It’s been a great sporting weekend for Wales. On Sunday, their men’s national soccer team qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1958, but the day before that saw one of their own win a major boxing world title.
Joe Cordina (15-0, 9 KOs) threw the punch of his life against IBF super-featherweight champion Kenichi Ogawa (26-2-1-1 NC, 18 KOs) in front of a packed house at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. A brilliantly timed right hand early in Round 2 sent Ogawa down and unable to beat the count. What was an even looking fight on paper turned in one of the least likely outcomes, and in the end Cordina is now a world champion at 130 lbs.