A SUMMER showdown against Leigh Wood in front of 30,000 at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground is developing into a real possibility for Anto Cacace.
But so is a Belfast defence of his IBF super-featherweight title against mandatory contender Eduardo Nunez in late February/early March.
Cacace, who rocketed into pole position in the super-featherweight division with stunning wins against Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington this year, has some thinking to do before he decides on his next move.
It is understood that the purse for fighting Wood dwarves what Cacace is being offered to fight Nunez but the flip side is that if he decides to take the Wood fight the Belfast fighter will be stripped of his IBF belt.
Could he take both fights? Theoretically yes, but if he was to lose to Mexican Nunez - who has 27 stoppage wins on his 27-1 record - early next year would the Leigh Wood duel still be an option for the summer? Possibly not and in that case he’d be left with no title and no lucrative ‘Battle of Britain’ against the heavy-handed Nottingham native.
As always, boxing is a tangled web and Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn taunted the Belfast camp by claiming that Cacace has ‘ducked’ his fighter Nunez.
“I’m really disappointed in Anto Cacace, really disappointed,” said Hearn.
“It’s a horrendous duck, horrendous. Anto can say: ‘I want big fights and he (Nunez) is not a big name’ but he’s just won the title and Anto has never defended his world title - the IBF world title wasn’t on the line against Warrington.
“He’s got a mandatory and if you want to go out and unify the division and be a great in the division you have to fight your mandatories but he can’t beat ‘Sugar’ Nunez and I think the people around him know that.
“It’s a great fight because Anto is tough and Nunez is a monster. I was really disappointed because I really want to see the fight but that’s the way it goes and I think Nunez will end up fighting for a vacant title and in his first defence he’ll fight Ray Ford (16-1).”
There is speculation that Nunez and Cacace could both take fights but meet again later in the year to clash for the IBF title should they come through them successfully.
“People who know boxing know that (Nunez) is a fight Cacace won’t win,” said Hearn.
“By the way it would be a brilliant fight and contractually it’s already in the deal with Queensbury.”
THE BBC will cover professional boxing for the first time in over a decade when their cameras broadcast live from Belfast’s Ulster Hall on February 1 next year.
Colm Murphy will top the bill in a maiden defence of his hard-earned Commonwealth Silver
Featherweight title and the co-main event of the MHD Promotions in association with A McLean Bookers and R Kings bill will feature Belfast’s undefeated adopted son John ‘The Kid’ Cooney versus Nathan Howells of Newport in a defence of Cooney’s Celtic super-featherweight title in a fight which also doubles up for an eliminator for the British title.
Lenadoon cruiserweight Tommy McCarthy continues his comeback on the undercard with a potential title fight while Dungannon’s lightweight prospect Charles McDonagh makes his professional home debut following his recent first fight in Scotland.
Cookstown’s Teo Alin and Belfast’s Jack O’Neil both return for their third fights and will be looking to stay undefeated and two more names still to be added.
Headline act Murphy’s last two contests have both played out at Belfast’s SSE Arena with respective victories over Glasgow’s Jack Turner and Mexico’s Eric Lopez taking him to a career highest world ranking of 84 and a perfect professional record of 13 straight wins including the Boxing Union of Ireland’s Celtic and Irish titles.
The bill will be broadcast live on terrestrial television on BBC Northern Ireland, BBC Wales, BBC Scotland, BBC iPlayer and Sky Channel 966 enabling fight fans to globally watch
the event giving everyone concerned incredible worldwide exposure.
“We have worked hard over the last 12 years to bring local boxing to the mainstream,” said Mark Dunlop, Managing Director of MHD Promotions.
“So it is fantastic to pen our first contract with the BBC and look forward to working hard in 2025 bringing opportunities for local fighters.”
Bet McLean has been supporting MHD Promotions for over 12 years now and have watched
Mark and his fighters climb to the top and are delighted to play our part as they move forward with their next event.
Tickets are available from the Ulster Hall Box Office (www.ulsterhall.co.uk) from Wednesday, November 13 at 10am.
MIKE Tyson had the perfect combination of athleticism, aggression, appetite and ability when he ruled the boxing world in the late 1980s and into the early ‘90s.
He continued too long as a professional and was a pale shadow of his former great self when he eventually hung his gloves up after losing to Kevin McBride in June 2005.
Over 19 years later ‘Iron Mike’ – now 58 - returns on Friday night to face YouTuber Jake Paul and perhaps the biggest tragedy of the voyeuristic battle is that it has overshadowed Katie Taylor’s rematch with Amando Serrano for the IBF, IBO, WBC and WBO World Super-Lightweight titles.
Taylor-Serrano, a reprise of the hum-dinger between the pair in 2022, should be a cracking contest. Since they last met at Madison Square Garden, Taylor lost to Chantelle Cameron but rebounded brilliantly to avenge that loss a year ago.
Serrano dropped to featherweight after losing to Taylor and became undisputed champion of that division. Back at lightweight, she is confident of victory but Taylor starts as favourite once again.
As for Tyson-Paul, is it ok to be intrigued to see what Tyson has left in the tank? There can’t be much but you’d hope for a last glimpse of the old peek-a-boo magic. Power is the last thing a fighter loses, as they say, and Paul might feel a trademark right hook early on if he’s not careful. Paul (27) can hit, but if he’s serious about boxing he should pick on someone his own age.