Joe Cordina on Manny Pacquiao in Cardiff: "I'm gonna try and leave him like Marquez"
The Welshman told iFL TV a fight with Pacquiao on the Fury vs Joshua undercard would be "an honour", but nothing has been agreed.
Joe Cordina says he would love to fight Manny Pacquiao on the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua undercard in Cardiff, and that he would be trying to knock him out.
Asked by iFL TV about the talk of the fight, Cordina said: "It's a bit mad and a bit surreal for me... It come out of the blue but it's a challenge and a fight that I would love... to be in the ring with a legend like Manny, that'd be great." He added that he was "looking forward to what unfolds the next few days and hopefully, I guess, some good news". No fight has been announced or agreed.
Cordina said the respect would end at the bell. "Don't get it twisted, if that was to happen, he's one of my favourite fighters and it'd be an honour to share the ring with him. I'm gonna try and leave him like Marquez left him in his last fight with Marquez," he said. Juan Manuel Marquez knocked Pacquiao out in the sixth round of their fourth fight in 2012.
"He's not the fighter he once was, he's still experienced, the last thing they lose is power," Cordina said. "It'll still be a hard fight."
The Welshman said a night like that at the Principality Stadium would probably make up for missing out on a world title fight. "Manny Pacquiao is global, he's a global superstar," he said. "For me to be in the ring with him it probably would take this thing out of me, not fighting for a world title." He has been on both of Anthony Joshua's previous Principality Stadium cards, against Carlos Takam and Joseph Parker.
Pacquiao's last fight was a draw with Mario Barrios. Dana White has already ruled out Pacquiao vs Shakur Stevenson for the Cardiff card. Fury and Joshua meet on 11 December; start times, TV and tickets are on our Fury vs Joshua page.
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