Farouk Kourbanov, his head held high after his defeat against Cordina

Farouk Kourbanov honored, on Saturday, the proposal of Eddie Hearn (the strong man of the British company Matchroom) to face Joe Cordina for the return to competition of the Welshman, undefeated in 11 outings, fifteen months after his last fight. In the Wembley Arena, where spectators were not allowed, the 29-year-old Verviers delivered a very good performance which was not rewarded with a victory but the score of two of the three judges (96-96, 96-95, 98-93) says a lot about the tight character of this untitled super-featherweight clash at stake and from which the Belgian comes out largely grown up.