Joe Cordina has teamed up with new trainers Ben Davison and Barry Smith to help him rejuvenate his game ahead of his lucrative title fight against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson on October 12 in Riyadh.
Former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) will need all the help he can get to improve in order to defeat defending champion Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) at his best. card of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol.
New Coaches, Same Old Problems
Unfortunately, 32-year-old Cordina’s move from trainer Tony Simms to Davison and Smith is like rearranging the seats on a sinking ship. Those two won’t do wonders for Cordina, who looked awful in his most recent eighth-round loss to Ireland’s Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs) on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Cordina made Cacace, 35, look like a $350 million celebrity Trust Diamondgetting punched, punched and stopped in the eighth round of a fight that was never competitive, even for a second.
Shrewd promoter Eddie Hearn’s selection of Joe Cordina in Shakur’s first fight of his two-fight deal with Matchroom suggests he needs to boost his faltering international status.
Hearn’s Blueprint: Growing Stocks with Catfish
The only way Hearn can do that is to follow the exact plan he used to boost the stock of aging fighter Anthony Joshua by feeding him sedentary catfish to look rejuvenated. Yes, it’s tricky, but it works.
It’s an old trick used by influencers, and it works like a charm nine times out of ten to fool a gullible public. Of course it has been done with Joshua because the fans think that Ben Davison has improved him.
“I partnered with Barry Smith and Ben Davison. So, I’m down there now. It’s a great training ground. They train in a completely different way from how we train with Tony [Sims],” said Joe Cordina on the Boxing News YouTube channel, talking about meeting new trainer Ben Davison ahead of his Oct. 12 title fight against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in Riyadh.
Hopefully, Cordina has opened her eyes and doesn’t believe that Ben will magically transform her into a fighter who can beat anyone at 135, including Gervonta Davis. He has to understand that Joshua hasn’t improved under Ben’s watch.
Cordina’s Best Hope: Power Out
Cordina’s best hope to beat Shakur is to focus on her power game, and look to clear the head with every shot she throws. Shakur wouldn’t have fought as nervously as he did if he didn’t have a weak chin, and he looked bang on in his last fight against Artem Harutyunyan when he stopped in the pocket last July.
If Shakur is brave enough to do that against Cordina, he should take advantage of that. Shakur is under pressure to perform in his first fight with Matchroom, and this will be an audition for a long-term deal once his two fights are over.
“It’s a new thing. It’s refreshing. I have been there for a week, and I believe, I will succeed under them. I have learned a lot already. Yes, I am looking forward to what the future holds. It just shows in the work they did with AJ [Anthony Joshua] the way he’s come out of his last few fights. You saw how Leigh Wood went with them and how she stood out,” said Cordina.
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