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Joe Cordina retained his British and Commonwealth lightweight titles today in London, outpointing fellow Welshman Gavin Gwynne over 12 chippy rounds at O2 Arena.
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Cordina (10-0, 7 KO) was clearly the superior boxer in this fight, though Gwynne (11-1, 1 KO) had moments here and there, using his superior height to occasionally cause some trouble for the defending titleholder.
The fight featured a lot of rabbit punching from both sides, with Gwynne seeming to lead that in the earlygoing, and Cordina responding more as the fight went on. In the seventh round, Cordina was docked a point for a low blow, and in the ninth round, Gwynne lost a point for a shot behind the head.
The 27-year-old Cordina is in an interesting spot right now, as the domestic guys who fight at domestic level really don’t seem to have a lot to offer him as far as challenge goes, and stepping up to world level is perhaps premature at this point. Perhaps Cordina could look for another domestic title defense against someone like James Tennyson, who fought and won earlier on this same card.
Scores for the fight were 116-111, 116-110, and 116-110. Bad Left Hook had it a bit wider at 118-108 for Cordina, giving Gwynne only the ninth round, where he also had the point taken away.
Savannah Marshall TKO-5 Daniele Bastieri
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Bastieri (2-1, 2 KO) is a 29-year-old novice they flew in from Brazil because Marshall (7-0, 5 KO) had to fight someone, and there’s only so many women at 168. Bastieri had never fought anyone who’s won a fight, and, well, it showed. Marshall, 28, is no technical marvel, but the difference in their fundamental ability was incredibly clear. She dropped Bastieri at the end of the fifth round, and though the underdog got up, the referee stopped the fight there.
Marshall, of course, fought at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and won gold at the 2012 World Championships, where she beat Claressa Shields in the round of 32, which is the last time Shields lost a fight, and is the thing Marshall is most famous for. As a pro, she’s faced zero challenges, while Shields has won world titles in two weight classes. Marshall’s now with Matchroom, so we’ll see, but there’s really not much out there fighting at 168.