Stevenson vs. Cordina on October 12 in Saudi Arabia

Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) will defend his WBC lightweight title against Britain’s, Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 12.

 Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced Tuesday that the fight will serve as the co-feature to the long-awaited Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight championship fight.

“[Stevenson’s] talented and young and if he’s smart, we will do a lot of things with him,” Alalshikh told ESPN. “There’s a big fight with him in the future.”

Alalshikh was referring to a clash with undefeated Mexican volume puncher William Zepeda, a bout that could take place early next year.

Stevenson last fought on July this year defending the title against Artem Harutyunyan.

Former IBF World super-featherweight champion suffered a surprise defeat on May this year. He was stopped in round eight by Anthony Cacace in the fight for IBF and IBO world titles.

Undercard of Beterbiev – Bivol will also feature the first Riyadh Season women’s fight, a title bout between Skye Nicholson and Raven Chapman.

“This is the beginning and we will have a lot of fights with women in the future,” Alalshikh said.

Also on the undercard, IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will defend against Jack Massey, and Chris Eubank Jr. will meet Kamil Szeremeta. Heavyweights Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clark will meet in a rematch of their thrilling February fight that ended in a draw.