The odd couple Joe Cordina and John Ryder have been living together for the past month as they go in search of a dual world title glory.

The Tony Sims trained pair are both preparing for their biggest fights to date and have for the first time decided to plot up together round the corner from the gym in an AirBnB.

Cordina goes first this weekend as he takes on Shavkat Rakhimov at the Cardiff Arena to win back the IBF super-featherweight title that he was stripped of back in October.

The ‘Welsh Wizard’ had won the belt by dethroning Kenichi Ogawa with one of the best knockouts of 2022 when they clashed in June of last year.

However, when a hand operation meant he could not defend against Rakhimov in November, the IBF took the belt from him and the Tajikistan puncher won it by stopping Zelfa Barrett that same month.

Now the 31-year-old gets his chance to take it straight back in his home city of Cardiff - a fortnight before his housemate attempts to win the undisputed super-middleweight world title.

Ryder travels to Mexico to face Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Guadalajara on Cinco de Mayo weekend and will have the full support of Cordina from ringside.

The Welshman said: “Me and John have been living together for this camp. We are at similar stages of camp so it has been good, we’re doing the same sort of things - I’ve got to get up early, he has to get up early. 

“This is the first time we’ve ever lived together. Normally I like with Tony but we ended up staying together in an AirBnB round the corner from Tony’s and it has been nice.

“It’s always good to have someone you can relate to. If you’re tired you know they’re going to be tired too. You know you’re not on your own. One of us might have a bad day so we can talk about it. It’s good to have someone like John who is experienced, has been round the block and beaten some quality fighters. Now he’s fighting Canelo, the biggest name in boxing, in the biggest fight of his life.

“I do my washing up, he does his. I always do my washing, he tells me to chuck it all in together but I like saving mine up and then banging it in. If there are dishes there I’ll do them, if he sees them he will do them. There are no problems, he’s a good egg to live with.”

The pair have been training side by side under Sims and then retreating back to their Air BnB to watch films and recover - with one early 90s classic a personal favourite of Ryder’s.

“We’ve had some hard weeks in the gym during this camp,” Cordina said. “Sessions where you come back, just look at each other and say ‘bro, I’m going to bed’. 

“But the other day we watched Boyz n the Hood together. John knew it word-for-word. It’s his era.”

Ryder, meanwhile, disputed a couple of Cordina’s point and said the 130lber had made life hard by constantly playing the music of one of his most famous countrymen.

‘The Gorilla’ said: “As a housemate he’s as good as gold apart from blaring out Tom Jones 24/7.Other than that he’s really good.

“He kept playing The Green, Green Grass of Home but I’ve never seen green grass, I grew up in a block of flats!”

Ryder will be ringside in Cardiff before he jets off to finish his Canelo preparations in Los Angeles next week. Cordina will also be making the trip across the Atlantic to cheer Ryder on to what would be one of the biggest upsets in British boxing history.

Cordina said: “Of course I will be going to Mexico as world champion again. I’m just trying to figure out which route. Do I go to Vegas then down or Cancun first? I’m just figuring that out. I was saying to the boys I was going business class so I could pull into Guadalajara. But you have to get a connection somewhere.

“But whatever happens I’ll be arriving in Mexico as world champion, for sure. I’m going to have a John Ryder t-shirt with a sombrero and cowboy boots.”