When boxer Joe Cordina was so weak from surgery he could not get up from the sofa, it was hard for him to imagine his world title aspirations could still come to fruition.

The Welsh fighter is hoping to show he can box at a world-class level after admitting hand surgery has set his career trajectory “so far back”.

Cordina beat Faroukh Kourbanov by majority decision in March after a 16-month hiatus from the ring, but he looked a long way from his dazzling best.

A decorated amateur boxer who fought at an Olympics and in the same Team GB programme as his friend Anthony Joshua, Cordina’s slick style has seen him remain undefeated as a professional in a dozen contests, but injuries have disrupted, if not derailed, his lofty aspirations.

It could have been worse, of course. He might not have returned at all.

‘For nine days I couldn’t get off the sofa’

Cordina’s situation started innocuously enough, injuring his right hand in a sparring session with stablemate Reece Bellotti in October 2018.

The medical advice that followed was to let the hand rest and to heal, a fine plan, except the hand did not heal and as an up and coming fighter, Cordina had to carry on fighting.

He still had enough power for a TKO win over Andy Townend in April 2019, and before the year was out had shown enough skill to ensure he won against compatriot Gavin Gwynne and Mexican Mario Enrique Tinoco via unanimous decision.

But the pain was not easing. Cordina, like Joe Calzaghe before him who famously beat Jeff Lacy with one hand, had essentially become a one-armed boxer.

“It was a tough time for me. I rested it then it just went again as soon as I started training,” he told BBC Sport Wales.

“I had momentum in my career and felt I couldn’t just stop for a long period of time.

“I bit down on my gum shield and got on with it. I had three fights where I couldn’t really throw my right hand.

“Then Covid came along. It became the right time to get it (surgery) done. I booked my hand in for the operation with all the uncertainty going on in the world. It was the right decision.”

The operation was not simple. Bone from Cordina’s hip and titanium implants were needed to fix his hand. When he got out of bed in the hospital, groggy from the pain medication, the wound in his hip exploded open.

More stitches were required, leaving Cordina unable to leave his sofa unassisted.

“I couldn’t get off the sofa for nine days, if I was home alone I needed everything left right next to me. The operation was quite complex. It was a tough time,” he recalls.

“I couldn’t do anything for myself.”

‘Wary to fully throw a shot’

Even when Cordina was fit enough to train after his surgery, the new normal of social distancing and non-essential travel meant he had long periods where he could not meet up with his stablemates at Tony Sims’ gym in Essex.

When Cordina finally returned to the ring in March, he looked ring-rusty in defeating Kourbanov on a majority decision.

Cordina admits his issues were more mental than physical, as he learns to trust his surgically repaired right hand after such a long hiatus.

“I didn’t do myself justice in my comeback fight, I wasn’t at my best,” Cordina said.

“I’ve been letting it go in sparring; in the fight I could feel myself holding back. Subconsciously I was thinking ‘is it going to be ok if I land it on the top of his head?’.

“But afterwards my hand felt fine. That’s at the back of my head. I have to be able to let my right hand go at full tilt and I will do that.”

Playing catch-up

Cordina, who will turn 30 in December, knows he cannot afford to take a backward step as he bids to become a world champion, having been tipped for stardom since turning pro in 2017.

It means tougher tests against the likes of Hernandez as he steps up in class, but Cordina knows he is playing catch-up.

“I want to fight for a world title next year, but to do that I have to keep winning and take these tougher fights,” he added.

“This guy can punch and I will have to be switched on. But there are not going to be any easy fights for me.

“The operation, I had to get it done, but it has set me so far back.

“Now I need to push on and take hard fights and show I am world level, that I am elite.”