Joe Cordina admits he would relish a future showdown with unified super featherweight world champion, Shakur Stevenson.
Cordina challenges for the IBF super featherweight world title against current champion, Kenichi Ogawa at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff on Saturday night, live on DAZN.
2016 Olympic Silver medalist, Stevenson, the consensus number one in the division, added the WBC belt to his WBO crown with a dominant win over Oscar Valdez in April and revealed that he is also open to a clash with the Welshman, a fellow Rio Olympian.
“I would love to do that,” the 24-year-old American told talkSPORT.
“I know Joe Cordina, I’ve known him since the amateurs. We don’t talk or nothing like that, but I know who he is and I’ve been paying attention to him as a boxer and I’ve seen him fight.
“I knew who he was already and I’ve been telling people Cordina is the best boxer and he would be the best test, so I would be down for that and it’s a big fight for me.
“When I look at him I see a real challenge and a real test, because I don’t take anything away from him, he’s got the size the skills, a good jab.”
Responding to the comments, the ‘Welsh Wizard’ foresees a future meeting for all the belts at 130lbs, with the WBA ‘super’ title currently vacant.
“To hear that from a fighter like him it’s good,” Cordina told proboxing-fans.com on Friday.
“Obviously we went to the Olympics together. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t speak, we don’t back-and-forth.
“But I give him the utmost respect, because he’s a great fighter. I’m a boxing fan first and foremost and I’m a fan of his.
“But like I said to previous people, I back myself against anyone.
“It’s a fight that I’d love and to share a ring with a unified champion for all the marbles would be great.
“It would be nice to have him in the UK.”
Ogawa makes a first defence of the IBF title he won with a unanimous decision victory over Azinga Fuzile in November.
Cordina insists the 34-year-old would not have faced a fighter like him when they lock horns on Saturday.
“He’s a good fighter, he’s a world champion for a reason,” the 30-year-old said.
“But he’s never fought anyone like me.
“If you look at his record early on, probably his first 20 fights were in Japan and they were all with pretty poor records, so we can’t really take too much away from the knockouts that he’s got, because they’ve been against no-ones.
“Don’t get me wrong, everyone has to have learning fights and I’ve had learning fights, so we don’t take nothing from it.”
Should he be successful, the hometown favourite would become the first Welshman to win a world title since Lee Selby in 2018 and the 13th to hold a world title.
A mandatory defence against Zelfa Barrett, who faces Faroukh Kourbanov for the European super featherweight title on the undercard, could follow before any unification and Cordina insists he would have no problem facing his domestic rival.
“It could be [next].
“But, obviously I’m going to have to take time off and we’ll discuss it with [trainer] Tony [Sims].
“But yeah it’s a fight that I would like, because it’s a big domestic fight and it would bring a lot of eyes from Britain, but yeah we would have to see.”
Watch the full interview with Joe Cordina below:
