Paulie Maliggaggi is just one of many people who don’t understand how Joe Cordina is getting a title shot against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson after being knocked out in his last fight three months ago.
Hearn’s Decision Under Fire
The Matchroom-promoted former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) was announced today as the opponent for Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to fight in the co-feature bout on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on October 12th in Riyadh.
Cordina, 32, is ranked #13 WBC at lightweight but has never fought there and isn’t someone that most U.S. fans are familiar with. Many of the fans who have seen Cordina fight before are aware of his eighth-round knockout loss to Anthony Cacace on May 18th.
Promoter Eddie Hearn may have underestimated fans’ reactions to Shakur defending against his second consecutive opponent after a loss.
Last July, Shakur made his first defense of his WBC lightweight title against Artem Harutyunyan, who had lost to Frank Martin last year in July. To break the pattern of Shakur defending against fighters coming off a loss, Hearn should have matched him against one of the top five contenders, like Raymond Muratalla, Andy Cruz, or Edwin De Los Santos.
“I hope [Tank] Davis doesn’t become the new Canelo, and he goes and makes this fight. You want to see the best fighting the best. This is what we have in the lightweight division,” said boxing pundit Paulie Malignaggi to the Probox TV YouTube channel. “In this situation, you have champion vs. champion [Tank vs. Shakur].”
You can’t blame Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis for not being eager to fight Shakur because of these reasons:
- Not a PPV draw
- Can’t sell tickets
- Runner reputation
- Three consecutive poor performances
Malignaggi and Algieri Express Disappointment
“It’s the bonafide best two guys in the lightweight division. I understand Cordina is solid, but he’s coming off a loss. They bend the rules whenever they want to. Now, you can be coming off a loss and get a world title fight,” said Malignaggi, talking about Joe Cordina getting a title shot against Shakur following an eighth-round knockout loss to Anthony Cacace on May 18th.
Even if Cordina were a solid fighter, he’s not ranked in the top 10 at lightweight, has never fought there, and isn’t well known in the U.S. Cordina hasn’t looked like a solid fighter in his last three fights against Cacace, Edward Vazquez, and Shavkat Rakhimov.
“You could never do this before. I don’t even understand how that could be possible,” said Malignaggi.
“That fight doesn’t do much for me. Cordina is coming off a loss, coming up a weight class,” said Chris Algieri. “This is his first fight at 135, coming off a bad knockout loss to fight Shakur Stevenson, who is a fantastic fighter, a great technician.”
Fans believe that Hearn chose Cordina as Shakur because he wanted to help him out because he’s with Matchroom and needy following his loss to Cacace.
“It doesn’t really matter in terms of the layout of the 135-lb division for Shakur Stevenson. In terms of Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson. Don’t hold your breath,” said Algieri.
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