By Brian Webber: Shakur Stevenson was excited on Thursday after seeing a Tweet from IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina, asking him what he thinks about a stadium fight between them.
WBC/WBO champion Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) immediately responded to the unbeaten Cordina (15-0, 9 KOs), saying, “Let’s do it.” Stevenson vs. Cordina would be a massive fight in Wales, as that’s where Joe is from, and he’s got a large following out there.
On Thursday, Shakur got terrible news about his fight with Emanuel Navarrete following through during negotiations.
The two had hoped to fight on September 23rd, but the talks failed to produce a fight. Stevenson claimed that the WBO featherweight champion Navarrete (35-1, 29 KOs) had “priced himself out” of the negotiations.
After the way, Shakur dominated his last two opponents, Oscar Valdez and Jamel Herring. You can hardly blame Navarrete if he did choose to price himself out of a fight with the talented former two-division world champion. Who wants to get beaten the way Herring and Valdez were by Shakur?
Oh shit let’s do it 😈😈 https://t.co/o75FGVqHoj
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) June 9, 2022
Cordina is a fighter still developing his punching power, going from a pure boxer to a knockout artist. In Cordina’s last fight, he destroyed IBF 130-lb champion Kenichi Ogawa, by a second-round knockout on June 4th at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
Going into that fight, it was thought that Ogawa was the one with the power.
In the second round, Cordina landed a brutal right hand that knocked Ogawa down like a bowling pin. Unsurprisingly, Ogawa was way too hurt to get back up to continue fighting.
If Cordina does take the fight with Stevenson, 24, next, you’ve got to give him all the respect in the world because right now, the American looks unbeatable.
Stevenson isn’t nearly as famous now as he will be in a few years, which is the downside of Cordina facing him at this early stage of his career.
However, it’s now or never for Cordina because Stevenson will be moving up to 135 next year, and it’ll be too late to try and fight him. With Shakur’s frame, he’s going to wind up at 140 within a few years, possibly even 147.
He’s got Mayweather-like talent, allowing him to climb through the divisions and continue to enjoy success. It’ll be interesting to see how well Stevenson handles Cordina’s punching power.
The Welsh fighter sets up his shots well, and he could surprise Stevenson with something big like he did against Ogawa.
Stevenson looked shaken at one point in his fight against Jeremiah Nakathilia last year in June after getting nailed by a hard jab. Cordina has similar power, and he could pull off an upset against Shakur.
