British Super-Featherweight title: Sam Bowen (15-0) v Anthony Cacace (17-1) (tonight, live on BT Sport 2 form 6pm)
AWAY from home and against the defending British champion, Anthony Cacace has it all to do tonight but his coach Harry Hawkins says ‘the Apache’ has all the tools required to cause an upset in Birmingham.
After a difficult week for himself and his family, Belfast boxing doyen Harry, whose father Tommy was laid to rest on Thursday, travelled to Birmingham yesterday evening to link up with his former protégé at Holy Trinity ABC in Turf Lodge.
“It’s been a bad week for me but all the work has been done,” said Harry.
“All we were doing this week was making weight and he made it pretty easy, so everything is sweet.”
Former Carl Frampton stablemate Cacace starts as the underdog but he has yet to produce the performance he is capable of. Throughout a stop-start career he has landed eye-catching shots but his workrate hasn’t been high enough to force a definitive breakthrough.
“I’ve known Anthony from Holy Trinity days and watching him the last time he fought for British title (against Martin J Ward) I just didn’t think he was doing enough in the fights,” he said.
“I thought maybe he doubted his fitness, he went through the 12 rounds ok against Ward but he didn’t do enough. You have to remember that you’re away from home and you’re fighting the champion so close rounds aren’t going to go your way, you have to make them go your away and that’s what we have been talking about.
“If you get a knockout, happy days, but it’s all about winning rounds and I told Anto to focus on each three minutes and make sure he’s doing enough in the judges’ eyes.
“You won’t steal a close round away from home and that’s what we based our camp on really; doing enough and winning each round. Bowen is a strong, tough boy but Anthony is more skilful, he has a better variety of punches and it’ll be interesting to see who does hit the hardest.”
Bowen stopped Maxi Hughes to win the British title in April last year and he defended it against Jordan McCurry (another stoppage win that brought his ratio to 11 in 15 fights) in March.
Hawkins says the fight could boil down to Cacace’s self-belief.
“I told him: ‘We’ve ticked all our boxes, forget about Bowen, you have trained hard’,” he said.
“He hasn’t missed anything, I asked him for 150 per cent commitment when I started training him for this fight and he has given that.
“He really has put it in and I’ve told him not to worry about Bowen, just to worry about himself.”
Hawkins sees the contest as “even money” and knows that victory will pave the way to massive opportunities for southpaw Cacace.
“I know it’s tough but I really believe that it’s an even money fight,” he said.
“Bowen is at home and he’s the champion and he has all the strength and power but he is a straightforward fighter and he can be hit.
“When he’s coming, when he’s attacking he is open to be hit and we have been working a lot on that. When he’s attacking, he’s vulnerable so let the punches go and keep a tight defence.
“Anto has better movement than Bowen. He has slick footwork, he can punch and turn and move where Bowen is an upright, one-two, hard-punching guy. I think it could be a good fight for Anto.
“If he wins this and looks good it’s a European title fight next and a lot more big fights. So it’s all to play for.”
