Shakur Stevenson Has Hand Surgery, Bout Against Joe Cordina Off

Shakur Stevenson has been forced to withdraw from his WBC lightweight title defense on October 12 against Joe Cordina.

Stevenson underwent surgery on his right hand to repair tears to his sagittal band and collateral ligament. The surgery took place at Surgical Center of the Rockies in Colorado Springs

“I am definitely disappointed that I won’t be able to fight on Oct. 12,” Stevenson said, via ESPN. “I have been super sharp and feeling great in camp and was planning to put on a show next month against Joe Cordina. But I have to listen to the doctor and have these injuries fixed immediately so that I can come back stronger than ever at the start of 2025.”

Stevenson’s title defense against Cordina was scheduled to serve as the co-feature to the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight championship fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But, Stevenson’s injury has forced the bout to be scratched.

Shakur Stevenson is 22-0 as a pro and coming off a decision win over Artem Harutyunyan. That was his last fight with Top Rank and as a free agent, Stevenson signed with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing. Following the injury, Hearn expects Stevenson to now face William Zepeda next.

“Yeah. I mean, obviously we want to look for opportunities for Joe and we still like to make that fight but at the same time the WBC, of course, have ordered that fight with Zepeda. Zepeda fights in November so it’s quite likely he heads straight into that fight,” Hearn said, via BadLeftHook.

Joe Cordina, meanwhile, is 17-1 and coming off a TKO loss to Anthony Cacace back in May. He lost his IBF super-featherweight title with the loss. In his career, Cordina holds notable wins over Shavkat Rakhimov, Kenicihi Ogawa, Sean Dodd, and Gavin Gwynne among others.