Edward Vazquez (15-2, 3 KOs) was the victim of a robbery on Saturday night, losing a twelve round majority decision to IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina (17-0, 9 KOs) in a fight that has fans on social media hopping mad.
Fighting in front of a tiny crowd of a little over 300+ fans at the Casino de Monte Carlo in Monte Carlo, Monaco, challenger Vazquez took the fight to the unbeaten IBF 130-lb belt-holder Cordina, dominating him on the inside and taking away his right hand, which he and his followers had talked about so much ahead of the contest.
The scores
114-114
116-112 – Cordina
116-112 – Cordina
This writer had it for Vazquez, 117-111, as Cordina fell apart from the fifth, gassing completely and going on the run due to his lack of energy.
It appeared that Cordina may have been weight drained because he looked like he rehydrated to the 140s, and it must have been hell for him to melt down to the 130-lb limit to make weight on Friday.
Vazquez pointed out after the fight that Cordina was really dry at the weigh-in from losing so much weight to get to the 130-lb limit, and he doesn’t see him returning to the super featherweight division. However, if Cordina does return to the 130-lb division, Vazquez says he’ll lose to these three fighters: O’Shaquie Foster, Rocky Hernandez, and Emanuel Navarrete.
Vazquez was catching Cordina repeatedly with his left hook starting from the third round, and battering him on the inside. He showed that Cordina has no inside game, and he resorted to cheating by shouldering and pushing off repeatedly, which should have resulted in warnings or penalization, but it didn’t happen.
The referee took a hands-off approach of controlling the bending of the rules. In the championship rounds, Cordina used straight arms to keep Vazquez from getting in close. This too, was an illegal move that should have been stopped by the referee, but it wasn’t.
“This guy always has excuses because daddy Eddie Hearn is going to back him up,’ said Edward Vazquez to Matchroom Boxing immediately after the fight, making it clear he’d been robbed by the judges in his title challenge against IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina.
After this performance by Cordina, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn needs to put the brakes on the idea of putting him in with Foster because he’ll lose to him, and that’ll mess up the dreams he has of going up to lightweight to pick up big paydays in that weight class. Cordina would be better off moving up to 135 right now, and pushing for a fight against Gervonta Davis or Shakur Stevenson.
“I’m not even going to trip on it. I have strong faith,” said Vazquez. “God put me here for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. There’s no coincidence. I’m going to let destiny play its role. I’ll be back.
“Everyone in this room right here, everyone around the world knows I won. Eddie Hearn knows I won, but guess what? They did it to me again,” Vazquez, whose only other career defeat before tonight came against Hearn-promoted fighter Raymond Ford last year by a controversial ten round split decision in 2022.
“They can’t stop that Fort Worth Kid. Texas is in the house; we made noise. You know what it is; I’ll be back, baby. He wasn’t able to do what he wanted to do the whole fight,” said Vazquez when asked why he thinks he won.
“He was in scrambles. He couldn’t land his little right hand that he talked about the entire build-up for the fight or the left hook. He had no power. all the other 130s will walk through this guy. He has no power. You should have seen him at the weigh-in. He was as dry as s**t.
“This is probably his last fight at 130, and if he does come back down to 130, O’Shaquie Foster, Rocky Hernandez, and Navarrete will walk straight through this guy,” said Vazquez.