By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten IBF Super Featherweight Champion Joe Cordina of Wales travels to Monte Carlo this Saturday, November 4th to defend his title against Edward Vasquez of Fort Wort, Texas. The 12-rounder can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Cordina stopped Kenichi Ogawa in the second round in June, 2022, to win the title but was stripped of it when he failed to meet Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in November. Rakhimov then got up from the canvas in the third round to stop Zelfa Barrett in the ninth round to win the vacant title. Cordina eventually met Rakhimov in April and edged him by split decision to take the belt. Meanwhile, Vasquez last saw action in July when he beat Brayan De Gracia by a 10-round unanimous decision to capture the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Featherweight Title.
The 31-year-old Cordina owns a perfect record of 16-0 with 9 Ko’s and has boxed 93 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017. Before that he enjoyed a fine amateur career as he competed at the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships, the 2012 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament and the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships. He then won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a gold at the 2015 European Championships.
He also boxed at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships where he was beaten by Robson Conceição and went 1-1 at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since turning pro, Cordina has also captured the WBA International, Commonwealth Boxing Council, and BBBoC British Lightweight Titles as well as the WBA Continental Super Featherweight Title.
Cordina measures 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach. He isn’t known as a knockout artist but possesses a respectable knockout ratio of 56.3 per cent. He’s gone the distance in six of his last nine fights but scored a sensational KO over Ogawa. It came as a bit of a surprise to most fans as Cordina had never never taken on a legitimate world contender before meeting Ogawa, let alone a champion, as he had faced the likes of Jamie Speight, Hakim Ben Ali, Sean Dodd, Andy Townend, Mario Tinoco and Gavin Gwynne.
The 28-year-old Vasquez climbs through the ropes with an impressive mark of 15-1 with 3 Ko’s and has 100 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2016 following his amateur days. He measures 5-feet-7-inches tall but unfortunately has an unlisted reach, so gives up two inches in height to the champion.
The lone blemish on Vasquez’s pro record is a 10-round split decision defeat at the hands of Raymond Ford in February, 2022 but he’s bounced back with four wins since then. As far as power goes, Vasquez doesn’t have much pop in his punches at all as just 20 per cent of his wins have come by way of stoppage. And other than Ford, he hasn’t really faced any other recognizable opponents other than perhaps Brandon Cruz.
Vasquez also beat Irvin Gonzalez by an eight-round split decision in November, 2020 to take the vacant WBC USA Featherweight Title. In addition, he fought Abraham Torres to a four-round draw in his second pro fight in February, 2017 but that fight was later changed to a no-contest. Vasquez has a decent chin but has been down before in his career as Adan Ochoa dropped him in the second round of their 2020 meeting.
Prediction…
Rakhimov gave Cordina quite a fight but it was held in Cordina’s backyard in Cardiff, Wales. Cordina now gets the chance to show he’s the real deal buy to put it bluntly a win over Vasquez isn’t really going to prove too much. Cordina is a fine boxer though and took most fans by surprise when he stopped Ogawa with a perfect punch and followed it up with the impressive win over Rakhimov. His power shouldn’t be underrated and speaking of power, Vasquez simply doesn’t have enough of it to keep the champion at bay. I’m expecting Cordina to retain his title on Saturday and then hopefully step up the level of competition again in his next outing.
