Abdullah Mason’s long-awaited return to the ring was officially announced during his fight with Welshman Joe Cordina in Cleveland.

Mason is widely regarded as one of the most thrilling youthful fighters in all of the sport, and the 22-year-old became a world champion when he competed in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, in November.

It was a fierce and thrilling fight with Sam Noakes, which led to Mason’s triumph. announcing a unanimous decision victory and the vacant WBO lightweight title and extended his undefeated record to 20-0, scoring 17 knockouts.

The first defense of his newly won title has now been confirmed, and after defeating one Brit in Noakes, Mason will now turn his attention to another as he prepares to face Joe Cordina on July 4 at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

“The 4th of July is the homecoming that me and my brothers have been waiting for since we became professionals. I’m ready to experience all the support of my city in one building and I’m hungry for smoke. So if you love boxing and you’re ready for some smoke, then Wolstein 4th of July is the place to be. There’s a barbecue in Wolstein and the clock is ticking. You’re all invited to the first homecoming of a world champion and you don’t want to miss it.”

Cordina is a former two-time IBF super featherweight champion who weighed in at 130 pounds, defeating the likes of Kenichi Ogawa and Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov.

The Welshman lost the title to Anthony Cacace in May 2024, but has won both fights since moving up to lightweight and is now attempting to become a two-division champion by beating the upset and dethroning Mason.

Mason isn’t the only world champion who will be defending his title at the event, as the co-main event sees Bruce Carrington putting his WBC featherweight title on the line against Rene Palacios.

Carrington won the vacant WBC belt with a ninth-round victory over Carlos Castro in January and now faces Mexican Palacios, who has a record of 19 wins and one draw in 20 fights.

The event is the first in the up-to-date monthly live boxing series “The Fight,” which will be shown on TNT and DAZN in the U.S. and DAZN worldwide.

Terrel Williams’ Facebook posts disappeared after years of abuse and threats in connection with his fight with Prichard Colón.

The disappearance removes the only public portal through which fans can indirectly reach Williams.

World Boxing News has been documenting the inactive page for years, and the same Facebook account repeatedly became a breeding ground for abuse, threats and calls for punishment after a 2015 fight that left Colón with indefinite injuries.

It is unclear whether Williams deleted the posts himself, whether Facebook took action due to the scale of the abuse, or whether other moderation or visibility issues caused the material to disappear. What’s clear is that the site became the only place Colón’s furious supporters believed they could still find Williams online.

Williams does not have an busy presence on social media. This absence has turned the Facebook page into little more than just an aged profile. It has become an archive of blame and, for many, the only place to express their views on one of the most damaging evenings in up-to-date boxing.

Facebook posts disappear

Over the years, WBN reported that Williams’ page attracted comments from Colón supporters who never accepted the outcome of the fight in Fairfax, Virginia.

Messages ranged from direct threats and demands for prison to revenge or worse.

WBN first documented the abuse in 2021, with the comments section already being used as a vent by fans enraged over Williams’ role in the fight.

The hostility has not abated. In 2024, WBN reported on further threats against Williams, including calls for punishment and accusations that he had never been properly held accountable.

The situation escalated in 2025. WBN later described how Williams was told to “heal in hell” and then reported a murder threat against Williams and his family as the site remained evident but unused by Williams.

Now, after years of being an obvious site of this hostility, the posts are no longer displayed.

Only the portal remains

Whatever caused the disappearance, the result is the same: the one outlet that Colón’s fans needed to get to Williams is no longer evident in the same way.

Williams remained out of the public eye for years, retiring from boxing in 2019 and failing to rebuild any public profile around the tragedy. WBN has previously tried to track down people associated with Williams and reported how tough it was to find him after the Colón fight.

Without interviews, novel statements or an busy platform from Williams, Colón’s supporters rallied around a social media channel still associated with him.

Some of that anger crossed the line, turning into harsh insults from people who saw no punishment, no resolution, no answer to what had happened to a juvenile fighter who was once tipped for world title success.

Pity Williams

The entries also included Williams’ remorse.

WBN documented how Williams later expressed sadness, with the player stating that he couldn’t enjoy the victory and was worried about Colón as his condition became critical.

Williams said after the fight that there was never any intention to employ soiled tactics and that the events surrounding the fight were not born out of malice or hatred. He also said he was praying for Colón and had been advised not to visit the hospital out of respect for the family’s privacy.

Although WBN documents its sadness over the incident and Williams’ apology, the nature of Colón’s injuries leaves enraged fans little room to maneuver.

There is no compensation for them, whether Williams apologizes or not, that would erase those shots to the back of the head that proved so significant.

An apology may exist, but it will not restore what was taken from Colón. It doesn’t give Puerto Rico the world title many believe it was destined for. It doesn’t undo the night that ruined the family.

A fight that never healed

The October 2015 fight remains one of boxing’s deepest wounds.

Colón was an emerging fighter from Puerto Rico with charisma, talent and an edge that made people believe he was heading towards a world title. Instead, the Williams fight became a nightmare of fouls, confusion, rabbit-bashing accusations and regulatory errors.

Williams was deducted a point for blows to the back of the head. Colón was docked for a low blow. Colón’s corner mistakenly believed the fight was over after the ninth round and removed his gloves, resulting in a disqualification defeat.

Shortly thereafter, Colón collapsed and was diagnosed with severe brain damage. He remained in a coma for many months and has since required long-term care.

The lasting damage suffered by Colón and his family is too profound for many to ever forgive the course of this fight, in which Puerto Rico was robbed of a certain world champion and his family was devastated in the process.

This pain is why fans have never fully let go. Williams’ regret doesn’t cancel out the punches. His absence from the public eye doesn’t make up for the damage, and the disappearance of aged posts doesn’t end the anger that has built up there.

Years of guilt

If the updates disappear for good, the public record has changed.

Over the years, the site showed what the Colón fight continued to do to people. It showed threats, language of revenge, regret and at times a level of violence that became disturbing in itself.

This apparent hostility may have disappeared from Facebook, but its cause remains.

Colón still lives with the consequences of the fight. His family continues to bear the costs. Williams is still associated with the night that changed both men’s lives.

Facebook posts may have disappeared. There was no reaction to the Prichard Colón fight – she simply lost her platform.

About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

Riyadh plan

Mason’s breakthrough was supposed to be the fight with Sam Noakes for the vacant title. Instead, it was a physical tax that could have changed the trajectory of his career. Mason won a unanimous decision but absorbed 156 punches, while Noakes landed 138 power punches.

For a 22-year-old who usually handles fights with ease, Riyad was a car accident. Noakes’ body work and powerful right hand in the fifth threw Mason’s head back, forcing the adolescent slugger to abandon his identity and fight as a desperate boxer just to survive. We don’t know if Mason returns to Cleveland with his physical fitness intact or if Noakes left him weakened.

Cordina threat

Joe Cordina is not a gatekeeper. He’s a master of timing, fresh off a win over Gabriel Flores Jr. in December. Unlike Noakes, which relied on grit, Cordina delivers elite precision.

“July 4 is an essential day for America, but it’s also an essential day for boxing. Abdullah is a good fighter, but I want to screw up his return home. I’m coming to rip out his heart and bring it back to the UK,” Cordina said.

The Welshman’s message is blunt: he intends to “snatch the title.” If Cordina followed Noakes’ plan – taking Mason in and watching Noakes open his left cheek – she would have the technical precision to finish the job. Cordina specializes in timing explosive southpaws, often using a tiny, clinical right-hand counter to which Mason’s defense, which looked leaky in Riyad, was vulnerable.

Physical wall

Mason’s confidence, “Everything he does, I do better,” ignores clinical reality. Cordina is a huge lightweight who has worked his way up to 130 pounds over the years. It will be stronger in the pocket. If Mason hasn’t fully recovered from Noakes’ punishment, Cordina has the wit of a veteran to turn this “hometown celebration” into a disaster.

The rest of Cleveland’s bill, including Bruce Carrington and Tiger Johnson, follows a standard upward path. But Cordina is the only man on the card who has no interest in the future. He is interested in the immediate, violent present.

If Mason handles him cleanly, the star will be real. If he doesn’t, on July 4 the boxing world will realize that Mason spent his best days in the ring in Riyad.