at home. But for this reason, too, close rounds will obviously be given to him. However, Franco is able to cause problems and even take a few rounds (likely, that will be his maximum). Ioka is always concentrated, makes very few mistakes, and if he doesn’t make a mistake, then it’s impossible to deceive him. His boxing level is still higher than Franco’s.

Our prediction: Ioka’s victory for the odds of 1.57 according to the line of 1bet.