Shakur Stevenson to defend title vs. Cordina on Riyadh Season show

Alalshikh unveils loaded Beterbiev-Bivol undercard, which also includes Eubank, Wardley-Clarke rematch, Opetaia defense and more

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Earlier this month, free-agent WBC lightweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson met with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn in Los Angeles, where they were for the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov fight that headlined the first Riyadh Season card in outside of Saudi Arabia.

While in Los Angeles, Hearn introduced Stevenson to Saudi Arabian government power broker Turki Alalshikh, who controls the massive budget being poured into boxing thanks to his position as chairman of the country’s General Entertainment Authority.

Less than three weeks later, Stevenson made a deal with Alalshikh to defend his 135-pound world title against former IBF junior lightweight titlist Joe Cordina on Oct. 12 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Alalshikh announced via social media on Tuesday.

The fight will serve as the co-feature on a loaded undercard Alalshikh unveiled for the highly anticipated undisputed light heavyweight title unification fight between three-belt and lineal champion Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs), 39, a two-time Russian Olympian, who is now a Canadian citizen fighting out of Montreal, and titleholder Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs), 33, of Russia. They were initially scheduled to fight on June 1 before it was postponed when Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus in his knee.

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Three-division titleholder Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs), 27, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, will make his second lightweight defense and his first since becoming a free agent with the expiration of his deal with Top Rank, which had promoted him since his 2017 pro debut, following a lopsided decision win over Artem Harutyunyan on July 6 in Newark.

From the sound of it, this won’t be the only Riyadh Season fight for Stevenson, who turned down a five-fight contract extension with Top Rank worth a minimum of $15 million.

“I think he’s talented and a very good fighter and I want to plan for long-term fights for him,” Alalshikh told Fight Freaks Unite on Tuesday.

The WBC has ordered Stevenson to make a mandatory defense against the Golden Boy-promoted slugging southpaw William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs), 28, of Mexico. A purse bid was scheduled for Tuesday but canceled after the sides had worked out the basics of a deal, a source with knowledge of the agreement told Fight Freaks Unite. So it remains to be seen what happened with that now that Stevenson is instead facing Cordina in a fight the WBC figures to sign off on.

A possible scenario is that Zepeda also will fight again before the end of the year and if Stevenson and Zepeda each win their interim bout they would meet in early 2025. Zepeda could also get a shot at another title because he is ranked No. 1 by all four organizations.

Two-time 130-pound titlist Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), 32, of Wales, is moving up to lightweight after getting knocked down in the third round and suffering an eighth-round knockout loss that cost him his title in a major upset by Anthony Cacace in Riyadh on May 18 on the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk undercard. Cordina will go into the fight with Stevenson having parted ways with trainer Tony Sims and having not yet named a replacement.

More of the undercard

Alalshikh also announced several other bouts for yet another strong Riyadh Season card.

Middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KOs), 34, of England, will end a 13-month layoff since scoring a 10th-round knockout of Liam Smith to avenge a fourth-round KO loss to him in the previous fight. Eubank will face Kamil Szeremta (25-2-2, 8 KOs), 34, of Poland, who is 4-0-2 since back-to-back knockout losses to Gennadiy Golovkin in a 2022 middleweight title challenge and Jaime Munguia in 2021.

In a much-anticipated rematch, Fabio Wardley (17-0-1, 16 KO), 29, will face Frazer Clark (8-0-1, 6 KOs), 33, a 2020 British Olympic bronze medalist, in defense of the British and Commonwealth titles he retained via split draw in a hellacious battle on March 31 at The O2 in London. Alalshikh is partial to heavyweights, as evidenced by the bulk of the main events Riyadh Season has put on and this is another bout he is looking forward to.

“I definitely love heavyweights and it’s going to be a great rematch,” Alalshikh said.

Lineal/IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs), 29, an Australian southpaw, will defend against Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KOs), 31, of England. Opetaia will return to Riyadh five months after he outpointed Mairis Briedis in their rematch to retain the lineal title for the third time and regain the vacant IBF belt on the Fury- Usyk undercard.

Opetaia, who has been calling out WBO titlist Chris Billam-Smith for a unification bout, figures in Alalshikh’s plans. This will be Opetaia’s third fight in a row in Riyadh.

“We will prepare big fights for Opetaia in the future and we will sponsor him,” Alalshikh said.

Light heavyweight Ben Whittaker (8-0, 5 KOs), 27, a 2020 British Olympic silver medalist on the fast track, will take on Liam Cameron (23-6, 10 KOs), 33, of England, in a 10-rounder.

Skye Nicolson (11-0, 1 KO), 28, a 2020 Australian Olympian, will defend the WBC women’s featherweight title for the second time when she faces Raven Chapman (9-0, 2 KOs), 30, of England. It will be the first women’s bout on a Riyadh Season card.

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Photos: Alalshikh/Hearn/Stevenson: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Wardley-Clarke: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer

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