Joe Cordina edges Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov to reclaim IBF title

Joe Cordina’s slick combinations helped him earn a split-decision victory over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov to regain the IBF junior lightweight world title at the Cardiff International Arena in Wales on Saturday.

Fighting in front of his home fans in the Welsh capital, Cordina used his fast hands and skills to win back the belt he felt he was wrongly stripped of last year due to an injury. But it was close — Cordina won by scores of 115-112 and 114-113, with the other judge scoring it 116-111 for Rakhimov.

Rakhimov, 28, from Tajikistan, was floored in the second round and then had to contend with a left eye that was swollen shut for much of the second half of the fight. Despite the injury, Rakhimov had good spells of his own in an enthralling encounter.

“I just felt no one could beat me tonight,” Cordina said. “He caught me with good shots. … No way he would beat me, no chance.”

Cordina added: “Anyone who has got a belt I’m happy to share a ring with. I want all the belts let’s do it.”

Cordina (16-0, 9 KOs), 31, was driven by a sense of injustice to win back the belt he first won with a second-round knockout win over Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa in June 2022.

But Cordina was stripped of the IBF title without making a defense after withdrawing from a bout — scheduled for November 2022 — against Rakhimov with a broken right hand in October. The injury required surgery.

Los Angeles-based Rakhimov (17-1-1, 14 KOs), 28, from Tajikistan, won the vacant belt with a ninth-round win over England’s Zelfa Barrett in November, and it left Cordina feeling like he had been “robbed.”

On Saturday, Cordina edged a lively opening round when it quickly became apparent his speed would cause Rakhimov problems. Cordina landed flowing combinations from the start, and in the second round he dropped Rakhimov with a short left hand to the chin in one sequence of punches.

Rakhimov, perhaps best known for a gutsy draw against Californian Jo Jo Diaz in 2021, got to his feet but was soon rocked again by a left hook. Rakhimov recovered quickly to deny Cordina a second successive second-round knockout.

Rakhimov, who is trained by the renowned Freddie Roach, was caught by a right uppercut and left hook in the third round as the challenger continued to dictate the fight.

Cordina landed a brilliant left hook over southpaw Rakhimov’s lead right hand in the fourth round, but the fight swayed the other way in the fifth round. Rakhimov hurt Cordina with a right hand in the fifth, and then followed with a barrage of head shots. A dazed Cordina was forced to hang on and smother Rakhimov to avoid further trouble.

Just when Rakhimov looked like he might be taking control, Cordina’s punches opened a nasty cut by Rakhimov’s left eye in the sixth round. Perhaps with his vision impaired as his eye swelled shut, Rakhimov repeatedly got caught by right hands in the seventh round.

Cordina had increasing success with right hands, but Rakhimov had his moments and landed some good punches in the 10th round, but Cordina was full of energy until the end.

On the undercard, Barrett (29-2, 16 KOs) got his career back on track after the loss to Rakhimov, claiming a unanimous-decision win over Jason Sanchez (16-4, 9 KOs). Barrett floored Sanchez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the fifth round and won by scores of 119-108, 118-110 and 116-111.

The win sets up a possible meeting with Cordina for later this year.

Sandy Ryan (5-1, 2 KOs) won her first world title in only her seventh professional fight, with a 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93 points win over Marie Pier Houle for the vacant WBO welterweight title.

Ryan, 29, from Derby, England, threatened to stop her Canadian opponent in the fourth and sixth rounds as she switched between stances and showed the superior power.

Houle, 32, from Terrebonne, Quebec, put a spirited effort and did well to absorb a crunching right uppercut in the ninth round.

Ryan has now turned her fortunes around, after losing a split decision to former world champion Erica Anabella Farias in a non-title fight just over a year ago. Jessica McCaskill, ranked No. 1 at welterweight, holds two of the other world titles, and Ryan afterward said she would welcome a unification title with the American.