Shakur Stevenson revealed on social media that he’s started training camp for his next defense of his WBC lightweight title against Joe Cordina on October 12th, on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Matchroom still needs to make the Stevenson-Cordina fight official.
This will reportedly be a one-fight deal for WBC lightweight champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to sign with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing for the Cordina fight. Shakur wants to be a free agent for 2025 to make a unification fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Social media reaction to Stevenson fighting Cordina is mixed. Most fans dislike the pick but view it as a case of Hearn helping out one of his Matchroom fighters, Cordina, by giving him a nice payday that he doesn’t rate against Shakur. He’d never get there if the #13 WBC Cordina had to work his way to a title shot against Shakur.
Another Rebound Opponent for Stevenson?
Stevenson hasn’t set the world on fire since moving to the 135-lb division in 2023. In Shakur’s three fights, he’s beaten these guys:
– Artem Harutyunyan
– Edwin De Los Santos: *controversial
– Shuichiro Yoshino
Promoter Eddie Hearn stated last week that negotiations had started for Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) to face Shakur next. Shakur will let Hearn announce the fight.
If Cordina is indeed the opponent Shakur is defending against, it would be similar to his last fight against Artem Harutyunyan, in which he faced a fighter coming off a loss. Frank Martin had beaten Harutyunyan in his previous fight before facing Shakur for his WBC title.
Strangely, Shakur is making a name for himself, fighting low-level fighters coming off losses, but this might be the best he can do. His performance against Edwin De Los Santos was so bad that it may have been permanently marginalized.
“There is an agreement for Shakur Stevenson vs. Joe Cordina on October 12 on the Beterbiev-Bivol card in Saudi Arabia,” says JuliusJulianis on X. “Shakur has signed only this fight with Matchroom because he wants to be free in 2025 and negotiate with Gervonta Davis.”
Cordina, 32, has moved up to 135 following losing his IBF title to Anthony Cacace by an eighth-round knockout on May 18th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The British fighter, Cordina, didn’t look good in that loss to Cacace, appearing slow and getting hit a lot.
Joe Cordina had struggled in his two prior fights against Shavkat Rakhimov and Edward Vazquez. He’d looked poor in both fights, so it’s unsurprising that Cacace dethroned him.
Speculations on the Fight Date and Card Placement
There’s speculation that Shakur vs. Cordina will be packaged with His Excellancy’s October 12th event, headlined by Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh. If Shakur is defending against Cordina next, it could wind up on the undercard.
It’s not a great fight, but it’s worthy of being on the undercard of Beterbiev-Bivol at the #2 or #3 spot, depending on who else is on the card.
Fans don’t understand why Shakur would defend against Cordina when the highly ranked #2 Raymond Muratalla, #4 Edwin De Los Santos, and #6 Andy Cruz await a chance to fight for a world title.
Due to their power and talent, those guys would be serious threats to Shakur. In contrast, Cordina is a safer bet for Shakur to keep him winning long enough to face William Zepeda in February.
Hearn promotes Cordina, and he might be the one who chose him for Shakur. If Hearn signs the free agent Shakur to his Mathroom Boxing stable, an in-house fight against Cordina will make a lot of sense. It makes British fans happy and helps Hearn give Cordina a quick title shot for a nice pick-me-up.
1st day of camp today 😈
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) August 19, 2024