Hearn Backs Cordina as Best Bet To Shock Stevenson at 130-Pounds

Eddie Hearn believes his cost, newly topped titlist Joe Cordina, is the very best guess within the 130-pound weight class to upset the division’s kingpin, Shakur Stevenson.

Cordina, the 30-year-old Welsh native, is coming off a one-punch knockout of Kenichi Ogawa to win Ogawa’s IBF junior light-weight title earlier this month at Motorpoint Enviornment in Cardiff, Wales.

Stevenson, the 24-year-old southpaw ace from Newark, New Jersey, unified the WBC and WBO 130-pound titles in April with a dominant factors win over then titlist Oscar Valdez on the MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment in Las Vegas.

A unification bout between Stevenson and Cordina would seemingly have Stevenson an enormous favourite, however Hearn, the Head of Matchroom Boxing, believes Cordina’s sensational win offers him a case to be aggressive with Stevenson.

“Shakur Stevenson, for me, is already a pound-for-pound nice fighter,” Hearn mentioned on The DAZN Boxing Present. “However inform me a fighter at 130 kilos that you just’d give extra likelihood of beating Shakur Stevenson proper now than Joe Cordina.

“And I do know Cordina can be an underdog within the combat, however once you produce performances like that you just begin saying, ‘okay, this child is a risk to individuals like Shakur Stevenson.’ The distinction with Cordina is [he is] technically superb and really acute as properly, and Shakur might be the king of that. He’s so good and so acute and so intelligent. However that’s a very, actually good combat.”

A combat between Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs) and Cordina (15-0, 9 KOs), nevertheless, would carry up a number of points. Stevenson is promoted by High Rank Inc., which has an unique output cope with ESPN. Hearn has his personal hefty output cope with DAZN, the streaming service. The query of which broadcaster would carry that combat, in concept, must be labored out first.

The opposite belt holder at 130 is Roger Gutierrez of Venezuela. Gutierrez (26-3-1, 20 KOs) is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, which has an output cope with DAZN. A combat between Gutierrez and Cordina could also be simpler to make for that motive. High Rank head Bob Arum has publicly said that he doesn’t want to see a combat between Stevenson and Gutierrez, citing the latter’s restricted profile.

Hearn recommended {that a} seemingly situation can be an undisputed title combat between Stevenson and Cordina.  

“It’s going to most likely find yourself at some being for the undisputed championship at 130 kilos, a life altering second for Joe Cordina,” Hearn mentioned, including that “It’s the very best combat [in the division].”