Vazquez to Face Cordina, end Fort Worth's 20+year World Title Drought

Fort Worth, Texas, is a city of nearly a million people and has a rich boxing history. Despite this Funkytown has not had a world boxing champion in over 20 years. The last time the 817 was home to a world champ was the legendary Paulie Ayala, who was forced to vacate his WBA World Bantamweight title when he moved up and fought Clarence "Bones" Adams, a fight that Ayala won by split decision. That world title drought could very well come to an end tomorrow night in Monte Carlo. In the first major card in Monte Carlo since the pandemic, Fort Worth native Edward "Kid" Vazquez will walk into the ring a 7-1 underdog against reigning IBF Super Featherweight champ Joe Cordina.

Vazquez has won four fights in a row since his hotly disputed loss to Raymond Ford in 2022, a fight that took home the"Robbery of the Year" award. The travesty of a decision, even Ford's promoter Eddie Hearn acknowledged that Ford lost, didn't keep Vazquez down. He came back just five months later and outclassed Jose Argel. He then got a big opportunity on a Showtime Card at the Punch Bowl in Carson, California. Vaquez scored an upset of touted Ukrainian Featherweight Viktor Slavinskyi. That set up a fight again on Showtime against Misael Lopez. Once again, Vazquez walked in as the underdog and again, scored a decision victory. The bout was the co-main event on a SHOBOX card and was promoted by Hall of Fame promoter Lou Dibella. The performance apparently impressed the legendary promoter, who quickly announced that he was signing Vazquez. Dibella threw a homecoming event for his new acquisition, and Vazquez put on a show in a non-stop all-action fight. He again scored a decision victory over Brayan De Gracia. That win moved the Texan's record to 15-1 (3) and set up this opportunity, a world title shot with Joe Cordina 16-0 (9).

Cordina, who is also promoted by Hearn, was rumored to be in fight discussions with fellow 130-pound world champ O'Sahquie Foster of Orange, Texas. Hearn had met and discussed a fight with Foster's manager. However, it is Vazquez who got the opportunity, and should he pull the upset, which Foster thinks Vazquez can. It could potentially set up an all-texas civil war unification fight between Vazquez and Foster. Foster did his part and scored a dramatic come from behind 12th round TKO of Eduardo Hernandez last week in Mexico. Now Vazquez has to go into Monte Carlo and pull one more upset to set up a unification scrap every Texas fight fan wants.

Eddie Vazquez to Challange Joe Cordina for IBF Title, November 4 in Monte Carlo

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.