ANTO Cacace is the champion now but he’ll keep fighting like the underdog.
Cacace, who landed in London on Monday, says he’s ready to “rock and roll” and fine-tune his preparations before he gets into the ring at sold-out Wembley Stadium to face Josh Warrington on Saturday night.
The fight was expected to be a defence of his IBF (see statement below) and IBO super-featherweight titles but red-tape means that technically only the IBO belt will change hands if Warrington wins.
However, both titles are on the line.
If his hand is raised, Cacace keeps both belts and goes on to a title defence against the IBF’s mandatory contender Eduardo Nunez. If he loses, Warrington takes the IBO strap back to Leeds and Cacace will be stripped of the IBF title which will become vacant.
It’s a far-from-ideal scenario for Cacace who spent 12 years getting to this level but he is determined not to let it affect his performance. It’s difficult to understand how it has come to this since Cacace-Warrington was announced over three months ago.
But in a sense all the machinations are irrelevant because Cacace still has to do what he always had to do: Win.
“Listen it’s all on the backburner,” said Cacace.
“I’m here to do a job. It has annoyed me for a wee while but it’s not going to annoy me any longer. It’s all still about beating Warrington. The things are set out to suit him – he’s got a good promotional company who are negotiating for him and sorting out things. I just want to do the business and come home with the belt again.”
Cacace’s time in the boxing wilderness has been well documented. Before this swansong, the ‘Andytown Apache’ spent long spells – a year at one stage – without a fight. Opportunity didn’t come banging on his door very often but when it finally did he took his chance and now he is “ready to rock and roll”.
“I’m just going into this like I’m the underdog again,” he said.
“I’ll go in and do whatever I can do to get out of here victorious. I’ve got the same attitude I had when I beat Joe Cordina (to win IBF title). Nothing at all has changed, whether I’m the world champion or whatever people want to say, I just feel like I’m an underdog going in here.
“I have the same attitude – I know I have to go and get him and do the job.
“I’m the away fighter – he’s an Englishman, I’m an Irishman – and I’m raring to go, I’m enjoying the buzz around it. There’s a wee bit of added pressure now that I am the champion – people are saying I’m the favourite but I don’t see that I am the favourite at all.
“I had one good performance with Cordina but that doesn’t define me as a fighter. Styles make fights and this is a harder stylistically. I’m just ready to go.”
Warrington is no stranger to Irish fight fans and he is 3-0 in previous clashes with men from the Emerald Isle. It’s over a decade ago now since he beat Martin Lindsay to win the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles. A couple of years later he stopped Patrick Hyland in Leeds and six years ago he beat Carl Frampton in a Manchester barnburner to capture the IBF featherweight belt.
Since then Warrington has gone into the hurt locker repeatedly with back-to-back tear-ups against Mauricio Lara and then Kiko Martinez – he stopped the Spanish hard nut but had his jaw broken in the process. Since then he has gone the distance but lost on points against heavy-handed Luis Alberto Lopez and, last time out, was stopped by English rival Leigh Wood in the seventh round but he was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards at the time.
Warrington is stepping up to super-featherweight for the first time on Saturday night and the Leeds native, stung by his fall from the limelight, is determined to become a two-weight world champion.
“He’s no mug,” said Cacace.
“I know it’s going to be a very hard fight.”
VICTORY at Wembley on Saturday night will mean that Anthony Cacace has to defend his IBF title against Mexico’s Eduardo Nunez within 180 days or by March 20, 2025.
After being contacted by The Irish News, New Jersey-based International Boxing Federation (IBF) issued a length statement to clarify the status of the Cacace v Josh Warrington bout.
The statement reads:
Anthony Cacace won the IBF Jr. Lightweight title in an optional defense of Joe Cordina’s IBF title on May 18, 2024. IBF Rule 5.B.2.(a) states:
“Should the Champion lose his title in an optional defense against an opponent other than the leading available contender, the new Champion shall be required to make his mandatory title defense against the leading available contender, as designated by the Championships Chairman, within a period of six (6) months after the acquisition.”
Anthony Cacace is due to make a Mandatory defense of his title no later than Monday, November 18, 2024, pursuant to this rule. Anthony Cacace was due to be notified of his mandatory defense against #1 ranked Jr. Lightweight and mandatory contender Eduardo Nunez, approximately on September 19, 2024, pursuant to Rule 5.D.1 that states in part:
“The Championships Chairman will notify the Champion and the mandatory challenger approximately sixty (60) days prior to the mandatory due date and the boxers must observe that obligation.”
The IBF is aware that Anthony Cacace is contracted to make a defense of his IBO Jr. Lightweight title against Josh Warrington on September 21, 2024, in London, England. The IBF, with the consent of Eduardo Nunez, has agreed to participate in an optional bout against Josh Warrington, not a defense of the IBF Jr. Lightweight title, under the following conditions:
1. Should Anthony Cacace lose his bout against Josh Warrington on September 21, 2024, the IBF tile shall become vacant effective immediately.
2. Should Josh Warrington win on September 21, 2024, the title shall become vacant effective immediately.
3. Should Anthony Cacace win on September 21, 2024, he must make a mandatory defense of the IBF Jr. Lightweight title against #1 ranked mandatory contender Eduardo Nunez within 180 days or by March 20, 2025.
4. The IBF will not consider any further requests to delay the mandatory defense of the IBF Jr. Lightweight title including a Unification defense.
5. Anthony Cacace and Josh Warrington must agree in writing to the conditions requiring IBF sanction of this bout.