Four-division world champion Kazuto Ioka had long sought a junior bantamweight unification, thinking he could do it with a fight against then-Ring champion and WBC titleholder Juan Francisco Estrada behind schedule last year, but that all fell apart during negotiations.

However, Ioka, ranked No. 2 in the junior bantamweight division by The Ring, and his team were able to negotiate a deal with undefeated IBF world champion Fernando Martinez, the two of whom will face off Sunday at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

“I’m cheerful to have the unification fight,” Ioka (32-2-1, 16 knockouts) told The Ring via Yusuke Ninomiya. “I think it’s a challenge to move on, and fighting the IBF champion is a gigantic challenge. I’ve never won the IBF title before, so I want to win it!”

He failed to secure the aforementioned fight with Estrada, who ultimately opted to fight rising star Jesse Rodriguez last weekend. Ioka had that in mind.

“Because of the nature of the program, the negotiations didn’t go well and the event didn’t happen at the end of last year,” he said, without elaborating. Estrada’s financial demands are believed to have been too much trouble.

“I want to fight the winner of Estrada vs. Jesse Rodriguez,” he said.

As usual, Ioka headed to Las Vegas for four weeks to train under the watchful eye of longtime trainer Ismael Salas, where he also sparred with former world title challenger Angelino Cordova (18-1-1, 12 KOs), who was chosen to emulate his fellow South American’s aggressive fighting style.

The 35-year-old, who will be fighting for a 26th world title, remains as motivated as ever since he turned professional 15 years ago.

Since then he has won the WBA and WBC strawweight titles before moving up to junior flyweight and then flyweight, where he annexed the WBA belts. At junior bantamweight he won the WBO and WBA titles, although he had to relinquish the WBA title to face Joshua Franco in a rematch after initially being held to a draw rather than face the mandatory. That’s how badly he wanted to face Joshua again.

“I’ve come this far, but I’m not cheerful with where I am now, I want to see how far I can go and prove it,” he explained. “I want to encourage the people who are watching me. Of course, I will fight for my family and the people who support me.”

This looks like an intriguing style matchup, Ioka’s skill versus Martinez’s relentless aggression. However, I think Ioka having home court advantage and being more lively tips the scales in his favor.

It should be noted that Martinez has fought five of his last six fights outside of Argentina and has won, although this is a fight he hasn’t fought in over a year. My prediction is that Ioka uses his impressive skill and movement to constantly force Martinez into changing directions and wins a hard-fought but unanimous decision in just 12 rounds.

Martinez (16-0, 9 KOs), ranked No. 3 by The Ring as a junior bantamweight, was a standout amateur and represented his home country of Argentina around the world, appearing in the World Series of Boxing and at the 2016 Olympics before turning pro in 2017.

“Pumita” won his first nine fights, all in Argentina, before traveling to South Africa to stop Athenkosi Dumezweni (TKO 11). The 32-year-old was largely unknown until he defeated Jerwin Ancajas (UD 12) to win the IBF title and repeated the feat in his first defense. He then scored a behind schedule knockout over fellow Filipino Jade Bornea (TKO 11).

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It has been announced that undefeated heavyweight Johnny Fisher will face “The Savage,” former bridge title challenger and heavyweight great Alen Babic on July 6th, with the fight taking place at The Copper Box in London. And this fight has fireworks written all over it. But the flashes, sparks and explosions may not last very long.

Fisher, just 25 years aged and currently 11-0(10), has gained a real following since turning pro in February 2021, and ‘The Romford Bull’ has some people thinking he could be the next large heavyweight star. Maybe.

Croatian “Savage” Babic, 12-1(11), has been sending fans home elated for some time now, the 33-year-old gaining a cult following with his reckless, devilishly entertaining style and approach. But the wheels came off last April when Babic was dropped in a round in his biggest fight to date, a challenge for the vacant WBC bridgeweight title; Babic was defeated in a round by Łukasz Różański. Babic bounced back to stop Steve Robinson in another profitable fight in March.

So in the July fight, Fisher, a much bigger and younger man, will face a smaller but more experienced slugger. Both men are sluggers. So who wins?

Fisher, who came off a quick win over Dmytro Bezus, whom he defeated in January, could finish Babič in double quick time. Or maybe Babič can survive the expected early onslaught and drag the bigger man into deeper waters. Babič has only made it past the sixth round once, though, and his plan for the fight is to get the job done as quickly as possible.

Fisher, who has only been extended to the seventh round once, also wants a quick win. It looks like these two will come out throwing bombs at each other from the get-go. This could end quickly – with Fisher expected to blow Babic away here – but things could get very compelling, and perhaps even very exhilarating, if the fight goes longer than three or four rounds.

This is a step up for Fisher, in a fight that Babic says he’ll enjoy taking Fisher down. Rest assured, this fight will be fun while it lasts. But it may not last very long.

Fisher vs. Babic fight start date and time

• Date: Saturday, July 6
• Time: 7pm UK / 2pm ET

Fisher vs. Babic Fight Card

• Johnny Fisher vs. Alen Babic; heavyweight
• Reece Bellotti vs Levi Giles for British Super Featherweight Title
• John Hedges vs. Lewis Oakford; cruiserweight
• Maisey Rose Courtney vs. Jasmina Zapotoczna; Flyweight
• Giorgio Visioli vs. Tampela Maharusi; Super Featherweight

Paschal Collins has dismissed suggestions that Alen Babic is too tiny to field Johnny Fisher.

The rivals will clash in the heavyweight division on Saturday at the Copper Box Arena in London, where the undefeated Fisher, 25, is the favourite.

Babic, 33, of Croatian descent, is fighting for the second time under Collins. He is also fighting for the second time since his only loss – a first-round knockout at the hands of Lukasz Rozanski in the under-respected bridge division.

The fact that Pole Różański was stopped in the next round by Lawrence Okolie, a natural cruiserweight, made the aggressive Babic’s defeat by him seem even more painful – and the truth is that there was never any doubt that the physically maturing Fisher was fighting at his natural weight.

Collins led Babic to a knockout victory over Steve Robinson in March. His fighter remains undefeated in the heavyweight division, and while he knows Babic can’t risk trading with Fisher, Collins has seen enough improvement and enough wins in the past for perceived undersized heavyweights to be convinced Babic can secure a top-profile victory.

“You get massive lifters like [Jarrell Miller]” said the Irishman. “He can punch; he fights at a ponderous pace; he tries to set up his punches. But then you get heavyweights like [Rocky] Marcianos of the world – be relentless. You have athletes who lift weights – really good athletes who have a certain style, who can apply and utilize their style to the best of their ability and beat anyone.

“John Ruiz – nobody said John Ruiz would lose to Roy Jones. James Toney beats Evander Holyfield. That’s bullshit. If you fight right and have the right game plan, the weight difference – it doesn’t make any difference. Look what Joseph Parker did. [Zhilei] Zhang and Deontay Wilder. He’s the smaller man. He’s tenacious.

“Alen, before he started working with me, he was kind of sticking his chin out. When Alen went to the gym, the first thing I did was neat up that defense. Tone up his defense. Same work rate, but not wasting too many throws. A lot of throws were wasted throws – missed throws. It’s balance; it’s reserve energy; throw the same amount of throws, but not wasting any, and keep your chin tucked in.

“Johnny Fisher is a good fighter. He’s a budding pro. There was talk of Johnny Fisher and Thomas Carty, my fighter. We were in Vegas in January at the UFC Institute. Thomas was there; Johnny was there. They were kind of entertaining to be around because people were talking about them eventually fighting.

“I called them and said, ‘Listen, you’re both up-and-coming pros, you’re not going to fight each other for a long time.’ Then they told me, ‘Johnny Fisher is going to fight Alen Babić.’ It’s an intriguing fight – it really is – and I like Johnny Fisher. He’s a rugby player – it’s a contact sport, rugby. You have to be tough to play it.

“The only thing I think Johnny will let down is his boxing. He’ll be there, he’ll be throwing punches. If he makes the mistake of trying to fight at the same tempo as Alen Babic, which a lot of newcomers will try to do, I think four or five rounds, he’ll just be out of it.”

This is the second time Collins and Babic have collaborated.

“He came to me in December,” he said. “He came to me because I had worked with Niall Kennedy before, who boxed him [Babic won via stoppage in 2020]. He came for a week; we hit it off. “It was intriguing working with him because he’s a pretty intense guy, but he’s my kind of fighter – he throws himself at fighters and sticks with them, but he does it in a way that he doesn’t get hit too much. In defense, he suppresses the other guy’s work.

“In this fight in particular, Johnny Fisher can hit from range and mid-range, so you have to hit him right in the chest and you have to throw punches to his guard and wear him down over time. Basically, it’s about going tough for 10 rounds and trying to wear Johnny Fisher down. But at that range – mid-range – he’s a hazardous fighter because he’s going to land those punches in those areas.

“He’s intense even outside the gym; outside the ring; a very intense type of person. He’s met a very irate man – an irate person. He’s not. It’s just his personality. When he comes to Dublin, he’s in training camp and he’s in the zone. He’s like a method actor – he gets into character. I’ve had that in Dublin for eight weeks. Sometimes it’s very tiring – sometimes I step away from it. But that’s just his style, so I just let him do it.

“[The first time] he came to me and told me what he wanted to do and I told him to fuck off and that was it. We came to an agreement because I wouldn’t put up with his shit. “Someone’s telling me what to do now.” He said he was coming to Dublin to give me a chance or something like that. “Who the fuck are you? I’ll give you a chance. Now fuck off.” Sorry about the French. He fucked off. He went back to Croatia. He called me and said, “Will you train me?” I said, “Sure.” He knew I wouldn’t fall for it and he knew that was the way to fight. “You’ve got to fix this because if you don’t, I’m not wasting my time.” He understood that and appreciated my honesty.

“My brother Steve [the retired world champion] he comes to Dublin once a week; once every two weeks. Steve will come. “This is what you have to do.” Alen saw the level of coaching he was getting from me, but also from my brother, and he listened. He showed that in his last fight with Robinson – Robinson has to have the best chin in boxing, and the worst corner.

“There was a spark between us, [post-Robinson] He went back to Croatia for two weeks and then straight to Dublin. Before the fight was announced, he came back to Dublin and we worked together – he lives in Dublin. He has the best sparring; we have a game plan. It’s easier now. He knows me.”