Joe Cordina nonetheless needs the struggle with Shakur Stevenson after dropping out on the match on October twelfth attributable to a hand harm for the Newark, New Jersey native. That’s acquired to be disappointing for the 33-year-old Cordina as a result of he missed out on a pleasant payday by means of no fault of his personal.
The Missed Alternative
Curiously, fairly than Shakur selecting to proceed on with the Cordina struggle after his hand harm, he moved on, washing his fingers of this much-criticized struggle going within the route of an equally lampooned struggle towards prospect Floyd Schofield.
The previous IBF tremendous featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) could not have gotten the phrase that the Golden Boy-promoted prospect Schofield signed the contract to problem Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) for his WBC light-weight belt on February twenty second in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It’s reported that the 22-year-old Schofield will obtain a career-high payday of over $1 million for that struggle. Simply assume. Cordina may have obtained that cash if Shakur had chosen to reschedule.
He wasn’t going to try this as a result of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wished fights that might curiosity the worldwide public, and Cordina would appeal to any favorable attraction from U.S. followers. Even the UK public wouldn’t be enthusiastic about Shakur defending towards Cordina on the February twenty second card.
Cordina was knocked out within the ninth spherical by Anthony Cacace earlier this 12 months on Might 18th in Riyadh. That was a one-sided struggle from begin to end with Cacace being too busy, too expert and too gifted for Cordina.
What Cordina must do is transfer as much as light-weight and work his manner into place if he needs a chance to get a title shot towards Shakur. There might be no unearned title probabilities for Cordina, which is what it could have been had the struggle with Shakur gone down on October twelfth. Cordina could be coming off a knockout loss, unranked at 135, making his debut within the weight class. He checks each field for being undeserving of a title shot.
Contender Gauntlet
His superior age is working towards Cordina having the ability to climb the ranks at light-weight to struggle for a title shot. The one manner Cordina can get a title shot is to struggle 4 to 6 occasions in 2025, dealing with these contenders:
– Keyshawn Davis– Edwin De Los Santos– Andy Cruz– Abdullah Mason– Raymond Muratalla
Don’t see what the fu**ing maintain up is @MatchroomBoxing @FrankSmith @EddieHearn @ShakurStevenson pic.twitter.com/hKxiwiy7Mg
— Joe Cordina (@Cordina2X) December 2, 2024