Joe Cordina selects new team ahead of Shakur Stevenson clash
Aug 23, 2024 • 3:47 PM ET
This week, BoxingScene reported that Welsh star Joe Cordina and trainer Tony Sims had amicably parted ways ahead of Cordina’s October 12 clash with Shakur Stevenson.
Cordina, a two-time world champion, will now be training at the Ben Davison Performance Centre with Barry Smith and Ben Davison.
Cordina, who is 17-1 (9 KOs), said he was looking for something new and, at 32, Cardiff’s former IBF junior lightweight champion has joined a thriving gym that includes Anthony Joshua, Campbell Hatton, Moses Itauma and Leigh Wood.
“To be honest, for me it was just a change up,” said Cordina of making the move. “And it’s not just with Ben, it’s with Barry. Barry’s a bit more hands on and on the pads and Ben mainly oversees, but it’s a good environment to be around but I think it was totally for a freshen up and something new.”
Cordina lost for the first time in his professional career in May when he was stopped by Irishman Anthony Cacace in eight rounds.
That was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Cordina again ventures to challenge WBC lightweight champion Stevenson, the Newark talent who is having his first fight under the Matchroom banner, the company that has promoted Cordina for his entire career.
“I was going until the wheels fell off, basically, and in a sense of don’t try and fix something if it’s not broken, so when I lost, it was a case of assessing certain things and seeing what can I add to my game, and I think they can,” said Cordina. “With [with] Barry Smith and Ben Davison.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
