By Charles Brun: Joe Cordina wants to win back his IBF super featherweight title this Saturday night, April 22, when he takes on champion Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in their long-awaited fight at the Cardiff International Arena in Wales.
(Photo credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Cordina (15-0, 9 KOs) is still bitter about being stripped of his IBF 130-lb title last November after suffering a hand injury that derailed his title defense against Rakhimov.
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was Cordina sitting ringside and watching the talented 28-year-old Rakhimov (17-0-1, 14 KOs) capture the vacant IBF super featherweight title by stopping Zelfa Barrett in the ninth round at the Eithad Arena in UAE on November 5th.
Rakhimov took apart a very good fighter in Barett to capture Cordina’s IBF title, and all the Welsh fighter could do was sit and watch, quietly seething in Shavkatdzhon’s moment of glory.
Rakhimov vs. Cordina fight will be shown live this Saturday night on DAZN.
Still living off the distant memories of his career-best second-round knockout victory over the flawed Kenichi Ogawa, the 31-year-old Cordina hopes to do the same against Rakhimov.
Cordina will have to show some finesse against Rakhimov on Saturday night because if his only plan is to try and land a homerun shot as he did against Ogawa, he could be kidding himself. Rakhimov will counter Cordina to pieces if he loads up on every shot and make him look like a rank amateur.
Cordina still bitter
Cordina needs to erase that image of his victory from his head and focus on the present because what he did in the past against a badly flawed fighter like Ogawa has no bearing on what he’s going to be up against fighting the talented Rakhimov.
That’s the problem with fighters that live in the past, lost in reverie about their past glory. They can’t move on mentally and stay in the present.
“It was quite frustrating me being there and watching those two [Rakhimov and Zelfa Barrett]. I’m not going to lie. I looked at him [Rakhimov] and said, ‘I’m going to f*** you up, see that?,” said a bitter Cordina.
“‘I’m going to land that right on your chin.’ I just kept saying, ‘I’m going to f*** you up,’ that’s all I kept saying. In my head, that’s my belt, I need to get that back.
“I never lost my title in the ring; I haven’t had a chance to defend it. I’m going into this fight as a challenger, but in my head, I’m a World Champion, and I have the confidence of a World Champion.”
