Cordina brings momentum: New trainers for Stevenson fight

Joe Cordina has teamed up with new trainers Ben Davison and Barry Smith to help him freshen up 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 enough to defeat defensive artist Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) and secure their high-profile joint appearance in the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight.

New coaches, same old problems

Unfortunately, the 32-year-old Cordina's move from trainer Tony Simms to Davison and Smith is like rearranging chairs on a sinking ship. Those two will not perform miracles for Cordina, who looked pretty awful in his most recent eighth-round stoppage loss to Irishman Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs) on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Cordina made the 35-year-old Cacace look like the famous $350 million Hope Diamondwas outboxed, beaten and stopped in the eighth round of a fight that was not competitive for a moment.

The selection of Joe Cordina by savvy promoter Eddie Hearn for Shakur's first fight under his two-fight contract with Matchroom suggests he needs to boost his declining global value.

Hearn's blueprint: increasing the stock with catfish

Hearn can only do that by following the exact plan he used to fatten up the ageing, weakening boxer Anthony Joshua by feeding him bottom-dwelling catfish to make him look younger. Yes, it's a clever trick, but it works.

It's an age-old trick used by promoters, and nine times out of ten it works like a charm to fool the gullible public. It definitely worked on Joshua, with fans believing Ben Davison has made him better.

“I've teamed up with Barry Smith and Ben Davison. So I'm down there now. It's a good training environment. They train completely differently to us and Tony [Sims]”, Joe Cordina told YouTube channel Boxing News, talking about working with new trainer Ben Davison ahead of his October 12 title fight against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson in Riyadh.

Hopefully Cordina has his eyes open and doesn't think that Ben will magically turn him into a fighter that can beat anyone in the 135 division, including Gervonta Davis. He needs to understand that Joshua hasn't improved under Ben's watch.

Cordina's greatest hope: Unleash the power

Cordina's best chance of beating Shakur is to focus on his power game and try to take his head off with every punch. Shakur wouldn't fight so timidly if he didn't have a weak chin, and in his last fight against Artem Harutyunyan, standing in the pocket last July, he looked pretty average.

If Shakur is brave enough to do that against Cordina, he needs to take advantage. Shakur is under pressure to be entertaining in his first fight with Matchroom, and this will be an audition to get a longer-term contract once his two fights are over.

“It's something new. It's refreshing. I've been there for a week now and I think I'm going to shine among them. I've learned a lot already. Yes, I'm excited about what the future holds for me. It just shows with the work they've done with AJ. [Anthony Joshua] how he's performed in his last few fights. You've seen how Leigh Wood has handled them, how he's excelled,” Cordina said.