Shakur Stevenson’s decision to defend his WBC lightweight title against unbeaten Joe Cordina next is believed to be a strategy to boost his declining stock to put him in a better position to land a lucrative unification fight against the WBA- champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to negotiate for next year. .
Using Cordina, 32, as a tool to get a better deal against Tank Davis is doomed. It will backfire because of the tremendous backlash that erupted over this pick. This is as low as you can get.
Handpicked from the 130-lb division
It is considered a low move by Shakur to strip the 130-lb division, picking off a fighter who was not only knocked out in his previous fight, but completely dominated the entire fight by Anthony Cacace last May. Cordina was out of his league in that fight, hammering through the faster, busier and more skilled Cacace.
Shakur should have chosen these fighters:
– William Zepeda
– Abdullah Mason
– Raymond Muratalla
– Andy Cruz
– Keyshawn Davis: *Put aside friendship for the sweet cash
Under the current situation, Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) is coming off two consecutive terrible performances against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos, and he is in no position to negotiate a favorable deal. So he chose non-lightweight Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) to make himself look good.
Shakur should look like pure 24k gold against Cordina, who was never that good but was skillfully maneuvered by his promoter, Eddie Hearn, to capture the IBF against Kenichi Ogawa in 2022.
Zepeda: The real test
For Shakur to get a better financial deal against Tank Davis, it would require a win over #1 William Zepeda in 2025. Cordina is a pure waste of time. Zepeda will likely beat Shakur unless we meet on a different track and field as we saw in Shakur’s questionable win over Edwin De Los Santos last November in Las Vegas.
Shakur can’t afford to put on another performance like that if he wants to bolster his bid to negotiate a fight against Tank Davis on favorable terms.
If Shakur looks bad in winning efforts against Zepeda and Cordina, he needs to continue to shake up the game in the brush to fight someone he can beat and look good against. Otherwise, he’s not going to get the 50-50 split he’s hoping for against Tank Davis if he continues to put in timid performances.
