Belfast’s Anthony Cacace became the only male world boxing champion from the island of Ireland with a close unanimous decision victory over Liverpool’s James “Jazza” Dickens in the 3Arena, Dublin, on Saturday night.
“The Apache” claimed the WBA super featherweight crown in a tense affair, where both fighters were cautious of the other’s power through much of the fight.
Rounds one and two were quiet, with Cacace trying to impose his height and range advantage, while Dickens looked to close the distance.
The contest opened up in the third, as a frustrated Cacace looked to press the action by switching to a southpaw stance. This suited the natural southpaw Dickens, who landed two good left hands, but the Belfast fighter responded well with a left hook of his own to end the round.
READ MORE
Dickens found a home for the left hand regularly in the fourth, prompting Cacace to put his foot down in the fifth round.
“The Apache” opened the round with a barrage of lefts and rights, and Dickens spent the first minute of the session shelled up, trying to absorb the punishment.
Cacace kept up that momentum in the following round, but Dickens still landed the shot of the fight to that point, with a clean left overhand to the chin.
The pace slowed again after that, with the Belfast man marginally getting the better of the action in the seventh and eighth round, while the ninth clearly belonged to Dickens, who was fighting better on the front foot.
Two tight rounds followed, but going into the final round it was clear that both fighters thought that Cacace was leading.
The Belfast man was on the back foot throughout the last three minutes, while Dickens went in search of a knockout.
Cacace described his performance as a “poor night at the office” in his post-fight interview, but he took his second major world title of his career at 37 and called out unified IBF and WBO champion Emmanuel Navarrete.
Cacace has enjoyed one of the best winning streaks in boxing since his sole defeat in 2017, picking up the IBF title against Wales’ Joe Cordina, before beating two of English boxing’s biggest names in Josh Warrington and Leigh Wood.
On the undercard, two Dubliners won IBO world belts, which are generally considered to be stepping stones to the four major world governing body titles.
In the co-main event, Pierce O’Leary (19-0) defeated former British champion Maxi Hughes (29-9-2) by fifth round stoppage in their IBO super lightweight title fight.
The northsider received a deafening welcome for his homecoming fight and went on the front foot from the first bell, but Hughes frustrated O’Leary early on, landing a couple of good shots on the back foot.
O’Leary took control in the fourth round, wobbling Hughes badly with a left hook, his trademark punch.
The English southpaw did well to survive to the end of that session, but after another punishing round in the fifth and with his face swelling badly, Hughes’ corner pulled him out before the start of the sixth.
Dublin’s Jono Carroll (26-3-1) claimed the IBO world super featherweight title against Belfast’s Colm Murphy by split decision in a close contest on the undercard.
Billed as the “Posh Boy”, Murphy (now 16-1) made a strong start to the contest, and looked to have banked a number of rounds early on.
Carroll adjusted well in the second half of the contest, and it was not a shock when a split decision was announced, but the Dubliner’s margin of victory on the final scorecard – 117-111 – did not reflect the closeness of the contest.
