Tony Bellew believes that Joe Cordina will defeat Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov when the pair meet live on DAZN on April 22.
The Tajikistani fighter is the current IBF super featherweight champion after beating Zelfa Barrett, a title that Cordina held last year until he was stripped of the title after suffering a hand injury in a training camp.
Now fully fit, Cordina has the opportunity to win back the championship, and speaking to DAZN, former world champion Bellew believes that he will reclaim the belt.
He said: “I think it’s a really good fight. I think it was a very bizarre decision to strip Joe Cordina. I think it was borderline insane to be fair, the boy didn’t even get a chance to defend his belt.
“It baffles me sometimes. I think the IBF were bang out of order to strip Joe Cordina.
“Rakhimov, straight past Zelfa Barrett, and Joe Cordina before this fight, against [Kenichi] Ogawa, was one of the best knockouts I’d seen, it was brutal.“The bad injury was just unfortunate because he was about to hit top form, and I think he gets Rakhimov out of there as long as his hand is 100% and is right, and he comes into the fight nicely, I think he cops him again. It’s got the power of the punch, it’s the timing, the speed and timing. Every fighter will tell you speed and timing will beat power every time.”