Paulie Maliggaggi is just one of many people who don’t understand how Joe Cordina gets a title shot against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson after being knocked out in his last fight three months ago.
Hearn’s decision under fire
Matchroom-promoted former IBF super featherweight champion Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) was announced today as the opponent for Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) to fight in the co-feature bout on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on October 12 in Riyadh.
Cordina, 32, is ranked #13 WBC at lightweight, but has never fought there and is not someone most American fans are familiar with. Many of the fans who have seen Cordina fight before are aware of his eighth round knockout loss to Anthony Cacace on May 18th.
Promoter Eddie Hearn may have underestimated fans’ reaction to Shakur’s defense against his second straight opponent after a loss.
Last July, Shakur made his first defense of his WBC lightweight title against Artem Harutyunyan, who lost to Frank Martin last July. To break the pattern of Shakur’s defense against fighters coming off a loss, Hearn had to match him up against one of the top five contenders, such as Raymond Muratalla, Andy Cruz, or Edwin De Los Santos.
“I hope not (Tank) Davis becomes the new Canelo, and he goes and makes this fight. You want to see the best fighting the best. That’s what we have in the lightweight division,” boxing expert Paulie Malignaggi told Probox TV YouTube channel. “In this situation, you have champion vs. champion (Tank vs. Shakur).”
You can’t blame Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis for not being eager to fight Shakur because of these reasons:
- Not a PPV draw
- Can’t sell tickets
- Runner reputation
- Three consecutive poor performances
Malignaggi and Algieri Express Disappointment
“These are the bonafide best two guys in the lightweight division. I understand Cordina is solid, but he is coming off a loss. They bend the rules when they want. Now you can come off a loss and get a world title fight,” Malignaggi said of Joe Cordina getting a title shot against Shakur after an eighth-round knockout loss to Anthony Cacace on May 18.
Even though Cordina has been a solid fighter, he is not in the top 10 at lightweight, has never fought there, and is not well known in the US. Cordina hasn’t looked like a solid fighter in his last three fights against Cacace, Edward Vazquez and Shavkat Rakhimov.
“You could never do that before. I don’t even understand how that can be possible,” Malignaggi said.
“That fight doesn’t do much for me. Cordina is coming off a loss, coming up a weight class,” Chris Algieri said. “This is his first fight at 135, coming off a bad knockout loss to fight Shakur Stevenson, who is a fantastic fighter, a great technician.
Fans believe that Hearn chose Cordina as Shakur because he wanted to help him because he is at Matchroom and needy after his loss to Cacace.
“It doesn’t really matter in terms of the layout of the 135-lb division for Shakur Stevenson. In terms of Davis vs. Shakur Stevenson. Don’t hold your breath,” says Algieri.
