In one of the ugliest and poorly judged fights I can remember watching, Yankiel Rivera seemed to find enough pockets of offense to to eke out a tough hang with Angelino Cordova, but had to settle for a wildly unsatisfying draw by scores of 113-113 twice and 115-111 Cordova, none of which remotely represent reality. ITRBoxing scored the fight, an eliminator for the WBA flyweight title, for Rivera 116-110. Seemed like a no brainer.

Cordova (19-0-2, 1 NC, 12 ko), who respectfully is one of the sloppiest, dirtiest fighters I’ve ever seen fight at the world title level, spent the majority of the fight either winging wild shots that were missing air, or leaping in to close range causing clashes of heads and clinches in abundance, leaving Rivera in the difficult position of trying to find pockets of offense in between all of Cordova’s antics. He certainly did enough, but a lack of power jab or an assertion of range in the early part of the fight limited those opportunities.

Rivera (7-0-1, 3 ko) doesn’t throw a power jab, he’s more of a flicker, and time after time it didn’t seem like Cordova had a reason to stop charging in. But Rivera to his credit started making the clinches uncomfortable as the fight wore on, getting up on his toes and counterpunching at times, mixing it up just enough to land the only real clean shots of the fight through ten rounds. He also scored a knockdown in round 4, and Cordova had a point deducted for a rabbit punch, further emphasizing the absurdity of the decision. 

Rivera, seemingly well ahead at the time (though in retrospect was not), got caught at the end of the 11th and rocked in probably the highlight of the fight for Cordova, who probably took the last two rounds, as Rivera finally gave into the style of fight Cordova had been so committed to, falling in himself and smothering his own offense. 

Though Cordova fought an ugly fight and the judges really mailed it in on this one, the lack of jab and establishment of range from Rivera is the standout point of the fight for me, and the fact that at no point could he truly separate against someone who tactically wasn’t on his level. An anti-climactic main event to say the least, particularly in the heels of the high level shootout between Abass Baraou and Yoenis Tellez which is a fight of the year candidate worth noting.