Kazuto Ioka vs. Joshua Franco fight time, live stream, more for bantamweight title bout

WBO bantamweight champion Kazuto Ioka (29-2, 15KOs) will continue his tradition of fighting on New Year’s Eve with a unification bout against WBO champion Joshua Franco (18-1-2) at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.

How to watch Kazuto Ioka vs. Joshua Franco

The fight card willl begin at 5 a.m. ET, with the main event ringwalks expected around 7:30 a.m. ET.

There is no broadcast or live stream of the card in the U.S. or UJ.K.

Fighter history

Ioka iis -160 on the moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook. Franco is betting at +125.

Ioka, 33, will be making his sixth defense of the WBO bantamweight title, with his most recent defense a successful unanimous decision win over Donnie Nietes on July 13 to avenge a loss several years earlier. He is fighting on New Year’s Eve for the 11th straight year. Ioka’s other successful title defenses include a knockout win over Kosei Tanaka on Dec. 31, 2020 and decision wins over Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (Sept. 1, 2021) and Ryoji Fukunaga (Dec. 31, 2021).

Franco, 27, has spent much of the past two years in a trilogy with Australian bantamweight Andrew Moloney. He wen 2-0-1 in those fights, winning the third fight by unanimous decision on August 14, 2021 to close out the series. Franco hasn’t been in the ring in over 14 months, his injuries being the cause of his long layoff.

Full card for Kazuto Ioka vs. Joshua Franco

• Main event: Kazuto Ioka vs. Joshua Franco, 12 rounds, for WBO & WBA bantamweight titles
• Hayato Tsutsumi vs. Pete Apolinar, 8 rounds, featherweights
• Ryuto Owan vs. Sukpraserd Ponpitak, 8 rounds, junior featherweights
• Satsuki Ito vs. Wassana Kamdee, 6 rounds, women’s junior bantamweights
• Kentaro Miyamoto vs. Taiga Ito, 6 rounds, junior middleweights
• Akira Nakashima vs. Kantaro Nakanishi, 4 rounds, junior featherweights