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Shakur Stevenson fights Joe Cordina on October 12 in Saudi Arabia

The preliminary fights for the fight between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev have been announced and lightweight star Shakur Stevenson will return.

Stevenson will defend his WBC lightweight title against former junior lightweight champion Joe Cordina in the co-main event of Bivol-Beterbiev on Oct. 12 in Riyadh, Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, announced Tuesday night.

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Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs), a three-weight world champion, will defend his title for the second time after winning it in November 2023. Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) moves up to the lightweight division for the first time after losing his title to Anthony Cacace by eighth-round knockout in the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury fight in May.

The rest of the preliminary fights have been filled with a handful of world champions, as has become common practice on the Riyadh Season cards over the past year. Before the Stevenson fight, Chris Eubank Jr. will face Kamil Szeremeta, while British heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke will rematch after a draw in March.

Cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia and featherweight champion Skye Nicolson will defend their titles in the supporting act, which also includes up-and-coming light heavyweight Ben Whittaker.

In the main event, Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) and Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) put their titles on the line for the undisputed light heavyweight championship title, the first in the four-belt era.

Harrison Campbell covers boxing for The Tennessean and high school sports for The Daily Herald. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly Twitter). @hccamp.

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