A racing driver has admitted punching former world boxing champion Joe Cordina outside a petrol station.
Jamie O’Brien, 33, pleaded guilty to assaulting Cordina, but the fighter denied attacking him too.
The two-time super featherweight champion was also arrested following the flare-up at a Texaco garage in Pentwyn, Cardiff, in February.
O’Brien, from Pentwyn, left court after being given a conditional discharge.
Judge Charlotte Murphy heard O’Brien was in a ‘mental health crisis’ at the time.
He was detained under the Mental Health Act shortly afterwards.
Cordina denies two charges of assault by beating Mr O’Brien and will stand trial at the Magistrates’ Court in October.
South Wales Police said the alarm was raised on February 27 this year before both men were arrested.
Joe Cordina, 34, two-time IBF super featherweight champion, appeared at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to two charges of assault by beating
Video footage shows the boxer punching a man outside a gas station
Video footage showed the two men arguing outside the gas station
In the footage, shared online, a man dressed in a pink hoodie appears to rush into a second man who was leaving the Texaco store, apparently to return to his vehicle
Cordina was scheduled to fight for the WBO lightweight title in the United States on July 4 before his U.S. visa was denied.
He is charged with assault by hitting and threatening a person in a public place with an offensive weapon. He denied both accusations.
District Judge Charlotte Murphy set the case for a daylong trial on October 13.
O’Brien was ordered to pay £85 court costs and a mandatory surcharge of £26.
Video footage of the incident appears to show the boxer punching a man outside a gas station.
In footage shared on social media, a man dressed in a pink hoodie appears to rush into a second man who was leaving the Texaco store, apparently to return to his car.
The second man is then seen taking a fighting stance and throwing several punches at his opponent, who then falls to the ground.
The Cardiff fighter, who has a record of 19-1 including nine knockouts, revealed in an Instagram story in June that his application for a US visa had been rejected, leading to the failure of a fight against Abdullah Mason on July 4 in Cleveland.
In a video he said: ‘Just to let everyone know I’m not going to fight. There are no injuries, I had a great camp and was supposed to fly over this week.
“A few days ago I went to the American embassy in London and they basically denied me a visa. I tried to explain certain things and I had all the paperwork to back it up, but they didn’t have it.
“They basically just told me, ‘You’re not getting in.’ “It’s beyond my control and I’m absolutely gutted because this was my opportunity to become a three-time, two-weight world champion.”
Cordina represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where he took home bronze, before winning a gold medal at the 2015 European Championships.
He also represented Team GB at the 2016 Olympic Games.
