Irish super featherweight Anthony Cacace secured his second world title this past weekend with a unanimous decision victory against James ‘Jazza’ Dickens, winning the WBA title.
Cacace (25-1, 9 KOs) sold out the 9,000 tickets available at the 3Arena in Dublin to mark St. Patrick’s Day weekend, but his promoter Frank Warren has his eyes focused on selling out the 80,000-capacity Croke Park in the Irish capital.
“These guys who fought tonight will sell out even bigger fights, will sell out Croke Park, and that’s what we’ll be looking to do, hopefully this year, but certainly next year,” Warren told the Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel.
Cacace was joined in the ring by Irish superstar Katie Taylor, who has signaled that her last fight will be at Croke Park this summer. Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been pressing for the stadium to host Taylor for the last few years, but the costs involved are reportedly three times that of England’s national stadium, Wembley Stadium.
The super featherweight division’s championship belts are shared by O’Shaquie Foster, who holds the WBC title, and Emanuel Navarrete, who is the unified IBF and WBO title holder.
“It’s just that he [Navarrete] has two of the belts,” Cacace told Boxing News in regard to who he wants to fight next. “He’s a big name and I think he’s a couple-of-weight world champion as well. So, he’s one of boxing’s greats and I would love to go over there [USA] and have a crack at dethroning him. If not that, I’ll move up to lightweight and have a crack at a lightweight world champion.”
Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs) unified the super featherweight division by defeating IBF champion Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez last month, stopping his fellow Mexican in the eleventh round. The ringside doctor intervened as Nunez’s eye was swollen shut.
Belfast’s Cacace has stressed that it’s time to move on from domestic clashes.
“I’ve been beating up British fighters for three years now,” Cacace added. “I beat Joe Cordina, double world champion. I beat Josh Warrington, double world champion. Leigh Wood, double world champion. Now Jazza Dickens, double world champion. How many more do I have to beat before I can get this type of opportunity.”
