Cordina vs Vazquez Is The Exact Opposite Of What Eddie Hearn Told Us Needed To Change In Boxing
Cordina vs Vazquez: Joe Cordina will make his return and the first defence of his IBF world title against Edward Vazquez in Monaco this Saturday, Nov 4 live on DAZN.
Moments after Cordina’s 12-round split decision win over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in their fight of the year contender, Eddie Hearn told media in the post-fight press conference that the next step would be to get a unification fight for Cordina outdoors in Wales.
And Cordina affirmed that was what he wanted next in his post-fight conference after his win over Rakhimov, “Then when I won the world title last year, it was time to unify. That’s what I wanted to do, they were my goals. Obviously, I was stripped so the first thing I needed to do was get my title back, I’ve done that tonight and now I want to reach them goals.”
A unification fight could not be made next though due to boxing economics so Hearn wanted Cordina in a highly-marketable domestic fight with either Zelfa Barrett, a clash years in the making, or Anthony Cacace – neither were made and Cordina now instead faces little-known American Edward Vazquez.
Vazquez isn’t the fight that’s going to boost Cordina’s profile in the States. The 15-1 Featherweight has boxed the vast majority of his career off TV and on the small-hall scene.
Vazquez isn’t a name at all in the UK and bookies are giving him as much chance as they give Francis Ngannou, who has never boxed before, on Saturday – although we know how that turned out.
This fight does very little for anybody. Nobody is counting down the days on the calendar until this fight. In fact, I haven’t seen one person mention this matchup until fight week.
“The advisors and the managers continue to want easy fights that don’t deliver…We [the promoters] are the weak ones because sometimes we let them do it.. broadcasters can’t continually pay money for shows that don’t deliver.” Hearn told iFL TV
I’m not sure Cordina vs Vazquez is quite delivering for DAZN. Matchups like Barrett or Cacace would’ve raised Cordina’s profile even further after a knockout of the year and fight of the year contender back-to-back. Those are the fights people wanted to see in the absence of a unification.
A bout with Vazquez in a casino in Monaco is a step backwards. This isn’t the matchup that will build the hype and anticipation for a unification fight outdoors next year.
It’s the ‘easy fight’ Cordina wanted and he told us as such, “Zelfa is a hard fight but unfortunately I ain’t getting paid enough for a hard fight”.
Cordina wanted an easy touch and Hearn’s given him one. This is the exact opposite of the changes the British promoter said had to be made in boxing last week.
READ: GAME CHANGER: DAZN Expected To Nab At Least One Package Of Premier League Rights Ahead Of UK Auction