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Joe Cordina says he's been offered Manny Pacquiao fight as part of Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury bill in Cardiff

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are set for December 11 showdown at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, hometown boy Joe Cordina tells Sky Sports he has agreed to fight 47-year-old boxing icon Manny Pacquiao on the undercard but that contracts haven't yet been signed

Joe Cordina says he has agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao in Cardiff on December 11 but that a contract hasn't yet been signed
Image: Joe Cordina says he has agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao in Cardiff on December 11 but that a contract hasn't yet been signed

Welsh boxer Joe Cordina has told Sky Sports that he has been offered a fight with Manny Pacquiao as part of the undercard for the blockbuster all-British heavyweight clash between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury on December.

The 34-year-old has confirmed that he has agreed to fight the boxing icon at the Principality Stadium in his birth city of Cardiff, but that no contracts have been signed as of yet.

Sky Sports have approached Pacquiao's team for comment.

"I've been offered the fight," said Cordina, a two-time super-featherweight world champion. "They asked me if I'd fight Pacquiao: this is what the deal is, otherwise they're going to offer it to someone else.

"'Of course', I said, 'No problem'. I've won world titles, and don't get me wrong, I want to win more. But, for me, the name of Manny Pacquiao at this present moment is bigger than any name in boxing.

"He's an eight-division world champion, a legend. But a global superstar like him will be gone in the next year or so.

"So for me to be able to share the ring with someone who I grew up watching before I even started boxing, it would be an honour."

Manny Pacquiao is an eight-division world champion and bona-fide legend in the sport of boxing
Image: Manny Pacquiao is an eight-division world champion and bona-fide legend in the sport of boxing

Cordina added: "Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere near done. I haven't been sent a contract, I haven't been sent anything and I haven't been told yet it's happening.

"I've been offered it, I've said yes, agreed everything and I'm now just waiting for them to either tell me yes or no?

"I'm training as if I am fighting Manny Pacquiao. I've been training for the last four or five weeks.

"If the phone rings, I know I'm ready."

In terms of the prospect of facing the 47-year-old Pacquiao a decade or so on from his prime, Cordina pointed to the Filipino's most recent fight against Mario Barrios in July of 2025 that ended in a draw.

"They had a draw but, to be honest, I thought he [Pacquiao] nicked it," Cordina said of the WBC welterweight title clash.

"I've seen loads of people be like, 'Why are you fighting Manny Pacquiao? He's an old man'.

"But the last thing to go is power. You see him on the bags and he's still got speed, he's still sharp and his footwork is still there. Yes, his timing might be off - he hasn't been in the ring for a year and a half - and that might be the thing that is his undoing.

"But he's had so many fights; he's an eight-division world champion, he knows his way around the ring, he's not a novice. He's been around the block; he's boxed everybody."

As for potentially being on the same bill as Joshua and Fury, Cordina hopes the long-anticipated fight lives up to the billing, while he also doesn't buy Joshua as an underdog.

"You can never write off a heavyweight anyway, but especially when it's Anthony Joshua," Cordina said.

"It only takes one shot from him, and you're in Barney Rubble [trouble].

"They're both going to go out there and go straight at it; they're going to meet in the middle of the ring and just have a crack.

"Whether it goes down like that or not, I don't know, but that's what I'd like to happen, to see them have a shootout like in a Western.

"It'd be an anti-climax otherwise. This fight has been talked about for years - and it's probably come five years too late.

"I just believe that can't be a bore fest. They've got to go out there and go at it."

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