Joe Cordina

Joseph Cordina (born Joseph Samuel, 1 December 1991) is a Welsh professional boxer. He has held the Commonwealth lightweight title since 2018 and the British lightweight title since April 2019. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2015 European Championships, both in the lightweight division. He also represented Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

Cordina was born on 1 December 1991 in Cardiff, Wales. He is of Maltese heritage. In 2015, he had a daughter with his partner Lauren Beere.

Amateur career

At the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, he lost in the first round of the lightweight event to Eugen Burhard of Germany by a score of 7–13. In 2012 Cordina won a bronze medal at the European Under-22 Boxing Championships held in Russia. He defeated German boxer Artur Bril in his quarterfinal bout before losing 13–12 to Russian Maksim Shmiglev in the semi-finals. He was eliminated from the 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships after losing his first bout in the lightweight event to Lázaro Álvarez of Cuba. At the 2012 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament he was eliminated after his bout against David Joyce of Ireland was stopped in the third round.

He represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland. Competing in the men's lightweight division he defeated Pat McCormack of England in the first round, the Canada's David Gauthier in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals he defeated Chad Milnes of New Zealand, guaranteeing himself at least a bronze medal. He lost his semi-final to Scotland's Charlie Flynn by a split judge's decision and was eliminated from the tournament, to finish with a bronze medal.

Cordina won the lightweight gold medal at the 2015 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria, beating Otan Eranosyan of Georgia in the final. He was the only British boxer to win a gold medal at the event. At the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships held in Doha, Qatar, he reached the quarterfinals of the lightweight division by beating Kwon Chol-guk of North Korea in the round of 16, but was then eliminated after losing to Robson Conceição of Brazil.

He boxed at the 2016 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Samsun, Turkey. He secured qualification for the lightweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by beating David Joyce, who had eliminated him from the 2012 Olympic qualification tournament, in the semi-finals.

Professional career

Cordina made his professional debut as a super-featherweight on 22 April 2017 at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, scoring a fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) victory over José Aguilar in a scheduled four round contest.

Professional boxing record