Shakur Stevenson's next fight announced: date, time and opponent

Shakur Stevenson finally has a contract for his next fight.

According to ESPN's Mike Coppinger, who spoke with Riyadh Season's Turki Alalshikh, Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) will defend his WBC lightweight title against former IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs).

The fight will be the co-main event of the upcoming Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol card on October 12.

“Stevenson is talented and young and if he's smart we'll get a lot out of him,” Alalshikh told ESPN. “We've got a big fight ahead of us with him in the future.”

According to Alalshikh, a fight between Stevenson and William Zepeda is planned. However, this fight did not materialize this time because Zepeda's wife is expecting a baby soon and the fighter is not available for preparation.

Alalshikh's approach to organizing fights has become more confident as he has received increasing praise over the past two years for his ability to organize the best matches.

The “if he’s smart” approach works with a fighter in Stevenson’s position, but hasn’t been as successful when it comes to arranging fights with the likes of Canelo Alvarez.

Stevenson is still looking for the kind of salary that represents generational wealth and recognition as a superstar in the sport. Those are things he wasn't able to secure while working at Top Rank, and the dynamic 27-year-old is now hoping for Alalshikh's help to take him to the next level.

Coming off a surprise loss to Anthony Cacace in another season in Riyadh in May, Cordina now moves up a weight class to face one of the most skilled fighters in the sport.

Many may wonder why this was chosen for Stevenson's first fight with Alalshikh and the Golden Boy-Matchroom unification with Riyadh Season.

It's pretty simple.

Truthfully, Stevenson is the absolute favorite to beat Cordina. With the latter moving up and fresh off a TKO loss, there is a chance Stevenson can put on the impressive performance that has eluded him so far and that fans love him so much.

For Stevenson, this fight is likely a low-risk but potentially rewarding venture as he now moves into a more exciting fight with Zepeda. Cordina has another title shot right after losing his belt in his last fight.

At 32 years old and coming off a devastating loss, a fight against Stevenson is a prime opportunity for the Cardiff, Wales product.

If he can put in a respectable performance or somehow find a way to cause an upset, he will have made a spectacular recovery from his only loss as a professional.

Here's a look at the entire map that Alalshikh posted on his social media accounts:

With Skye Nicholson against Raven Chapman, the thrilling fight between Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron, an exciting rematch between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke and Chris Eubank against Kamil Szeremta as well as Beterbiev-Bivol and Stevenson-Cordina, Riyadh Season has put together another outstanding boxing event.