The rematch of one of the best fights of 2022 is coming this weekend on the boxing schedule, from the same arena it took place in last year. After a lot of debate surrounding the decision of their first meeting, this weekend is a chance for the real winner to be crowned. A lot of fans and boxing experts were disappointed in the DRAW on the scorecards, but the fight was close enough.
Keep reading for an in-depth breakdown of this fight and the official Ioka vs Franco prediction before making your picks this weekend.
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Boxing: Ioka vs Franco Betting Trends
- Kazuto Ioka is 4-0-1 in his last 5 appearances in the ring.
- Joshua Franco is 3-0-1 with a No Contest in his last 5 bouts.
- Ioka hasn’t been the betting underdog since his 2020 fight against Tanaka–where he won via TKO.
- Franco has been the underdog in 3 out of his last 5 bouts.
- Ioka is 29-2-1 with 15 KOs in his career.
- Franco is 18-1-3 with 8 KOs under his belt.
How To Bet on Ioka vs Franco
When you want to bet on boxing matches, there are a lot of things that go into making the best bet available. The more knowledge you have on the fighters, promotion, and even the venue of the fight will make it easier to get a grasp of how the fight will play out. Since this one is a direct rematch from 6 months ago, it’s a little easier to look at and make an Ioka vs Franco prediction.
You need to make sure you take time to look through all the boxing odds available for this fight. Right now, this is a pick’em odds fight as it was just scored a draw the last time they met. Some sportsbooks have Ioka as the slight underdog at around +100 or -105.
These odds have to be slight because of the public outrage over their last fight. Many fans were calling for Franco to get the nod in their first meeting since he was the busier fighter. But boxing isn’t all about the number of punches you throw.
The power advantage in this one is on Ioka’s side, but Franco showed that he is able to put out nonstop pressure over all 12 rounds. Be ready for a fight where both men give even more effort to pull away on the scorecards, or even finish the fight.
Ioka vs Franco Betting Picks
After breaking down these kinds of closely matched boxing matches, you can find yourself going back and forth on who you think will win. The issue with the decision in their last meeting was how the scorecards looked. It was clear there was some kind of corrupted mindset of the judges with how they scored it round-by-round. Franco started doing his best work in the late rounds, and judges gave almost all of the later rounds to Ioka.
This is a major problem because judges shouldn’t be able to score the fight as a whole to get to a draw; if they thought Franco won every round, then he won every round. It seemed like they made up the score for the hometown Japanese champion.
There’s major concern that this fight is being held in Japan again because Franco already had to deal with all the disadvantages of that, and put on a performance of a lifetime. Will he be able to do it again?
Final Thoughts and Prediction!
As for an official Ioka vs Franco prediction; we are going with Ioka getting his hand raised this weekend. Unfortunately, sometimes the guy the fans want to win doesn’t always get it done, even when it seems like it’s destined to be that way.
The lack of power in Franco’s hands is going to be a problem. Ioka will have a chance to make adjustments this time around and try to find some counter shots with bad intentions behind them.
Remember, this fight is literally a toss-up. A 50/50 coin flip in a lot of people’s eyes and that is 100% the truth. The lack of power in Franco will keep Ioka in the fight because he will be able to bite down on his mouthpiece and get back into the fight if he needs to.
If we look at the official stats of their first bout, the rounds were split 6-6 in terms of total punches landed. But the big stat of that fight is that Ioka landed more power punches, plus total punches over 12 rounds.
Top Sportsbooks Odds
BetOnline: Ioka -102
SportsBetting: Ioka -102
MyBookie: Ioka -108
BetUS: Ioka -110
Bonus! Other Fights Worth Placing a Bet On
- Edgar Berlanga vs Jason Quigley in New York–winner hopes to secure a title fight in the super middleweight division.
- Carlos Adames vs Julian Williams for the WBC interim middleweight title in Minnesota.
- UFC on ABC this weekend: the main event is between two top featherweights in, Josh Emmett and Ilia Topuria. The winner of that one will get a big top-contender fight in their next appearance.
- The co-main event this weekend in the UFC will be a great one as well. Women’s flyweight star Amanda Ribas will take on a young prospect in Maycee Barber in front of a rowdy Jacksonville crowd on Saturday afternoon. These fights are awesome to watch on ABC–brings back the nostalgia of classic boxing.
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