Anthony Cacace Enjoying His Time At The Top As He Prepares For Josh Warrington
IBF super-featherweight champion Anthony Cacace says he’s enjoying his status at the top of boxing and wants to keep the good times rolling when he faces Josh Warrington on Saturday.
Cacace (22-1-0 8 KO) will make the first defense of his IBF belt when he faces former two-time champion Warrington (31-3-1 8 KO) at Wembley Stadium in London on the undercard of the heavyweight world championship fight between Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua.
The Irish fighter won his world title in May – incidentally on the undercard of another massive heavyweight bout when Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury for undisputed – by upsetting the odds and stopping Joe Cordina in the eighth round in Riyadh.
There was some controversy around how Cacace secured the victory having punched an unguarded Cordina on the break during the third round. The Welshman was severely affected and never fully recovered before Cacace claimed the knockout five rounds later.
Five months later, Cacace will enter the ring for the first time as a world champion and will do so as part of the biggest fight night in British boxing this year. An estimated 94,000 fans are expected to pack out England’s national soccer stadium.
It will be a far cry from the 35-year-old’s humble beginnings in the sport, and he says he is enjoying being the hunted instead of the hunter.
“It’s good as you don’t have to go begging for fights or call names out,” Cacace said. “The fights are there and people want to fight you because they want what I have and get into that position.
“Usually I’ve been wanting what they have and to move on, but I’ve got where I’ve always wanted to be so now it’s about staying mentally right and taking every fight as it comes.”
Cacace had initially been scheduled to make his first defense against Mexican contender Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez, but a deal was reached for the mandatory challenger to step aside for the Warrington fight to take place.
Nunez instead fought on the undercard of Diego Pacheco’s victory over Maciej Sulecki on August 31 when he knocked out Miguel Marriaga in six rounds. He will now fight the winner of Cacace and Warrington.
Warrington has a perfect record against Irish fighters, going 3-0 against Carl Frampton, Martin Lindsay and Patrick Hyland, but Cacace is confident of ending the Englishman’s streak.
“It’s a massive card and all 50/50 fights,” he said. “Big names like (Joshua) Buatsi, me and Warrington, (Anthony) Joshua… He’s (Warrington) 3-0 against the Irish, but I feel I can do him.
“I don’t know whether I’m the underdog or what, but it just makes for a really good, fan-friendly fight. He can punch and I’ve got to watch the head, but I will leave all that to the night and see what happens.”
With just days remaining until the massive event at Wembley, Cacace admits that he has taken stock to reflect on how far he has come. His career has had its share of setbacks, notably having a fight canceled three days before it was meant to take place when opponent Jhonatan Romero was denied a visa. That denied Cacace the opportunity of a first stadium fight on the undercard of Tyson Fury v Dillian Whyte at the home of soccer club Tottenham Hotspur.
“How my career has panned out from start to now is mind-blowing,” he said. “I feel like now it was all meant to be: fights falling through, injuries, blah blah blah, which all led me to Saudi Arabia feels like it was meant to be.
“Where I’m at now is so random. Simon (Pegg, manager) rang me in January to offer me a fight, didn’t say it was a world title or anything, but I just thought it was great to get a Saudi fight but now I’m here, beat the IBF champion and it’s like a dream come true.”
