Eddie Hearn remains open to working with Welsh star Joe Cordina

Eddie Hearn remains open to working with Welshman Joe Cordina again, even though the out-of-contract star has been in talks with other promoters.

Former Olympian and IBF champion Cordina has enjoyed success under the Matchroom banner, but the Welshman has been frustrated by a lack of opportunity and activity having suffered the only loss of his career to Anthony Cacace in Saudi Arabia in May. 

Cordina, now 17-1 (9 KOs), had been due to face Shakur Stevenson at the end of 2024, but Stevenson suffered a hand injury and the fight fell through.

Stevenson was then matched with William Zepeda, but after he was pushed by Tevin Farmer the tall Mexican and the Philadelphian agreed a rematch and Stevenson instead was scheduled to fight Floyd Schofield on February 22 in Saudi Arabia. After Schofield fell ill during fight week, Englishman Josh Padley took the call to face WBC lightweight champion Shakur, but that remains a fight Cordina, 33, covets.

“The Joe Cordina situation is one of the great mysteries to me,” said Hearn. “I have messages from his family and his friends saying, ‘Why this?’ I mean, the reality is that Joe looked elsewhere after Cacace, or even before Cacace, to be honest with you, and we got him two shots at the world title and a huge payday in Riyadh.

“And he got beat. Then we got him the Shakur Stevenson fight and obviously it fell through. The problem is, Joe’s made good money and Joe wants a lot of money to fight.

“And the problem with a lot of these guys is that if that big fight’s not there, they don't want to take the money for a run out. They go, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ It's like, ‘Well, okay, but how long are you going to wait? Like, you're getting to a stage now where it’s coming up to a year since Joe boxed. I think Joe’s a fantastic fighter, but, you know, people DM, like, message me all the time saying, ‘Why is Joe Cordina not fighting?’ He's out talking to other promoters nonstop and hasn’t been [active] for a long time. So it’s not my responsibility to do it. If we can work with Joe, I’d love to. But also, at the same time, you understand, as a promoter, when you know someone's out there shopping themselves around, this doesn’t really motivate you to go out of your way.”