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Joe Cordina feels he’s being overlooked for his fight against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson for their October 12th clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Cordina’s History of Proving Doubters Wrong
The former IBF featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) notes that people thought he would lose to Shavkat Rakhimov and Kenichi Ogawa. He proved people wrong by defeating those two fighters.
Cordina, 32, doesn’t mind that people think he will lose to Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) because he fights better when his back is against the wall with a point to prove.
He says they’re already talking about Shakur, 27, fighting William Zepeda in February and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in the summer of next year. Cordina states he could be the one who winds up facing Tank Davis next summer instead of Shakur.
However, given promoter Eddie Hearn’s hopes of turning Shakur into a superstar, he won’t let Cordina move on and take the Tank Davis fight without setting up a rematch.
Thriving Under Pressure
“There was no difference for a [Shavkat] Rakhimov or an Ogawa fight. Ogawa was going to knock me out. Rakhimov was going to stop me. So, it’s not a problem,” said Joe Cordina to Boxing News about people believing that he’s got no shot of beating Shakur Stevenson on October 12th.
There is a difference between Cordina fighting Shakur and when he fought Ogawa and Rakhimov. He’s considered a great talent and perhaps the #2 fighter in the 135-lb division behind Tank Davis. Against Ogawa and Rakhimov, fans still gave Cordina a chance because those guys weren’t hyped as super talents.
“I perform better when I’m backed up against the wall and I’ve got a point to prove when my opponent is high-level, which Shakur is at the highest level,” said Cordina. “Now, that is going to make me perform out of my skin, and I’ve always done that.”
Cordina will need a good game plan for him to defeat Shakur, and he’ll also need the New Jersey native to slug with him like he did against his last opponent, Artem Harutyunyan, last July. Shakur was getting hit a lot by Harutyunyan because he wasn’t afraid of his power. Against Cordina, Shakur may return to his safety-first style of fighting to keep from getting clipped because he hits a lot harder than Harutyunyan did.
“Every time the opponent is that level and potentially above me, I always perform,”‘ said Cordina.
Shakur’s Stevenson on X: “Respect the mentality, but this a whole different, Joe I don’t think you ever seen this level before 😤.”
“Definitely, they’re overlooking me. 100%, but I don’t mind that,” said Cordina about Shakur. “There’s nothing for me to lose. It’s all to gain for me. I just have to go out there and leave nothing to chance and leave it all in the ring.”
People wouldn’t be overlooking him if he hadn’t looked so bad in his eighth-round knockout loss to Anthony Cacace last May. Cordina was overmatched and never competitive in that fight. Shakur would likely beat Cacace without any problems, which shows the wide talent gap between the two.
“Not necessarily. If it’s there, it’s there,” said Cordina when asked if he’ll be looking for a knockout against Shakur. “Shakur does what he does. He makes them miss and makes them pay, but I can also do that. People go on about Shakur being boring. I don’t see it. It’s the art of boxing.”
Shakur’s Future Plans Fuel Cordina’s Motivation
Cordina should focus on trying to knockout Shakur because he’s not going to win a decision against him, especially with him being the A-side guy that promoter Eddie Hearn is hyping up, with two big fights in front of him against William Zepeda and Gervonta Davis. Given those circumstances, Cordina has very little chance of winning a decision.
“I don’t mind being boring, too. Then it comes down to patience. I got all the patience in the world. If it means me winning a fight and all I have to be is patient, then happy days,” said Cordina.
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