Joe Cordina Will Defend In Exotic Locale This November

Highly entertaining IBF 130 lb. champ Joe Cordina is officially back for November. His promoter Matchroom Boxing made it official Monday afternoon that the unbeaten star from Wales will fight in Monte Carlo headlining their show there.

From their official release:

“Two thrilling World Title fights and two more championship bouts will light up Monte Carlo in a night of elite boxing on Saturday November 4, live worldwide on DAZN (excluding – France and French Overseas Territories, Andorra and Monaco).

Welsh hero Joe Cordina will defend his IBF Super-Featherweight World Title against highly-rated American rival Edward Vazquez at the famous Casino de Monte Carlo.

Undefeated Cordina (16-0, 9 KOs) is widely regarded as one of the best British fighters today, a two-time champion of the world in just 16 fights, and returns to the ring following his breathtaking victory last April over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. And Cordina makes his way back to Monaco where he overcame Mario Enrique Tinoco in November 2019.

The Tony Sims-trained champion, 31, will face a tough challenge in Vazquez (15-1, 3 KOs), who gets his first-ever World Title shot thanks to a four-fight winning streak. The 27-year-old Texan’s only career loss to date was a split decision defeat by Raymond Ford in May 2022.

Another all-action World Title fight is in store when South Africa’s Sive Nontshinga puts his IBF Light Flyweight championship on the line against Mexico’s Adrian Curiel Dominguez (22-4-1, 3 KOs).

The ‘Special One’ Nontshinga (12-0, 9 KOs) makes the second defence of his IBF crown, which he won in a fight of the year contender against Hector Flores Calixto in 2022, and this bout promises to be another enthralling 12-round fight….

“I’m excited to be fighting at the Casino de Monte-Carlo for a second time as I put my iBF Super-Featherweight World Title on the line against Edward Vazquez,” said Cordina. “I have happy memories of fighting in Monte Carlo, landing the WBA Continental Title in my first outing down at Super-Featherweight, and I’m looking to put on another explosive performance on November 4 as I continue to work towards unifying the division. Tune in live on DAZN.”

“We’re delighted to be returning to beautiful Monte Carlo for another stacked night of World Title action,” said Matchroom Sport Chairman Eddie Hearn. “This will be our first fight night in Monte Carlo since 2019 and I’m thrilled to be returning with a huge World Title double-header featuring IBF Super-Featherweight World Champion Joe Cordina defending his crown against Edward Vazquez and IBF Light-Flyweight World Champion Sive Nontshinga putting his belt on the line against Adrian Curiel Dominguez.”

When last we saw Cordina, he was engaged in a “fight of the year” nominee in April against former IBF champ, Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov.

The fight capped the Matchroom Boxing/DAZN show that night from the Cardiff, Wales International Arena, as Cordina scored the only knockdown of the fight early, kept up the pressure up with the harder punches in the second half of the fight and earned the decision win.

However, the bout was very hard fought. This, as Rakhimov, originally from Tajikistan but now training out of Los Angeles, actually stunned Cordina on a couple of occasions in the narrow bout.  Cordina regained his belt on scores of 115-112 and 114-113 for the Welshman, with the dissenting judge scoring it 116-111 Rakhimov.

Cordina would like to get in the mix in 2024 for a possible unification battle with WBO champ Emanuel Navarrete, WBC champ O’Shaquie Foster or WBA champ Hector Luis Garcia. However,  all of those fighters are aligned with either Top Rank Boxing or Premier Boxing Champions. Therefore, they aren’t likely to fight him anytime soon.