Eddie Hearn insists Joe Cordina is a “dangerous fight” for Shakur Stevenson in their undercard lightweight clash on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol card on October 12th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Rehabilitating Shakur’s Image
The public believes Hearn is scrapping from the bottom of the barrel, with Cordina being used to boost Shakur’s stock with his drop in popularity.
This move builds Shakur up and makes him look like 24k gold to create interest in a unification clash against Gervonta Davis in 2025. In other words, it’s a sneaky way to rehabilitate Shakur’s shattered public image after consecutive lackluster performances against Edwin De Los Santos and Artem Harutyunyan.
Promoter Hearn believes the former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) would defeat everyone Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) has fought during his seven-year professional career. That’s hard to believe because Shakur has wins over Edwin De Los Santos, Oscar Valdez, Robson Conceicao, and Jamel Herring. There’s a good chance Cordina loses to all four of those fighters.
Fans have been ragging Hearn for selecting Cordina, 32, as Shakur’s showcase opponent. The British fighter is coming off an eighth-round knockout loss to Anthony Cacace on May 18th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cordina had not looked good in his previous two fights against Edward Vazquez and Shavkat Rakhimov.
Paper Champion?
It was pretty clear from watching those fights that Cordina was a paper champion with the IBF and not the fighter that Hearn had thought he was. Hearn says Cordina was the best fighter at 130 before he outgrew the division and was knocked out by the 35-year-old Cacace, but that’s more wishful thinking. Many felt that Cordina should have lost to Rakhimov in April 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. That fight was in Cardiff’s backyard.
“This is a serious fight. It makes me laugh when I hear people go, ‘Shakur Stevenson against Joe Cordina.’ I’m telling you now. This is a dangerous fight for Shakur Stevenson,” said Eddie Hearn to IFL TV about Shakur’s title defense against former IBF 130-lb champion Cordina on October 12th at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
If Cordina is as good as Hearn believes him to be, why didn’t he try to set up a rematch between him and Anthony Cacace so that he could avenge his 8th-round knockout loss from last May? Hearn has the money to entice Cacace to fight Cordina again, and they could have done it at 135 if the weight was a problem for Joe.
“Joe Cordina is an exceptional talent. He smashed [Kenichi] Ogawa to pieces in the knockout of the year [on June 4, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales],” said Hearn. “He had a war with [Shavkat] Rakhimov to become a two-time world champion. He fought [Anchony] Cacace and probably shouldn’t have been at 130. He got hit after the bell.”
Let’s clarify: Cordina’s loss to Cacace wasn’t because he got hit after the bell in that fight. Cordina was never in that fight from round one; he was getting worked over by the more talented Irish fighter.
“Tell me a fighter that Shakur Stevenson has beat that would definitely beat Joe Cordina. He’s a serious fighter. Joe is making a fortune on October the 12th, and good luck to him because Joe wants the biggest fights and the most amount of money. He’s been like that for the last couple of years,” said Hearn.
Again, these former Shakur fighters would all likely beat Cordina with relative ease: Oscar Valdez, Robson Conceicao, Jamel Herring, Edwin De Los Santos, Jeremiah Nakathilia, Joet Gonzalez, and Artem Harutyunyan.
“The only kind of fight that Joe is going to get up for is moments like this. That is why this is a dangerous fight. Yes, of course, I’m going to champion Shakur Stevenson. I think he’s a pound-for-pound talent, and I think he’s a favorite in the fight. But if you’re not ready, you’re going to have your hands full because Cordina can fight. He’s got the bit between his teeth. He’s thinking, ‘I’ll show you.’ This is a great fight,” said Hearn.
Shakur’s Safety-First Style
The fight is dangerous for Shakur, but only because he’s not as good as some fans believe him to be. Shakur can’t punch, and he moves around a lot because he’s been hurt before. He goes out of his way now to avoid getting hit, which makes him one of the least entertaining fighters in the entire sport.
If Cordina can land his power shots on Shakur, he’s got a chance in this fight, but it will be next to impossible because the Newark native’s focus is always on defending. He only deviates from his all-defensive style when he faces a weak and slower puncher, like in his fights against Artem Harutyunyan and Shuichiro Yoshino.
Cordina hits hard, so Shakur will return to his safety-first fighting style on October 12th and be next to impossible to hit.
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