By Ian S Palmer
Former WBO Light Flyweight champ Angel Acosta of Puerto Rico will be taking on unbeaten Angelino Cordova of Venezuela in a 12-round flyweight bout this Thursday, April 6th. The fight from Indio, California can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Acosta last fought in May when he stopped Janiel Rivera in just 79 seconds. It was a great way to regain some confidence after he was stopped in the sixth round by Junto Nakatani in his previous fight six months earlier in a shot at the WBO Flyweight Title. Cordova last saw action in June when he edged Axel Aragon Vega by a 10-round split decision to take the vacant WBO Latino Light Flyweight Title.
The 32-year-old Acosta turned pro back in 2012 and has compiled a pretty good record so far at 23-3 with 22 big Ko’s. He’s obviously known as a big hitter with a current knockout ratio of 84.6 per cent with all but one of his victories coming by way of stoppage. The former champion stands 5-feet-4-inches tall with a reach of 63.5 inches.
Acosta has boxed a total of 124 rounds since turning pro in 2012 following his amateur career. His first pro defeat came at the hands of Kosei Tanaka of Japan in May, 2017 by unanimous decision in a shot at Tanaka’s WBO Light Flyweight Title. Tanaka then vacated the belt and moved up in weight while Acosta took on Juan Alejo Zuniga for the crown and stopped him in the 10th round for the vacant belt.
He then defended the title with a 12th-round TKO over Carlos Buitrago, stopped Abraham Rodriguez in the second round four months later and stopped Ganigan Lopez in the eighth round five months after that. He then lost his title to Elwin Soto when he was stopped in the 12th round in June, 2019. Acosta has also beaten Victor Ruiz, Armando Vazquez, Juan Guzman, Luis Ceja, Gilberto Mendoza, Raymond Tabugon and Japhet Uutoni.
He won the vacant WBO International Flyweight Crown with his fifth-round stoppage of Tabugon in October, 2019 and had previously won the vacant WBC Fecarbox, and WBO Latino Light Flyweight Crowns. Acosta has gone the distance just twice in his 26 pro fights as he lost the 10-round unanimous decision to Tanaka and beat Mendoza via an eight-round unanimous decision after dropping him in the seventh round.
As for the 27-year-old Cordova, he makes the ring walk with a near-perfect mark of 17-0-1 with 12 Ko’s and has boxed 75 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017 following an amateur career which saw him fight in the World Series of Boxing. He measures 5-feet-4-inches tall with a 65.5-inch reach which puts him at the same height as Acosta but with a two-inch reach advantage.
Cordova has enough power in his arsenal to cause some damage as his current knockout ratio comes in at 66.7 per cent and he’s won eight of his last 10 fights by stoppage. But before he’s hailed as the next great thing in boxing, you should be aware that just two of Cordova’s 18 opponents have entered the ring with a winning record so he’s taking a gigantic leap in class against Acosta. The lone blemish in Cordova’s record is a four-round draw with Luis Guatache in 2017.
Prediction…
This contest pits power against power with Acosta coming out with the edge in that department as well as in experience. It’s hard what to make of Cordova due to his weak opposition so far but he’s either going to sink or swim this weekend. Even though he’s five years older than Cordova, I’m going with Acosta here due to his experience and power.
