IT TOOK Anthony Cacace 12 years – many of them spent in the boxing wilderness – to climb up to world title level. Now he’s there, the ‘Andytown Apache’ has no intention of slipping back down the ladder.
On September 21 at Wembley Stadium, Cacace defends his IBF and IBO super-featherweight titles against Josh Warrington, a man who has been to the very top and is determined to get back there.
Warrington famously beat Carl Frampton in his first defence of the IBF featherweight title in 2018 and he held onto the belt for four years until heavy-handed Luis Lopez shocked him in 2022. Since then ‘The Leeds Warrior’ has been stopped by English rival and former Michael Conlan adversary Leigh Wood but he intends to regain the lost ground by dethroning Cacace on the undercard of Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois at Wembley next month.
Cacace’s coach Michael Hawkins senior says his former Holy Trinity protege will do all in his power to make sure that doesn’t happen. After years of having to encourage the talented fighter to go to training, Hawkins has been pleasantly surprised to see ‘Anto’ at the gym before him these days.
“He’s in good shape and good form,” said vastly-experienced Hawkins.
“It’s a different Anthony Cacace, and when I say different I mean he’s bright, he’s outward, he’s meeting people and signing autographs… He’s doing all the things that world champions do but his feet are always on the ground and he’s working hard – there’s no moaning or groaning about him.”
Cacace beat Italy’s Michael Magnesi to win the IBO title in 2022 and then grabbed his long-awaited opportunity to step into the limelight when he blasted out IBF champ Joe Cordina in Saudi Arabia in May. Cordina was down in the third and Cacace never let him off the hook until the fight was stopped early in the eighth.
“Everybody knows Josh Warrington from his fight with Carl Frampton,” said Hawkins.
“He caught Frampton early and Carl was chasing it from the 12 rounds. Of all the names that were mentioned to us for this fight, I think Warrington is a brilliant fight for Anto – it’s the best one out there for him.
“It’s a tough battle, nobody would underestimate Josh Warrington and we’ll certainly not do it for one second. We’ll be covering all aspects of the fact that we need to – we’ve studied the form on him and we working on tactics to do the job and hopefully it all works out.
“Anto is world champion and the thing now is for him to keep his belt because this is where the money is at this stage of his career.”
Warrington is predictably unpredictable. He can box but he loves to fight and minutes before the first bell against Frampton his corner threw out the tactics and told him to jump on the Belfast man.
Frampton stood and fought but he was hurt early and never regained the ground he lost. Could Warrington try the same tactic against the heavy-handed Cacace?
“Everybody in boxing has their tuppence-ha’penny’s worth about how the fight will go,” Hawkins explained.
“They’re all entitled to their opinions but no matter what anybody says Josh Warrington is a great fighter. I watched his fight with Leigh Wood there and he was a mile in front and he got caught with a big punch and that can happen to any fighter.
“When you get to this level you just don’t know what he will bring but we know we’ll be prepared as best as we can and we’ll take it from there.
“We didn’t get carried away with Joe Cordina, we kept our feet on the ground, we knew what we were planning and it fell into place. If you prepare properly, you’ll do well.
“A good defence is very hard to beat if you’re carrying ‘the dope’ yourself and Anto is carrying the punch, he has the power – that’s something he always had. I’ve never questioned Anto’s ability, the only thing I questioned about him was his commitment - and I questioned it openly and frankly. But he’s got the incentive to train now and he’s out there – he’s up first now, he’s in the gym first, he’s at the door waiting on you to open up!”
LEE Gormley and James Freeman return to action in Newcastle, England on Saturday night for their first fights of this year.
Gormley (2-1) took his fight at short notice and has had to step up to light-welterweight. He will intend to put a debatable points loss to Karl Sampson behind him when he faces journeyman Naeem Ali.
Tall and rangy, Gormley picks his punches with a natural flair but he has had a frustrating time of it since his loss in Wigan. There have been cancellations and disappointments for the father-of-two who now hopes to kick on with his career,
“I honestly can’t wait to get back in the ring,” he said.
“It’s been a mad few months really after the frustration of the last fight cancellation back in March. I’d stayed ready all over Christmas, so it was sickening when that one got scrapped.
“But I stuck at it and stayed ready anyway, with the hope of something coming up and now, fortunately, it has on short notice. It’s been tough during the summer holidays after having our second baby recently too, while balancing work. But that’s just life and boxing, you have to get on with it.
“This is why I make sure I’m ready to go at all times - for great opportunities like this. I’m excited to get the job done then keep staying active and push on in my career.”
Meanwhile, welterweight Freeman (2-0) beat Ali in Falls Park a year ago and he makes his return to the ring against Jake Osgood.
Former Armagh GAA star Freeman had a baptism of free against Jordan Grannum at the SSE Arena in May last year but he got those first-fight nerves out of his system with a shoutout points win against Ali last August.