Cordina, Chapman and Massey fight for world championship title

The British trio Joe Cordina, Raven Chapman and Jack Massey will fight for the world title in Saudi Arabia on October 12th.

Welshman Cordina takes on WBC champion Shakur Stevenson in an ambitious move up to lightweight to face one of the most talented and undefeated fighters in the world.

Chapman will face fellow undefeated fighter and defending champion Skye Nicolson for the WBC featherweight title.

31-year-old Jack Massey will face Australian IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.

The fights will take place as a prelude to the undisputed light heavyweight world championship fight between Russians Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Also on the pre-card is the highly anticipated heavyweight rematch between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke.

Wardley, 29, will defend his title against 33-year-old Olympian Clarke after their thrilling first fight in March ended in a points draw.

It will be the second time a British heavyweight title fight has taken place in the Saudi capital after Wardley defeated David Adeleye in October 2023.

Wardley, from Ipswich, has won 19 fights despite only competing four times in the unlicensed white-collar scene before turning professional.

Clarke, from Burton-upon-Trent, took bronze in Tokyo 2020 and has won eight professional fights.

Also in action that evening are Chris Eubank Jr., who will face Kamil Szeremeta in a middleweight bout, and light heavyweight contender Ben Whittaker against Liam Cameron.

Big British underdogs against unbeaten champions

Chapman, Cordina and Massey will be the big underdogs in their respective fights.

Cordina lost his undefeated record and super featherweight world title to Anthony Cacace in May.

Stevenson, a 27-year-old New Jersey fighter, has won world titles in three weight classes over the course of 22 fights.

In her first fight for the world title, Chapman clearly rises to the level of her opponent.

The 30-year-old will face Australian Nicolson, who has outclassed most of her opponents in eleven fights and will defend her WBC belt for the third time.

The match will also be the most prestigious women's fight in the kingdom since the first professional women's boxing match in Saudi Arabia, when Ramla Ali and Crystal Garcia Nova faced each other in 2022.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly faced accusations of using boxing to improve its international image (also known as “sportwashing”), while continuing to downplay significant human rights concerns about the sport.

Massey is likely to be the biggest underdog in the fight against knockout artist Opetaia.

Opetaia has a record of 25-0 with 22 KOs and has already made short work of his English opponents in the last year, knocking out Jordan Thompson and Ellis Zorro in the blink of an eye.

Massey has two losses to his name and moved up to the heavyweight division in 2023 before scoring a big win over cruiserweight contender Isaac Chamberlain in June.

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