Joe Cordina returns to the ring on July 5 in a new weight division, under the guidance of a new trainer, and perhaps with a new sense of perspective after what in so many respects represents a challenging 14 months.
The Welshman sacrificed his IBF junior-lightweight title to Northern Ireland’s Anthony Cacace in May 2024, in a fight he insists was influenced by punches Cacace threw on the break.
In the months after replacing his trainer Tony Sims with Barry Smith he then endured the uncertainty of his promotional contract with Matchroom having expired, the confirmation of an unexpected date with the WBC welterweight champion Shakur Stevenson before Stevenson’s withdrawal through injury, and the frustration of his inactivity while watching domestic and international rivals thrive.
When England’s Josh Padley later replaced Floyd Schofield as Stevenson’s challenger and was rewarded for enhancing his reputation in defeat with an agreement with Matchroom, Cordina – after only one defeat – can rarely have felt more strongly that his options had become limited.
Sixteen months on he is instead preparing for the Mexican Jaret Gonzalez Quiroz on the undercard of Jack Catterall-Harlem Eubank in Manchester, England and under the guidance of his fellow Welshman Gary Lockett. He has also signed a new two-fight contract with Matchroom, and – so soon after the great Vasiliy Lomachenko’s retirement, Raymond Muratalla’s elevation to IBF champion and Keyshawn Davis being stripped of his title by the WBO – he is re-entering a lightweight landscape ultimately in a state of flux.
“[Padley] was just doing his job, and obviously he got paid for it, so I cannot fault him,” the 33-year-old told BoxingScene. “I can’t really remember what I felt on the night, but I didn’t feel any sort of way that I can remember. I just felt that Shakur was a bit of a fucking bitch.
“His excuse for why he didn’t want to reschedule against me was ‘cause he wanted a bigger fight. A bigger fight – when you look at Floyd Schofield, boxing ain’t in the US at the moment. We’ve got most of the fighters, and then obviously most of the fighters are fighting over in Saudi. So, really and truly, boxing on a world stage is in the UK – he’s saying that not many people in the US know me. Hardly no one knows Floyd Schofield in the UK. Do you want to go with Floyd Schofield, who’s more inexperienced than me? I have more world titles.
“Everyone I spoke to in the UK didn’t know who the fuck [Schofield] was. [Stevenson’s] reasoning is invalid. I just think he’s a bitch and wants everything his own way. Obviously he pulled out, and then Padley jumped in. But you can’t blame Padley – he’s just doing his job. He got the call; jumped in; made a few quid.”
The nature of a stoppage defeat, regardless of the circumstances, can potentially make a period of inactivity like Cordina’s a positive. Despite wanting to fight before July he has also had longer to adjust to Smith’s demands and methods. He has also, on high-profile occasions against Josh Warrington and then Leigh Wood, twice watched Cacace fight – the date with Wood came when Cordina was reaching a year of inactivity – and win.
“It’s a little frustrating, because if I fought him again – he beat me, but the ultimate deciding factor of that fight was on the break, and it wasn’t just the one, it was the two,” he said. “Two good ones. It buzzed me. If I hit someone on the sly and they’re not expecting it, it’s gonna buzz them. If I’d done that to him, there would have been uproar from his team; there weren’t really none from my team. But I would have made sure he wouldn’t have made it out of that round. I know for a fact I’d have got him out of there. But it happened – it’s done. Nine times out of 10 I’ll beat him – that’s why I didn’t have the rematch.
“‘He hits hard.’ No, he actually don’t hit hard – he just hit me with two shots on the break. It’s done with me now.
“There’s been times when I’ve had 16 months out of the ring [from November 2019 to March 2021], when I done my hand. I had a bit of ring rust there, but it was only a bit of timing that weren’t there. Other than that it was fine. I wanted to show certain shots, but my body weren’t allowing me. But a year ain’t too bad – where I’m at now, I’m experienced. If it gets tough I know how to manage my way around a ring, and put myself in certain positions where I can get certain shots off. I’m experienced – being out of the ring for a while don’t really bother me. It could be a blessing in disguise, really. It could be used as a recharge.
“You need time to adapt with the trainer and whatever else. But I’m also experienced enough to take from the trainer what I need and to add it to what [I already had]. I don’t need to be changing my whole style – I just need to add to and just tighten up a few things. I’ve won two world titles the way I’m fighting. It can’t have done me wrong so far. I don’t feel the need to change so much – just add little bits to what I’m already doing, and try and perfect the things that I’m doing.
“One is catching, countering; making sure I’m not leaning over when I’m going down to the body; there’s a load of things. They’re simple. They’re basics. But basics win boxing fights.
“Moving forwards, I’m looking forward to fighting – that’s the main thing. I just can’t wait to get back in the ring.”
Victory over Quiroz – and Cordina is the favourite – could lead to fights with Padley or Stevenson if the American extends his contract with Matchroom after his fight with Mexico’s William Zepeda the following week.
The marketable Cordina had decided before entering the ring against Cacace that that fight would be his last at junior lightweight. He and Stevenson have appeared on collision course since early in their professional careers; Cordina, ultimately, has ambitions and potential targets beyond the American; Matchroom remain ambitious in the US and, to that end, are pursuing a fight at the IBF title for their talented Cuban Andy Cruz.
“Any fight, if it makes money, makes sense,” said Cordina. “I’ve won two world titles. I want to win another one, but ultimately it comes down to money.
“I haven’t really had the fights that some of the fighters who have won world titles have been in. Of all the fights I’ve had, the last two have probably been difficult. I wouldn’t say difficult; it was down to weight; making the weight hurt me more than the actual fights; the fight before that was [Shavkatdzhon] Rakhimov. Rakhimov was a very tough fight, and that was probably my hardest fight to date. That was probably my only difficult fight. I had a tough night’s work with Gavin Gwynne, for a British title, and that was my ninth fight.
“Other than them two fights, it’s been relatively straightforward – obviously apart from my loss. I took two shots off the break, away from it – [otherwise] I believe I would have pissed the fight. But it didn’t turn out that way, so I just gotta keep my head down and keep going to where I want to be, and that’s two another world title.
“I want to become a two-weight, three-time world champion.”