The extremely prepared for title marriage and yearly year-end boxing custom are now in severe doubt of taking place. Recent reports recommend that settlements in between Juan Francisco Estrada and Kazuto Ioka’s groups have actually reached a dead stop. Initially set up to occur on December 31 in Tokyo, this champion bout, which would have merged the lineal, WBC, and WBA junior bantamweight titles, is now not likely to take place before completion of the year, if ever.
Signs of difficulty appeared when Ioka’s camp hinted that he may have his next fight in the United States, differing his popular New Year’s Eve headlining function in Japan. Estrada included fuel to the fire by revealing strong discontentment with the bag deal compared to his incomes from his previous fight against Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez. This rubber match made both fighters substantial seven-figure paydays, now, Estrada appears reluctant to go back into the ring with such a financially rewarding variation.
The ruling junior bantamweight champ from Mexico has actually not combated given that his triumph over Gonzalez, and it is not likely that he will make his return before the year’s end. There are even talks of him checking out other choices as a totally free representative.
Ioka, on the other hand, needed to leave his WBO title due to stopping working to safeguard it against Junto Nakatani. Instead, he went with a rematch against Joshua Franco, which he won convincingly, catching the WBA title.
Amidst speculation, it has actually been verified that any talk of a prospective Ioka-Chocolatito fight on New Year’s Eve is not sincere. The future of this highly-anticipated bout stays unsure, leaving boxing fans dissatisfied and uncertain of what to anticipate from this year’s end.
