Kazuto Ioka closed out the year in style.

The four-division champ extended his annual New Year’s Eve tradition with a seventh-round knockout of Venezuela’s Josber Perez in their WBA junior bantamweight title fight. Ioka scored three knockdowns, the last of which produced a full ten count of 2:44 of the eighth round in their ABEMA TV-aired main event Sunday evening at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

Ioka hadn’t scored a stoppage win since his stunningly one-sided, eighth-round knockout of unbeaten countryman Kosei Tanaka exactly three years ago in this very venue. Five straight decisions have followed—four wins and a draw—for the 34-year-old who was entering his 23rd primary title fight (along with two wins in secondary title bouts).

He came out for the opening round with the intention of ending that streak, as the defending titlist landed a left hook inside the first minute. Perez shook off the blow and later attempted to shoulder roll a right hand, only to leave himself open for a left hook around his guard.

Perez spent most of the second round on the defensive but was not without his moments. He managed to land a pair of shots upstairs to briefly push back Ioka. It was short-lived, as Ioka later pinned Perez along the ropes and snapped back the Venezuelan’s head.

Action heated in the third. Both boxers let their hands go in the center of the ring. Perez attempted to set a trap along the ropes, but badly missed with an overhand right. Ioka frequently targeted Perez’s body and landed several left hooks downstairs. Perez fought through fatigue to rally back near the end of the round.

Ioka landed a right hand to snap back the head of Perez in the fourth. The weapon continued to produce success but Ioka struggled to land in combination as Perez’s infighting skills helped avoid any follow-up attack.

That good fortune did not last for long.

Perez ran out of ring space in round five. Ioka went on the hunt and eventually willed the second-time title challenger to the canvas with a series of power shots to the body and upstairs. Perez fell to a knee and took an eight count before action resumed. Ioke missed with a right hand and left hook but stood his ground long enough to slam home a straight right that sent Perez reeling into the ropes and onto the canvas.

Ioka had Perez hurt again early and late in the sixth. Momentum never shifted as Ioka remained on the hunt in the seventh. Perez tried in vain to extend the fight but was sent the canvas for a third time courtesy of an overhand right. Perez (20-4, 18KOs) remained on a knee as he was counted out.

Ioka advanced to 31-2-1 (16KOs), including 10-1-1 (8KOs) in New Year’s Eve headliners. He once again pushed past superstar countryman Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23KOs) on Japan’s all-time list for most title fight wins with 20.

Both were tied at 19 (Ioka and Inoue also have two wins each in secondary title fights) after Inoue’s tenth-round knockout of Marlon Tapales last Tuesday to fully unify the junior featherweight division.  

Sunday's bout was originally targeted as a unification clash versus lineal and WBC junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28KOs). Ioka wanted to follow suit from last New Year's Eve headliner, when he defended his WBO belt versus then WBA titlist Joshua Franco at this very site.

Ioka and Franco fought to a majority decision draw in what was Ioka's final WBO 115-pound title defense. He was forced to relinquish the belt when he opted to face Franco in a rematch instead of mandatory challenger Junto Nakatani. Ioka beat Franco (18-2-3, 8KOs) via unanimous decision at this location to begin his WBA reign. 

The year-end headliner was Ioka's fifth in a row since he returned to the sport in 2018. It was his twelfth overall dating back to 2011 during his first year as a major titlist when he held the WBC strawweight belt. He fought in his Osaka hometown for each of the first five New Year's Eve shows before he took the act to Kyoto in 2016.

Ioka abruptly retired from the sport in early 2018 after a falling out with his father and then-promoter, Kazunori Ioka. The announcement came on New Year's Day, ironically the day after the one New Year's Eve where he did not appear in the ring. 

The retirement came two months after he vacated his WBA flyweight title, though he returned to the ring in September 2018 as a junior bantamweight.

Ioka renewed the year-end tradition later that year, though in a series of firsts. He suffered a split decision defeat to Donnie Nietes in their WBO junior bantamweight title in Macau, marking his lone loss on the date and the only time he fought on a New Year's Eve show outside of Japan. 

Ioka claimed the belt one fight later in a June 2019 tenth-round knockout of Aston Palicte. The win saw him become Japan's first male boxer to win major titles in four weight divisions, since joined by Inoue who is also the nation's first undisputed champ (in the four-belt era) and first to claim unified title status in two or more weights.

The hope is for Ioka to join the longtime pound-for-pound entrant in that regard. He unified the WBC and WBA strawweight titles in a win over Akira Yaegashi in their June 2012 thriller. The bout marked the first-ever unification between reigning titlists from Japan. 

His close call with Franco denied Ioka the chance to beat Inoue as a two-division unified champ, as did the WBO's decision to subsequently force him to give up the title. 

Back at the forefront for Ioka are plans to revisit talks with Estrada for a multi-belt clash in 2024.

Estrada will likely return in February in a non-title fight at bantamweight. There is also interest from two-division titlist Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez, the current unified IBF/WBO flyweight champ who plans to return to junior bantamweight in the year ahead. 

There is enough history between Ioka and Rodriguez, who is Franco's younger brother and could seek out revenge for his family. However, it's likely a less realistic option for the year ahead than whatever chance there is at Estrada-Ioka, for a looming title defense versus WBA mandatory challenger John 'Scrappy' Ramirez.

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