IBF super featherweight champion Joe ‘The Welsh Wizard’ Cordina 17-0 (9) was made to work but held off a gritty and determined Edward ‘Kid’ Vazquez 15-2 (3) to win by majority decision at the Casino de Monte Carlo Salle Medecin in Monte Carlo, Morocco on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Welshman was making the third defence of the world title he won against Kenichi Ogawa by second-round knockout in Japan in June last year. He followed this up with a split decision win over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in a back-and-forth war in Cardiff in April.
Vazquez shaped up to be the type of opponent to look good against, a come-forward fighter lacking real pop. But the 28-year-old from Fort Worth in Texas gave as good as he got for much of the contest.
Cordina started well, walking Vazquez onto his shots and landing the sharper, more eye-catching punches. But by the fifth round Vazquez was starting find his range, having success with short shots to the body and head once he worked his way inside.
All three judges scored the first seven rounds the same, with the champion sweeping the first four frames, the challenger taking the next to stanza and Cordina winning the seventh to take a 68-65 lead into the last five rounds of the bout.
Cordina and Vazquez appeared to alternate rounds for the rest of the fight and heading to the scorecards, it was always going to be close. Judges Deon Dwarte and Jean-Robert Laine handed in identical scores of 116-112, while judge Jeremy Hayes couldn’t split them at 114-114.
“He’s better than I thought,” Cordina admitted after the fight, “[but] you can’t win a fight like that. Look at my face and look at his face, I’ve not got a mark on me. I’m happy. I got a win against a good fighter with a bad performance.”
Vazquez wasn’t happy with the result.
“You know what, I have strong faith, God put me here for a reason. There’s no coincidences. I’ll be back,” Vazquez said.
“Everyone watching knows I won. They did it to me again. You know what it is, I’ll be back. He wasn’t able to do anything he wanted to do the entire fight. He had no power. This guy’s got no power. This is probably his last fight at 130-pounds.”
Cordina scoffed at those comments.
“If you can’t beat me at my worst, then you’ve got no chance,” he said.
Before the fight Cordina insisted he was taking Vazquez seriously.
“He’s a good fighter, I’ve never once disrespected him. I’m taking this very seriously, don’t worry about that,” Cordina said.
“I saw in an interview that I am taking him lightly, trust me, I’ve never taken a journeyman lightly never mind a world title fight.
“This is a fight that can potentially set up my future and my kids’ future. I’ve got three kids to look after so every time it gets tough, I think of my kids. Without me winning on Saturday, those big fights aren’t going to be there for me, so I’ll do everything possible to get the win.
“He’s going to bring it because it’s a big opportunity for him. He’s a good fighter, I watched the fight against [southpaw Raymond] Ford [a split decision loss] and I thought he should have had it, so he’s going to bring the heat but I am ready to match it.”
