Young Japanese fighter Kazuto Ioka (11-0, 7) became a 2-weight world champion as he claimed the WBA Light Flyweight title by stopping the sadly out classed Mexican Jose Alfredo Rodriguez (28-2, 17) in just 6 very fun to watch rounds.
It was obvious from very early on that Ioka was simply too good for Rodriguez with his power and skills showing from the opening bell. By the end of the opening round it appeared obvious we were in for a short one with Rodriguez being dropped before we'd even finished he first stanza. Rodriguez proved his Mexican bravery as he fought back over the following few rounds in an extremely physical bout, though he was always being out classed by a supremely talented youngster who had made his name at Minimumweight.
Ioka's power, hand speed and accuracy started to wear down Rodriguez and in round 6 Ioka put his foot on the gas and dropped Rodriguez twice before the referee waved the bout off with just seconds of the round left.
Ioka's WBA Light Flyweight title is his third professional world title after having won (and unified) the WBA and WBC Minimumweight titles over the past year or so. It's hard to think of any other fighter with so few fights who has won so much. Even more impressively is the fact that Ioka's title winning fights have come against fighters with very impressive records including Oleydong Sithsamerchai (then 35-0-1), Akira Yaegashi (then 15-2) and now Rodriguez (who entered 28-1). If he continues on this impressive streak the sky really is his limit, especially considering he is just 23.
This is the second successive loss in the career of Jose Alfredo Rodriguez (the first by stoppage) and whilst he is more experienced as a professional than Ioka it was obvious that he wasn't world class. He will need to go back to Mexico and hope to correct some of his flaws that Ioka picked to pieces with ridiculously brilliant combinations.
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