Joe Cordina 18-1, 9 KOs) labored to an unimpressive 10-round unanimous decision over a second-tier fighter, Jaret Gonzalez Quiroz (17-2, 13 KOs), in a lightweight contest on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina was hurt in the sixth round by a right hand from the little-known 24-year-old Quiroz.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)
The scores were 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92. Boxing News 24 had it 7-3 in favor of Cordina.
Rabbit Punches Plagued Cordina
Cordina, 34, got away with a lot of rabbit punches, forearms, lacing, and hitting on the back tonight. The referee had a casual approach to the fight, choosing not to police the constant fouling from Cordina. In the fifth and sixth rounds, it was a clinic of fouls by Joe. It was baffling how the referee didn’t stop the action to deduct points. Cordina was having a field day with the roughhouse tactics against a fighter that he didn’t need to use them on. He should have been able to breeze through Quiroz, given that he’s not a world-level fighter.
The rabbit punches should have resulted in warnings and at least one penalty because they were constant from him. His first move was to clinch and then nail Quiroz with a rabbit punch. It was hard to watch.
Cordina didn’t use to fight like this. The year of inactivity and his knockout loss in his previous fight against Anthony Cacace in 2024 seemed to make him desperate tonight to get an extra edge. He already had two due to his huge size and experience advantage. Quiroz isn’t a top-tier contender.
Mason vs. Noakes Winner
“We want to try to get him in a position to fight the winner of the Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes fight so that he can try to become a two-division world champion. Now, we want to get a bigger fight this year,” said Eddie Hearn after the fight, reacting to Cordina’s win over Quiroz. “You got to get in there to have that kind of a fight. He won every round. He looked like he was enjoying it at times. He didn’t want an easy touch.”
I’m Welsh. Bring over any Mexican, and I’ll stop them in their tracks,” said Cordina.
Based on this performance, Cordina wouldn’t stand a chance against any of the top five lightweights in the division. Hearn’s idea of matching Cordina against the winner of the November fight between Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes for the WBO 135-lb title is a bad one. Cordina wouldn’t belong in the ring against the likely winner of that fight, Mason.
Even if he were to use the rabbit punches and other roughhouse tactics that he used tonight against Quiroz, he wouldn’t last long against Mason.
Cordina Needs Tougher Fights
Ideally, Cordina should earn a title shot rather than having it given to him on a silver platter after a win over the hand-picked Quiroz. Let Cordina beat one of these fighters:
- Jadier Herrera
- Denys Berinchyk
- Edwin De Los Santos
It’s unlikely that Cordina can beat any of these guys with how he looked tonight, but at least if he won, he deserves to fight for a world title against the Mason-Noakes winner. Cordina shouldn’t just be given a world title because he briefly held the IBF 130-lb title. The sport shouldn’t work like that. Cordina didn’t hold onto a world title for long at super featherweight, and the guy he beat to win the strap, Kenichi Ogawa, was nothing special.
Last Updated on 07/05/2025
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