Joe Cordina Intends to Annihilate IBF champ Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov!
In boxing, champions dislike losing the title outside the ring and watching someone else win it. It is a feeling the former IBF junior lightweight champion Joe “The Wizard” Cordina (15-0, 9KO) is experiencing right now. Moreover, he promises to stop newly crowned IBF champ Shavkatdzhon “Shere Khan” Rakhimov (17-0-1, 14KO).
On June 4, Cordina scored a savage second-round knockout over Kenichi Ogawa that sent shockwaves throughout the boxing community. Initially, The Wizard and mandatory challenger Rakhimov were going to lock horns for the title.
Things were looking all set to go until Cordina suffered an injury that would prevent him from returning to the ring until 2023. The IBF decided to strip him of the title and order Rakhimov to fight Zelfa Barrett for the vacant title, with the winner facing Cordina.
CORDINA WANTS HIS TITLE BACK
On October 15, Rakhimov won the vacant title but had some trouble in the early portion of the fight. In round three, he got dropped by a counter-right uppercut. Shere Khan continued to pressure Barrett, who eventually wilted in round nine.
Cordina was in attendance and, in an intermission interview with DAZN Boxing, made it clear he was going to regain the title.
“Zelfa didn’t step on him (Rakhimov). He had him hurt, and he had him gone. But believe you me, when I get him, and I hurt him, he’s finished.”
“As soon as I’m ready […] I broke my hand, that’s the only reason why I didn’t fight him. People were saying I was ducking him [..] I’ll box his ears off, and if he comes to fight, which he will, he’s going to get knocked out.”
Joe Cordina
By: Garrisson Bland
