Angelino Cordova is looking to shock the world.
Cordova wants to end Julio Cesar Martinez’s four-year reign as the WBC flyweight champion on the undercard of Tim Tszyu-Keith Thurman at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 30.
The Venezuelan, 28, is coming off the biggest win of his career. He won a unanimous decision over Angel Acosta in April 2023, and has since waited for his opportunity. He thought it would come in December on the last Showtime Championship Boxing card, but learned the week of the fight that it had to be rescheduled.
“It was Thursday, I was at the press conference, I didn’t know anything about anything, I didn’t even have my cellphone on me,” he said. “The night before [the weigh-in] I go to my room. It felt weird to me that I didn’t see Martinez’s team at the press conference, but I didn’t really think much of it.
“I was almost ready to go to the weigh-in before I found out over the internet that the whole thing had fallen apart.”
Cordova also spoke about how it was not the physical recovery from the fight being moved that tested him, but the “emotional” toll.
“Putting aside the physical aspect for us the biggest challenge was recovering from the emotional blow of the postponement back in December,” he said.
“It affected my entire team. Me; my manager; my trainer; everybody. But we pulled through together and now we have been ready for a while now for March 30 to face this challenge.”
Cordova enters the fight undefeated with a record of 18-0, 12 KOs. His record is hard to read. Sixteen of his eighteen fights were in Venezuela. His opposition had unassuming records. Yet when he stepped up in class has truly proved to be world level. He defeated Axel Vega via split-decision, and then in his next fight moved up in weight class to beat Acosta.
Mexico’s Martinez, 29, is recognised as a slugger. He holds a record of 20-2, 15 KOs.
“I am ready, this is my time,” Cordova continued. “This is something I have worked my whole entire life to get to this moment. So I thank Julio Cesar [Martinez] for giving me this opportunity, and I am so beyond happy and excited you have no idea.”
