Joe Cordina has described as “mad” the criticism aimed at Shakur Stevenson in the aftermath of his victory over Artem Harutyunyan.

As befits one of the world’s finest active fighters, Stevenson eased to the latest defence of his WBC lightweight title earlier in July on an occasion in which he appeared under threat as rarely as he threatened a stoppage.

Cordina and the 27-year-old American have a rivalry that dates back to when they were both world champions at super featherweight. The former lost his IBF title in May when he was unexpectedly stopped by Anthony Cacace – it is little secret he had long been struggling to remain at 130lbs – and is preparing to return to lightweight before the year’s end. He therefore hopes to be in contention to challenge for a world title in 2025, and partly because of his admiration for Stevenson’s qualities, would “love” for it to be Stevenson stood on the opposite side of the ring.

“It’s mad, because I see loads of people giving him stick,” the 32-year-old told BoxingScene. “But if you love the art of boxing, you can’t knock it. How can you knock that? He hits and don’t get hit. He’s smart; he’s one of the best defensive fighters there is right now, so I don’t understand what they’re saying. 

“Don’t get me wrong – it’s one of them things. If you’re winning a fight so easy – which he normally does – every fight that’s easy, people wanna see you step on it and go through the gears. That’s what the likes of Gervonta Davis; Terence Crawford; [Saul] ’Canelo’ Alvarez – the pay-per-view stars – do. If they were winning fights so easy, they’d potentially get him out of there in the next few rounds. But when it comes to boxing abilities, he’s up there with the best. 

“I genuinely don’t get it. I can’t say ‘armchair fans’ – it’s not armchair fans. It’s people that just don’t see the art of boxing. All they want to see is knockouts.

“I’d love to fight Shakur. I remember he called me out after I won my first world title [against Kenichi Ogawa in 2022], and I was like, ‘Let’s go’. I had a break, and then he lined up to fight someone else [Robson Conceicao]; I thought we was having it. Then he didn’t make the weight and he moved up to lightweight. So, yeah, I’d love to revisit that fight, and get things going. I’d love to.”

Stevenson’s victory over Harutyunyan was the last of his promotional agreement with Top Rank. Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, who also promotes Cordina, has made little secret of his admiration for his abilities; more recently, the WBC have ordered for August purse bids for a fight between Stevenson and Mexico’s William Zepeda – one Cordina is relishing, regardless of his plans.

“That’s an unbelievable fight, because Zepeda – I believe – will give any one of them fighters at the top level at 135lbs big problems,” the Welshman said. “He can punch; he’s tough; he can fight; he can box; he can do it all. His punch power is on another level, and his relentlessness with it. 

“You’ve got Gervonta Davis – his punching power’s not on this planet, because he’s wiping people out. The size of him as well. He fights in little bursts, and he throws them big shots in bursts. Zepeda’s going through gears with power. That’s an unbelievable fight for boxing, and just being a boxing fan, I was hoping that fight would get made. 

“You’d have to say Shakur [is the early favourite] but, genuinely, you wouldn’t be surprised if Zepeda pulled it off, just by outworking him; landing the bigger, heavier shots. Americans score on aggression; work-rate; big shots, and that could be a factor in that fight, because he’d put Shakur under pressure. But there’s another side to the coin – if you put him under pressure and starting winging in, trying to throw 100 shots and there’s no thought behind them, Shakur will pick holes in it. When he starts getting tired, is he gonna wanna keep flying in? You’d have to pick Shakur as a favourite, but it wouldn’t surprise.”