Shakur Stevenson undergoes surgery on hand injury; title fight against Joe Cordina canceled | News, scores, highlights, stats & rumors

There will be no boxing match between Shakur Stevenson and Joe Cordina on October 12.

Matchroom Boxing announced on Wednesday that Stevenson “will not be able to compete” after suffering a hand injury. This means the fight that was due to take place in Saudi Arabia will not go ahead as planned, as Stevenson underwent “immediate surgery”.

According to the announcement, he is expected to return in 2025.

This was to be an important fight for Stevenson, who would be defending his lightweight world title in his first fight with Matchroom Boxing.

David Greisman of Boxing Scene noted that Stevenson made his pro debut with Top Rank and remained with the organization until after his unanimous decision victory over Artem Harutyunyan in July. He turned down their offer to remain with the company and instead signed with Matchroom Boxing.

Stevenson won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics and is 22-0 with 10 knockouts. However, it was likely he would face a challenge against Cordina, as the latter is a former junior lightweight champion.

The fight was scheduled to be part of the undercard for the undisputed light heavyweight championship between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Cordina’s immediate future is now somewhat unclear, although Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said: “We’re going to give him a big fight,” Greismant said. “We’ll talk to Spencer Brown, who also works with Joe, and see if we can get him a big fight.”

The big fight will not be what many expected.