Anthony Cacace claims clear points victory over Josh Warrington

After a respectful, friendly build-up, Anthony Cacace, 23-1 (8 KOs), and Josh Warrington, 31-4-1 (8 KOs), declared war on each other at Friday’s weigh in but rather than the expected brutal brawl, the super featherweight contest turned out to be a gruelling nip and tuck affair. 

Warrington – no stranger to stadium fights – has the reputation as the type of fighter who bursts out of the blocks from the first bell but he regularly has a look at his opponents during the opening round and he employed raiding tactics in the opener, moving around before quickly stepping forward and attacking with his trademark combinations. Cacace calmly defended the attacks and landed two clean right hands and also rocked Warrington’s head back with a well-timed jab. 

Cacace was by far the bigger and taller man but was struggling to prevent Warrington from getting inside and the man from Leeds fired away with hooks to head and body whenever he was given the chance. The 33-year-old is at his best when he builds up a head of steam and he spent much of the second round inside Cacace’s reach, banging away to the body.

Fighting at 130lbs for the first time, former two-time featherweight champion Warrington opened the third by pressing forward and landing a nice short left hook and again set the tone, making Cacace work inside and negating him at arm’s length. 

Cacace got Warrington’s attention with a hard right hand as he momentarily found himself in no man’s land. Inside, Warrington was doing well, staying tight and landing short, snappy punches. On the outside, Cacace was beginning to find his range and make his mark.

Things were warming up nicely as the fight reached the fifth. Cacace was now trying to time Warrington’s rushes with a right uppercut while the former featherweight champion seemed intent on working over the Irishman’s body. Warrington was momentarily stunned by a wide left hook as the round ended but gathered himself well. 

Cacace’s power seemed to have earned him a measure of control by the sixth. Warrington’s attacks had lost a little steam and he was doing his best work when using his free hand during clinches but Cacace wasn’t dominating the fight, he was just spending more and more time at his preferred distance.

Given his rocky recent form, Warrington’s punch resistance had been questioned before the fight but his chin was holding up well and his knack of finding himself all the way out of range or up in Cacace’s chest meant that he was managing to avoid feeling the full force of Cacace’s power regularly and chipping away at the champion. 

Cacace wasn’t setting up his punches behind his jab and leading with his right hand made it easier for Warrington to slip inside the shots and after a scrappy couple of rounds, the fight seemed to be in the balance heading into the championship rounds.

Clean, scoring shots were becoming rarer and rarer as Warrington continued to pound away to the body. Cacace scored with a nice right uppercut as the round ended. The fight hadn’t become the give and take war most expected but it was tense and tight.

Neither fighter could be totally sure of the scorecards as the 12th started. Both tried to work in bursts and, as had been the case. Warrington landed more to the body while Cacace targeted the head. Try as they might, neither could make a real statement and the fight went to the cards.

Marcus McDonnell scored the fight 118-110 whilst Steve Gray and Grzegorz Molenda both had it 117-111, all for Cacace. 

The scores seemed harsh on Warrington, but he accepted the result with grace. 

This time last year, Cacace was delivering takeaways to make ends meet, tonight the 35-year-old from Belfast found himself at the centre of the boxing world. Although his IBF title wasn’t on the line, he successfully defended his IBO belt.