Joe Cordina continued his undefeated record and retained his IBF super-lightweight title, with a majority decision over Edward Vazquez. The judges scoring 114-114, 116-112,116-112 in favour of the Welshman.
Cordina v Vazquez: The Fight
Cordina started strong in the first round with rapid jabs, and a couple of strong left hooks to the body, that looked to affect Vazquez. He finished the round with a good right overhand on the bell.
The American did apply pressure in the second round finding small amounts of success, but he continued to get caught by left hooks to the body that began to slow him down. it was a strong end to the round from both men, as they looked to catch each other with heavy shots to end the fight.
Vazquez had a strong start to the third round, catching the champion with a strong right hand. Cordina looked to control the range, using his jab to set up his shots towards the end of the round.
Vazquez began the fourth round strong closing the distance well, but was caught by a strong uppercut, followed by a flurry of punches by the Welshman to earn the round.
It was a quieter round in the fifth for the Cardiff born fighter, with Vazquez being the busier, but again was being caught by body shots.
Both fighters landed heavy shots in the sixth round, showing that the fight was close, and going to be hard to score. The seventh round was also close with both fighters showing good work.
Cordina had his best round in the eighth, with Vazquez picking up the ninth by closing the distance. The tenth round went the way of Cordina, but the fight was very close going in to the final two rounds.
The final two rounds gave little difference between the fighters, with potential for the scorecards to go either way. The Welshman earned the victory with a majority decision, with the Vazquez camp visibly unhappy with the scorecards.
Joe Cordina – Edward Vazquez: Post Fight Reaction
The champion had no doubts that he was the winner of the fight, despite many believing it was close. speaking to the DAZN post fight he said:
“I didn’t really have to work hard for it, it was just trying to track him down and pin him.” “He is a good fighter, but like he said in the press conferences, don’t make excuses you lost the fight end of story.”
The American wasn’t so sure stating: “Everyone in this room in here, everyone watching around the world knows I won, Eddie Hearn knows I won.”
“All the other 130’s will walk right through this guy he’s got no power.” added Vazquez.
Promoter Eddie Hearn believed that Cordina done enough in the fight to regain his title.
“I thought it was a very close fight” said Hearn. “I had Joe edging a very close, very competitive, very gruelling, very good fight.” he added.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Imagesa
