Joe Cordina charged with assault after U.S. visa setback

Former two-time world champion will appear in court next month after police charged him over an alleged February incident, one day after his U.S. visa denial ended his title fight with Abdullah Mason

Joe Cordina has been charged with assault and threatening a person with an offensive weapon, one day after revealing a U.S. visa denial forced him to withdraw from his scheduled world title fight against Abdullah Mason. South Wales Police said the charges relate to an alleged incident in Cardiff on February 27, although authorities have not linked the case to Cordina’s visa refusal.

Another man, Jamie O’Brien, 32, from Pentwyn, has also been charged with assault in connection with the same incident and is scheduled to appear in court on July 28.

The charges were announced one day after Cordina confirmed he had been denied a visa to enter the United States, forcing him out of his planned July 4 challenge against WBO lightweight champion Abdullah Mason in Cleveland.

“It’s not injuries. I’ve seen a lot of reports saying injuries, but there’s no injuries,” Cordina said on Instagram. “I’ve had a great camp and I was meant to fly over this week. A couple of days back, I went to the U.S. Embassy in London, and they basically denied me a visa.

“I tried to explain certain things, and I had all the paperwork to back it up, and they wasn’t having it. They basically told me, ‘You ain’t getting in.'”

Cordina said he was “absolutely gutted” after missing what would have been an opportunity to become a three-time world champion and capture a title in a second weight class.

The unbeaten Mason (20-0, 17 KOs) will now make the first defense of his WBO lightweight title against Albert Bell (28-0, 9 KOs) in the main event on July 4 at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland.

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