He is a two-time super-featherweight world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from April 2023 until May 2024 and previously in 2022.

[2] At the 2011 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, he lost in the first round of the lightweight event to Eugen Burhard of Germany by a score of 7–13.

[2] At the 2012 European Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, he was eliminated after his bout against David Joyce of Ireland was stopped in the third round.

[7] He lost his semi-final to Scotland's Charlie Flynn by a split judge's decision and was eliminated from the tournament, to finish with a bronze medal.

[8] Cordina won the lightweight gold medal at the 2015 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria, beating Otan Eranosyan of Georgia in the final.

[9] At the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships held in Doha, Qatar, he reached the quarterfinals of the lightweight division by beating Kwon Chol-guk of North Korea in the round of 16,[10] but was then eliminated after losing to Robson Conceição of Brazil.

[4][13][14] Joe Cordina made his professional debut as a super-featherweight on 22 April 2017 at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, scoring a fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) victory over José Aguilar in a scheduled four round contest.

[19] Cordina was booked to face Hakim Ben Ali for the vacant WBA International lightweight title on 31 March 2018, on the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker undercard.

[34] On May 18, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Cordina lost his IBF super featherweight title via eighth-round TKO against Anthony Cacace.

[35][36] Cordina was scheduled to challenge WBC lightweight World champion Shakur Stevenson at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 12 October 2024.