JOE Cordina is set to switch Newport for Essex after turning professional and signing with promoters Matchroom Boxing.

The Rio Olympian, who until now had been coached by Tony Borg at St Joseph's, has decided to link up with Brentwood-based trainer Tony Sims.

Cardiff-born Cordina, 25, begins life in the paid ranks at super-featherweight and it is understood he will pen a management deal with Welsh boxing legend Joe Calzaghe.

“After the Olympics I knew that I was going to turn pro and I’m itching to get going,” said Cordina, whose debut date is to be announced soon.

“I was training and looking to adapt my style, looking at different fighters and bringing things in that they have, take bits from them and take that step forward because I will be learning on the job really.

“It’s going to be different but I am used to fighting different styles every day at tournaments and I think I am good at adapting.”

Looking to the future, he added: “I want my name up in lights in Las Vegas, that’s the dream.

“There’s pressure there but I don’t feel it from what people think, it comes from myself.

“That works for me. If I put pressure on myself it makes me perform.

“We talk to psychologists at Team GB and they teach you to turn pressure into a positive and that’s what I do.

“Sometimes people say that you shouldn’t put pressure on yourself but I use it to get out there and do the business.

“It’s brilliant to be working with Matchroom Boxing and Sky Sports. Anthony Joshua and Kal Yafai turned over with Eddie Hearn and became world champions, and I believe that I can follow that same path to the top.

“I just want to put on a good show against anyone put in front of me, excite the fans and build up a profile.

“I want people to be talking about me and raving about my performances because in three years’ time I want to be fighting for a world title.

“There’s no better feeling in the world then having your hand raised at the end of a fight.

“It’s such a high that you can’t explain it, you have to do it to really know what it’s like, and it’s a feeling I want to keep experiencing.

“People in Wales have been asking when I’m going to turn pro for a while now as they want to follow my progression."

Cordina, a former European amateur champion and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, knows what it takes to become a world champion having been a stablemate of Lee Selby at St Joes.

And he wants to be someone Welsh boxing fans can take to their hearts.

“Lee Selby has done great things, won a world title, Nathan Cleverly is a world champion again, but I think that people in Cardiff are waiting for someone to draw everybody in and I feel I can be the man to do that," he said.

“I don’t want to fight for my first world title anywhere but Cardiff, and I think that the Welsh public will get right behind me.

“I’m a very proud Welshman. I’ve been around Team GB and English and Scottish boxers a lot so I don’t look into it too much, but I want to be a guy that Welsh fans can call their own and be proud of.

“As time goes on you have different motivating factors and I have my 18-month-old daughter and I’ve got another on the way. If this goes well, which it will, I can set them up for life.

“I have ambitions to win world titles of course, and when I keep winning those things will come naturally, but I want to set my family up for life and that’s what goes through my head in training and on those hard runs.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn has been a fan of Cordina, who lost in the last 16 of the lightweight division in Rio, for a while and is delighted to secure his signature.

Hearn said: “I’ve had my eye on Joe Cordina for some time – I believe he is an exceptional talent.

“I feel there is real potential for a star to flourish in Welsh boxing but the goal is to make him a global star as well.

“Fans are really going to enjoy his style and watching his career unfold on Sky Sports.”