Welsh boxer bids to reclaim world title he never lost
The size of the scar tells the story.
It runs from Joe Cordina’s right wrist to the base of his index finger, following surgery to recover from an injury that effectively cost him his IBF super featherweight title. It is a reminder of a painful few months.
From being on top of the world last June as a stunning right hook defeated Kenichi Ogawa and made him Wales 13th world champion, Cordina’s dreams of unification fights were soon broken; he was stripped of his world title status in October without making a single defence.
Now the Cardiff fighter is back in the Welsh capital and ready to do it all again as he fights for the title he never lost, taking on undefeated champion Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov.
If big nights of boxing are going to keep coming to Wales, Cordina knows he’s the man who will need to make it happen.
‘My hand? If it breaks, it breaks’
Cordina – who has won all 15 of his professional fights – insists he will not be worrying about his damaged right hand, despite now requiring two operations and being left with a monster scar to prove it.
He had been scheduled to make his first title defence against Rakhimov last November, but broke his hand during his first sparring session. The Tajikistani fighter went on to win the vacant belt himself by beating England Zelfa Barrett in Abu Dhabi – meaning that Cordina now goes into this contest as the challenger.
“I can’t worry about my hand in this fight,” the 31-year old told BBC Sport Wales.
“I’ve been 100% since I’ve been back in the gym, I’ve been sparring big boys and I have been letting my hands go.
“If I worry I will come unstuck, I need to go out and do what I do.
“My hand? If it breaks, it breaks. If it holds up, that’s perfect.
“But I am not going to worry about breaking my hand on his head.”
‘Cordina is sometimes slow’
Rakhimov, 28, is trained by legendary American Freddie Roach – who trained Bernard Hopkins when he was beaten by Welsh great Joe Calzaghe 15 years ago.
While Roach says he respects Cordina, he feels there are weaknesses that Rakhimov can exploit.
“I’m not impressed with his speed, he’s slow to make his shots sometimes,” he said.
“We’ve watched lots and lots of tape of him.
“Our guy is stronger and we will attack him and I think we win by KO.
“It’s a great fight in a great city.”
World title opportunity for Ryan
England’s Sandy Ryan has the opportunity to win the vacant WBO welterweight title as she takes on Canada’s Marie Pier Houle on an undercard that also features plenty of Welsh interest.
Five Welsh fighters are on the card behind Cordina, with two of them facing each other, as Gavin Gwynne puts his British lightweight title on the line against Craig Woodruff in a rematch of a compelling 2022 fight that ended in a draw.
Gwynne versus Woodruff is the biggest all-Welsh fight since former WBA light-welterweight champion Gavin Rees’ final career fight in 2014, when he bowed out with a win in a rematch against Gary Buckland.
Two fighters now trained by Rees feature on the undercard – , Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sammy Lee, 24, and 19-year-old Brandon Scott, who did his open workout session on Wednesday dressed as Spider-Man. Nathan Howells is the other Welsh boxer on the undercard.
“Like Joe Calzaghe did, I want to give other fighters the opportunity to show their talents around the world,” Cordina added.
Cordina will also have an eye on Barrett, who faces American Jason Sanchez on the undercard. If the Englishman wins, and Cordina is successful too, promoter Eddie Hearn has hinted strongly that they could face each other in Cardiff later this year.