Cordina to fight Mason for WBO lightweight title
Former super-featherweight world champion Joe Cordina will fight Abdullah Mason for the American's WBO lightweight title on Saturday, 4 July. Cordina lost his IBF 130lb world title in May 2024, a shock defeat by Anthony Cacace the only loss in the Welsh boxer's 19-fight professional career. The 34-year-old from Cardiff has since beaten Jaret Gonzalez Quiroz to claim the vacant WBO global lightweight title before dominating Gabriel Flores Jr in California on the way to a unanimous victory on points in December 2025.
Mason will have home advantage for the first defence of the belt he won in an epic encounter with Sam Noakes in November 2025, with Cordina's challenge to be staged at CSU Wolstein Centre in Cleveland. Cordina closer to two-weight title dream after win Cordina said: "This is a massive test for me, but this it's one that I'm more than capable of coming through with flying colours. Abdullah Mason is a very good fighter, and he's going to do big things in boxing, but I'm going to mess up the homecoming.
"I'm looking to come over, rip the title away from him, and take it back to the U. K. It's a massive fight for boxing, and I'm looking to become a three-time, two-weight world champion.
" Mason said: "July 4th is the homecoming that my brothers and I have been anticipating since before we turned pro. I'm ready to experience all of my city's support in one building, and I have an appetite for smoke. Cordina's promoter, Matchroom's Eddie Hearn, said: "Abdullah is a tremendous talent and a real star for the future, but Joe has been there, done it and got the t-shirt.
"Joe showed in California that he's not afraid to fight in hostile territory and that he still has plenty left in the tank at the top level, and this is a massive chance for him to become a two-weight World champion. " Cordina won British and Commonwealth titles at lightweight earlier in his career, having been a decorated amateur boxer who fought at an Olympics and in the same Team GB programme as his friend Anthony Joshua. After turning professional in 2017 he became Wales' 13th world champion boxer when he beat Kenichi Ogawa to claim the IBF super-featherweight title in June 2022.