Edward "Kid" Vazquez will look to become the seventh world champion from Fort Worth, and he will get that chance when he meets up with IBF Super Featherweight Champion 31-year-old Joe Cordina, of Wales. The bout will be on November 4th in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Cordina captured the crown twice, first in 2022 when he epically stopped Kenichi Ogawa in the second round. He was stripped of his title shortly thereafter due to an injury and had to fight for his belt back and narrowly outpointed a very game ShavkatdzhonRakhimov in April. He will now make his inaugural defense against the Fort Worth Native on the French Riviera.
It's been a long, winding road for Vazquez, 15-1 (3), to get here. A career that was stalled by inactivity, promotional issues with then-promoter Roy Jones Jr. that seemingly looked to hold him back, to have four consecutive fights canceled during the height of the COVID pandemic. Major fights for Vazquez that were to be aired on ESPN that would have showcased "The Kid" to the world. When he finally did get a big shot to go in as the B-side and fight the highly touted Raymond Ford on the undercard of the Bam Rodriguez-Carlos Cuadras world title fight on DAZN. The north Texan made the most of his opportunity, as he always has, and dominated the hot-shot prospect over the 10-round featherweight fight, It appeared to be an easy points decision victory for Vazquez. A victory that was stolen from Vazquez by the egregious action of two judges, Rubin Rocky Taylor (92-98) and Chris Wilson (93-97), handed in cards in favor of Ford. The bout was the "Robbery of the Year" for 2022, and the cards handed in by Taylor and Wilson were perhaps two of the worst scorecards in recent boxing history. A fight so bad that Ford's promoter, Eddie Hearn, said he had to go back and tell his fighter that he lost. There was no way to sugarcoat how bad that decision was.
The travesty didn't keep the Fort Worthian down as he bounced back and scored big wins on big cards. He outpointed Ukrainian prospect Viktor Slavinskyi, which aired on Showtime as part of the Sebastian Fundora-Carlos Ocampo card at the Punch Bowl in Carson, California. He then fought fellow touted 126-pound prospect Misael Lopez, a fight promoted by Hall of Fame promoter Lou Dibella that also aired on Showtime. Vazquez was so impressive in the win that the promoter signed the Texan and set up his homecoming fight in nearby Frisco on July 29th, where Vazquez rallied in the second half and defeated a rugged Brayan De Gracia of Panama.
Vazquez just turned 28 and made his pro debut in 2016. He has now won four fights consecutively since the Ford incident.
