Joe Cordina's Dream of Facing Manny Pacquiao Slips Away

Joe Cordina’s dream of sharing a stage with Manny Pacquiao in Cardiff looks to be slipping away.

The 34-year-old former IBF super-featherweight champion had set his sights on a blockbuster meeting with the Filipino icon on 11 December, beneath the looming heavyweight colossus of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua at the Principality Stadium. A homecoming, a legend in the opposite corner, a night that would have stitched his name into boxing folklore.

That script now lies on the cutting-room floor.

The Cardiff bill remains incomplete, but its shape is clear. This is a heavyweight show, built for giants. So far, every confirmed bout underneath Fury–Joshua belongs to the big men: Deontay Wilder vs Jai Opetaia, Da'Mazion Vanhouter vs Michael Essomba, and Martin Bakole vs Solomon Adebayo. Power, jeopardy, and knockouts are the selling points.

Cordina, a technician in a land of punchers, has been squeezed to the margins.

His promoter Eddie Hearn, who has not hidden his frustration with the undercard as announced, has effectively conceded that the Pacquiao fantasy is off the table for December. Instead, he insists the Welshman’s next move is already being plotted, revealing he has “lined up a big fight for Cordina in January”.

So the Pacquiao chapter, at least for now, closes before it even began. The Fury–Joshua circus will roll into Cardiff on a wave of heavyweight chaos, while one of Wales’ finest waits a few weeks longer for his own stage and his own statement night.