Kazuto Ioka didn’t have any regrets about the decision made to proceed with his year-end boxing tradition.

The four-division titlist and reigning WBA junior bantamweight title claimant was forced to settle for a voluntary title defense versus longshot underdog Josber Perez.

The bout came after a failed attempt to secure a unification showdown versus lineal and WBC junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28KOs). Takes stopped cold when Mexico’s Estrada and his team grew displeased over the money offered for their targeted New Year’s Eve headliner in Tokyo.

Ultimately, the show had to go on.

“The Estrada fight is not everything in my boxing career,” Ioka told BoxingScene.com. “It [was] important for me to fight in front of my fans on New Year’s Eve, and I chose to do so.”

Ioka (31-2-1, 16KOs) floored Venezuela’s Perez (20-4, 18KOs) three times en route to a seventh-round knockout victory Sunday evening at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

The venue has housed his last eight starts, including five straight New Year’s Eve shows. Ioka has fought every final day of the year since 2011 save for one year—2017, when he was briefly retired from the sport while in a bitter dispute with his father and then-promoter Kazunori Ioka.

A 2018 ring return also saw a revival of the New Year’s Eve tradition. He suffered his only holiday loss that year, a twelve-round, split decision to Donnie Nietes in their vacant WBO junior bantamweight title fight in Macao. It was also the only year he fought outside Japan on the date. Sunday’s win ran his New Year’s Eve record to 10-1-1 (8KOs)—all in title fights spanning four weight divisions.

“This is my 12th world title match on New Year's Eve. I believe it's a great honor to fight in the final world title match of the year every year,” stated Ioka, who picked up his first stoppage in exactly three years. “At the same time, for me, fighting on this day feels like a very natural thing to do.”

While there exists the possibility of a future clash versus Estrada, Ioka’s next fight will likely come in a mandatory title defense versus WBA number-one contender John ‘Scrappy’ Ramirez (13-0, 9KOs).

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox