Cordina to return at lightweight against Gonzalez
Joe Cordina has not fought since his only professional defeat in May 2024 [Getty Images]
Former IBF super-featherweight champion Joe Cordina will return to the ring on 5 July to fight Mexico's Jaret Gonzalez at lightweight.
Cordina, 33, lost his title to Anthony Cacace in a surprise defeat in Saudi Arabia 13 months ago.
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The Welsh boxer had been due to make his comeback against Shakur Stevenson in October, but the WBC lightweight champion pulled out with a hand injury.
Cordina's return to lightweight - where he won British and Commonwealth titles earlier in his career - will come on the undercard of Jack Catterall v Harlem Eubank at Manchester's AO Arena.
Responding to the announcement on social media Cordina simply posted: "Baby I'm back."
Gonzalez, 24, is 17-1 in a career that includes 13 KOs, similar to the Welshman's 17-1 (9 KOs), though not at the same level as Cordina who has moved back to south Wales and will train for the fight with Gary Lockett.
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Cardiff's Cordina was a decorated amateur boxer who fought at an Olympics and in the same Team GB programme as his friend Anthony Joshua.
He won bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and was European amateur champion in 2015.
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.
He was stripped of the title when he was unable to defend it within a 90-day window after suffering a broken hand but won it back with a hard-fought split-decision win over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in April 2023.
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He then made one successful defence, a majority decision win over Edward Vazquez, before losing to Northern Ireland's Cacace in May 2024.
Prior to that first professional defeat promoter Eddie Hearn had predicted Cordina was set for some "huge fights" if he could retain his title.
His previous promotional contract with Hearn's Matchroom having since elapsed, this will be Cordina's first fight of a new deal with the organisation.
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