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.