Ahead of the biggest week of the year for Welsh boxing, the Sportin Wales Podcast welcomed former boxer turned trainer Gary Lockett and boxing journalist Dewi Powell to run the rule over Joe Cordina’s upcoming fight with Anthony Cacace.

Cordina, the reigning IBF super-featherweight champion, is fighting Cacace in Saudi Arabia on Saturday 18th May, on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s bout with Oleksandr Usyk.

Speaking in his exclusive column with Sportin Wales, Cordina said that he has “done everything there is to achieve” from “amateur to professional.”

“I know I have to be smart and careful, but I believe I will get the win.

“I believe I’ve been in the ring with better opposition, I’m more well-schooled than he is, and I trump him in every box. Not saying he can’t beat me just I think I’ve got a little bit more than him.”

Dewi Powell echoed this sentiment on the Sportin Wales Podcast this week.

“I fancy Joe to win as favourite,” he said.

“He will be expected to win but it could be tricky fight stylistically. Anthony Cacace is no mug and has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.

“He’s got some great endorsements. You hear someone like Carl Frampton say that he is one of the biggest punchers he’s ever seen. Even though it doesn’t translate onto his record, he’s one of those who maybe a little deceptive in the fact that his arms are a little longer than what you think, he’s tougher, his work rate is higher than it looks because of his body language.”

Powell, though, has confidence in Cordina.

“It’s no walkover, by any means, but once he figures things out he should be fine against Cacace.

“Joe’s gone to another level since he’s fighting at world level. I’m sure he’s 100% confident of winning.”

Cordina recently spoken honestly about his focus switching towards the financial incentives of boxing, rather than the lure of titles.

“I’ve achieved everything I want to achieve in the sport and all that’s left to do is make money,” he said in the May Edition of Sportin Wales.

“It’s about going out there now and setting my family up for the future and that’s what I plan on doing.

“I’ve had some good money and life experiences, been able to travel the world and I’m able to do anything I want to do, but at this moment I won’t be able to do that for the rest of my life.

“Some people start from nothing and want to win British titles, but after that, all they’re thinking about is making money and if they tell you any different, they’re lying.

“You can’t pay your bills, put food on the table unless you make money, if you’re fighting for a world title you aren’t going to do that for five quid.”

Lockett, a former boxer himself, does not blame Cordina for taking this view.

“It’s great to be a world champion,” he said.

“But when you’re 60 years old and you’re looking at a world championship belt on the mantelpiece, but you’re skint, then you’re gonna be thinking, ‘I should have chased the money.’

“I’d always encourage my boxers to chase money over titles, because this is one of the hardest sports in the world.

“It’s only a short career, so you’ve got to earn as much money as you could possibly earn in a short space of time.”

Cordina has also spoken about how this fight maybe his last before moving up a weight class to lightweight.

“Cacace is a great fighter but if I beat him and don’t get a unification fight… I don’t want to just keep defending my title,” he admitted.

Powell agrees with Cordina and says that he has always been a “big” super-featherweight.

“I think anyone who sees Joe at the weigh in will know that making super-featherweight is tough for him,” Powell said.

“You don’t quite understand the size of him because he doesn’t always obviously impose it on his opponents. But yeah, he is a big super-feather. The tricky task is if he stays super-feather, where are the big fights for him? Most of them are in America.”