Joe Cordina: One punch has changed landscape of Welsh boxing

After an impressive amateur career, Joe Cordina won a world title in only his 15th fight as a professional

One punch was all it took to completely change the landscape of Welsh boxing.

Joe Cordina's stunning knock out punch, his booming hook that floored champion Kenichi Ogawa, a rarefied right hand that won him the world IBF super-featherweight title, could prove to be a transformative moment for boxing in Wales.

Now proudly boasting a world champion again, Welsh fight fans can look confidently ahead to a future of big fight nights, with Cordina and his Olympic successor, gold medal sensation Lauren Price, ready to lead Wales' new generation.

• Welshman Joe Cordina wins IBF super-featherweight title

• Welsh Olympic champion wins on professional boxing debut

Wales' last real boxing boom, with regular big fights a matter of course, came during the period of Joe Calzaghe's dominance of the super middleweight division, post his fight with Jeff Lacy.

This was a time where Calzaghe's trainer, his father Enzo, assembled a ridiculously talented stable of fighters.

Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin Rees and Nathan Cleverly all won world titles, Gary Lockett challenged for a world title, while domestic and European and Commonwealth titles were won by Bradley Pryce and Kerry Hope.

The intervening years have been more fallow, with Lee Selby claiming a world title in 2015, but there has been no consistent boxing scene in Wales.

Selby, though a fantastic fighter and worthy world champion, was a ring tactician, modelling his style on Floyd Mayweather. Don't get hit.

That won him praise but not big home fight nights. Selby won his world title in at the O2 Arena, defended it four times in London and once in America and lost it in Leeds.

Selby held Welsh boxing up for a decade, yet despite only retiring this year, he has not boxed in Wales since 2014.

Cordina's devastating victory over Ogawa - watched over five million times online and on social media - has changed that issue in an instant.

The 30-year old is an overnight star, a world champion and someone who fans are going to pay to see again and again.

"That punch, winning in that way, that is how you announce yourself on the world scene, that's how you become a star," Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn told BBC Sport Wales.

"Welsh boxing needed it, it's a massive, massive win for Welsh boxing.

"We've talked about the fact the Welsh boxing scene has been quite dead, but now Joe can reinvigorate that and bring some massive fight nights back to Wales."

Cordina, who says he never sought fame, only fortune, is now happy to enjoy the trappings of both, especially as it will help to boost Welsh boxing.

"The knockout has gone viral, millions of people saw it and I am getting stopped in the street now, it's a strange feeling," Cordina said.

"The good things I'm doing are being recognised and noticed, it is nice.

"A stadium show at the Principality Stadium at the moment is a big ask, it's only talk, a big unification fight would be important for our division.

"But a lot of things would need to happen for that fight to be made.

"But I want to be in big fights now. I would love to fight at the Cardiff City Stadium.

"I want to bring big nights of boxing back to Cardiff. It is good for everyone."

Familiar faces helping to shape the future

In the simplest possible terms, more shows in Wales equals more opportunities for Welsh boxers, with two promoters now viewing Cardiff as a viable destination.

Even when Selby was a world champion, promoters were reluctant to hang their hat on him as a bona-fide main event draw.

There will be no such issues for Cordina's world title reign.

While more Cordina shows, put on by Eddie Hearn, are now certainties for 2022 and beyond in the Welsh capital, Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom will also be eyeing a return.

Boxxer enjoyed a sell-out at the Motorpoint Arena for Liam Williams' grudge fight with Chris Eubank Jr and will be hoping their Welsh Olympic star, Tokyo gold medallist Lauren Price, will prove a big draw in her own right.

Both promoters should be in a position to offer spotlights for plenty of un-promoted Welsh boxers, with Ben Crocker, Kyran Jones and Rhys Edwards, all boxers under former world-title contender Lockett, impressing on the undercards in the Welsh capital in 2022.

Former world champions Gavin Rees, Enzo Maccarinelli and Steve Robinson are also trainers, while Lee Selby's trainer, Tony Borg, continues to nurture his talented Newport stable.

The Welsh boxing scene is alive and well after tough times during the pandemic and even Calzaghe is back in the fold, with former world champion boxers Calzaghe and Darren Barker starting a sports management company.

Their first signing Jesus Martinez, won his debut earlier this month, with Calzaghe promising to keep a close eye on the Welsh boxing scene, with seven of Wales' 12 previous world champions at ringside for Cordina's sensational world title win.

As well as playing football for Wales, as an amateur boxer, Lauren Price won gold in the Olympics, World and European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

World champion number 14?

There was a seven-year gap between world title wins number 12 and 13 for Wales, but the chances seem good that the wait for world champion number 14 will not be so long.

World champion number 14 is looking likely to be Lauren Price, who would make history as Wales' first female world champion.

Price made a winning start to her professional career with an impressive victory over Valgerdur Gudstensdottir.

Price, 27, won every round of the six-round bout at London's Wembley Arena last weekend.

If Cordina is Wales' current flag-bearer on the boxing scene, Price certainly looks like the future.

In August, in Tokyo, Price became the first Welsh fighter, male or female, to win an Olympic Games boxing gold medal.

Price will not be rushed through the paid ranks, but it will not be long before her world title shot comes if she continues to look as polished as she did on her professional debut, already looking like she will give world level fighters sleepless nights.

Price and Olympic bronze medal winner Karriss Artingstall, her partner, continue to be coached and managed by GB Boxing and continue to be based at its training centre in Sheffield.

That means staying with coach Rob McCracken, who Price feels can propel her to the top of the sport.

"With Rob (McCracken) behind me, and little step-ups each time - each fight - I think I can go all the way," she said. "I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think that."

Wales has waited a decade for a boxing star, suddenly they have two. And that's only the beginning of what appears to be a very healthy future for Welsh boxing.