Joe Cordina is nearing a new promotional contract with Matchroom and expects to follow signing it with an imminent return to the ring.
The Welshman Cordina recently reached a year of inactivity, off the back of his only defeat – by Northern Ireland’s Anthony Cacace, on an evening when he sacrificed his IBF junior-lightweight title and when his previous promotional agreement with Matchroom came to an end.
Cordina has since replaced as his trainer Tony Sims with Gary Lockett, signed to challenge Shakur Stevenson for the WBC lightweight title before seeing the champion withdraw because of an injury and then later fight England’s Josh Padley, and watched Cacace vacate the title he won from him while uncertainty increasingly surrounded his own career.
That Padley and Stevenson – the latter at least until the conclusion of his fight on July 12 with Mexico’s William Zepeda – are promoted by Matchroom potentially makes the new agreement they are reaching more than a year later make even more sense than it already did.
Aged 31 and 18 fights into his career, Cordina is also at his physical peak, and he will recognize the benefits of that given his presence in what in 2025 represents one of the most competitive weight divisions there is.
“I [recently] linked up with Eddie [Hearn],” he told BoxingScene. “We’re on the same page – back on track to get me a fight – and we’ll have an announcement in the next few days.
“It’ll be a two-fight deal. At this sort of level, that’s all you really want because things can change very quickly. You’re potentially one fight, at this level, away from being in a title fight. It’s not as if I’m a prospect anymore, when you need a five- or six- or eight-fight deal. It’s a two-fight deal, and we’re working towards the bigger fights.
“I was out of contract with Matchroom. I didn’t really want to leave, but I was out of contract and didn’t have my world title anymore; I [also] left the Matchroom gym.
“[My next fight will] be soon. I want someone with a winning record. I want to still have that fear factor where someone could cause an upset – it makes me switch on. It’s gonna be a someone of a certain level.”
Cordina, who because of a hand injury had previously been inactive for 16 months between 2019 and 2021, was asked if he ever came close to signing with another promoter – Queensberry Promotions and Boxxer are Matchroom’s leading rivals in the UK – and responded: “Not really. There’s a couple of fights that were put to me, but I’ve never been sent a contract or anything by a promoter.
“I’m self-managed, but I had Spencer Brown [of Goldstar] taking care of everything. We were just exercising our options and seeing what the craic is and where everyone’s head’s at. We had a couple of fights lined up – obviously one with Shakur Stevenson that should have been rescheduled, but that never happened. Obviously he’s a shithouse. I [also] had a couple of fight dates fall through.
“My dad [also Joe] had a conversation with Eddie two weeks prior to when I rang him. [Hearn] was like, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to ring me,’ and I was like, ‘Fucking hell – I should have rung earlier.’ I was waiting for a fight date. I went and met him – it’s always better to speak face to face – at the Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen [rematch] press conference, and it’s gone from there. We’ve been moving forward. We should have some news in the coming days.”
Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.