Joe Cordina wants to feel the fear and land a lightweight world title shot

THE future for Joe Cordina now lies in the lightweight division but he admits whoever he fights needs to give him the fear factor.

Three months ago the Welshman lost his IBF super-featherweight world title to Northern Ireland’s Anthony Cacace. Going into the fight Cordina was well aware of the threats the big punching Belfast man possessed and by the eighth round the challenger’s power proved too much for the brave Cordina.

Cordina told Boxing News that he should have left 130lbs long ago but doesn’t want to dwell on the past. Instead, the 32-year-old is looking to the future which means moving up to a 135lbs weight class where Gervonta Davis, Vasily Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson and Denys Berinchyk hold the world titles with dangerman William Zepeda closing in on a shot of his own.

“If there’s a world title there and it can be made [then] why not,” Cordina said.

“Fighting a champion you’ve always got nerves, that little bit of fear in losing. My fear of losing is massive. That fear of losing, of fighting another champion, that’s what I wanna feel, that’s what would bring out the best in me. I’d happily jump in with the champions: Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, “Tank” Davis and Berinchyk. Give me 10 to 12 weeks and I’d jump in with them.”

Lomachenko is believed to be not fighting again until 2025, Stevenson is still a free agent and could be fighting Zepeda next, “Tank” business is quiet and Berinchyk has a target on his back. A world title fight for Cordina may not happen right away and instead he may have to make do with something on a smaller scale until an opportunity arises.

“If I have to go down the rigmarole then it has to be that way,” he said.

Cordina, however, doesn’t believe it will be difficult to manoeuvre himself into landing a lightweight world title shot. But should he need to face fellow contenders along the way he wants to be accurately rewarded for doing so.

“If you wanna be the best you’ve got to beat the best and if that means I’ve got to fight people along the way to get to it then that’s it,” Cordina said.

“But I don’t wanna be fighting all these top fighters and not getting paid [well] for it. It seems like everyone is getting paid. I’m a two-time world champion, I want to be paid to jump into these fights as well. As long as I get paid I’ll fight anyone.”