While most boxing fans will be focused on the Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight this weekend, there’s another fantastic match-up playing out on Saturday night. Super featherweight boxing heads to Cardiff where home favourite Joe Cordina will attempt to win the IBF World Super Featherweight title for a second time. After emphatically claiming the belt from Kenichi Ogawa last year, Cordina was forced to give up the title due to a hand injury.
The man he gave it over to is now coming to town. Shavkat Rakhimov is a fearsome prospect, with the Tajikistan native yet to lose a fight in his career. He’ll be spurred on by the only time he failed to win—a draw, which cost him the chance to be crowned champion in 2021. Now however, Rakhimov is the IBF World Super Featherweight Champion and won’t want to hand the belt back to Cordina.
We break down this fight and offer up our predictions with all the latest odds from bookmaker William Hill.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 21st, 8:30 A.M. (GMT)
According to bookmaker William Hill, this is going to be a good one. Home favourite Joe Cordina is ahead in the odds but not by much. The Welshman is paying 1.40 for the win outright, while Shavkat Rakhimov is right behind at 3.00. In terms of how this one is likely to pan out, bookies have a Cordina decision paying the lowest odds at 2.10. Next, Cordina by knockout is at 3.40 before a Shavkat Rakhimov knockout is at 5.00 in the betting odds.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 21st, 8:30 A.M. (GMT)
Joe Cordina was mighty impressive when he knocked out the IBF World Super Featherweight Champion Kenichi Ogawa with a straight right in the second round of their 2022 meeting. Since then however, Cordina has been injured. Although he’s the favourite to win back his title in this match, we say the best money is wagering on Rakhimov in this fight.
Shavkat Rakhimov has never lost a boxing match and of the 18 fights that he’s fought, 14 have ended with Rakhimov knocking out his opponent. He’s the incumbent here and will be motivated to hold onto his belt. With the firepower to win and a strong track record of knockouts, Rakhimov paying 5.00 for a knockout is looking very attractive. Bookies will have this one skewed towards Cordina because of the home crowd, but the reality is Rakhimov is no stranger to knocking out boxers in their own backyards.
