Boxing Challenge: Martinez nips Ioka

    Fernando Martinez was victorious in his rematch with Kazuto Ioka by a unanimous decision, but it wasn't without adversity in the Tokyo fight.

Ioka knocked Martinez down in the tenth round, and I thought he did enough to earn the victory with the knockdown making the difference in my 114-113 scorecard.

The judges differed, giving Martinez the nod by surprising margins of  117-110, 115-112, and 114-113.

Martinez retains his WBA junior bantamweight title, while Ioka is reportedly considering retirement.

In Florida, Erickson Lubin knocked out Ardreal Holmes in the eleventh round of their IBF junior middleweight title eliminator.

This was a dreadful fight that saw the previously unbeaten Holmes move around and appear petrified of Lubin's power.

Holmes could have won this fight if he had punched even a little more, but he didn't, and the fairly ineffective forward movement of Lubin wore Holmes down.

Two knockdowns in the eleventh ended this one.

Lubin is now the mandatory challenger for IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:74 Pts  (2)

Ramon Malpica:73 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 30 Pts (0)