Joe Cordina will defend his British and Commonwealth Lightweight titles against Gavin Gwynne in a mouth-watering battle of Wales on the undercard of Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell at The O2 in London on August 31, shown live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK.
Cordina stopped Andy Townend inside six rounds to add the British title to his Commonwealth belt at The O2 in April. The undefeated ‘Welsh Wizard’ outclassed his experienced opponent from the first round and dropped the Barnsley boxer three times in the sixth round to extend his record to nine straight wins with his seventh knockout.
Gwynne, a former St Joseph’s stablemate of Cordina, is undefeated in eleven professional fights and picked up the Welsh Lightweight title against Henry Janes in December 2017. The Newport fighter, trained by Tony Borg, lands his second title shot after outpointing Derby’s Myron Mills in a Final Eliminator for the British title in his hometown.
“I’m glad to be making the first defence of my prestigious British title on a huge night of boxing at The O2 on August 31,” said Cordina. “The British and Commonwealth titles are important belts to add to my collection on my route to World title glory and I intend to defend them in style against Gavin Gywnne later this month.
“It’s brilliant to be sharing a bill with Vasiliy Lomachenko and Luke Campbell as they both bid to become the number one Lightweight on the planet and I hope to be fighting for that honour myself in the future. I know Gavin from my amateur days and I’m expecting him to give his all to take my titles from me but they won’t be going anywhere.”
“I was absolutely delighted when I found out I’d have the opportunity to fight for the British and Commonwealth titles,” said Gwynne. “Being on the undercard of pound-for-pound number one Vasiliy Lomachenko is even better so it’s a massive night for me. When I first turned pro winning the British title was my only ambition. Winning these titles would mean the World to me.
“Joe is a former Olympian and Team GB star so he’s going to be the favourite going into this fight but me and Joe have sparred rounds in the Welsh squad and I think over twelve rounds I’ll have too much for him. Especially at Lightweight, I’m going to be the much bigger guy in there.
“Joe is a very skilful boxer and he looks like he’s picked up a bit of power as well in his last couple of fights, but I’m confident of getting the win on August 31. Whoever wins the fight will pick up the titles and have the bragging rights in Wales so there’s plenty on the line here.”
Cordina vs. Gwynne is part of a huge night of action in the Capital.
At the top of the bill, Olympic Champions Vasiliy Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KOs) and Luke Campbell (20-2, 16 KOs) will clash for the WBC, WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine Lightweight World titles, Manchester Heavyweight Hughie Fury (23-2, 13 KOs) takes on former WBA World Champion Alexander Povetkin (34-2, 24 KOs) and WBC Flyweight ruler Charlie Edwards (15-1, 6 KOs) makes the second defence of his crown against Mandatory Challenger Julio Cesar Martinez (14-1, 11 KOs), with more exciting additions to be announced soon.
Source: Matchroom Boxing [Press Release].