As the clock ticks down towards one of the cards of the year, news that Josh Warrington’s scrap with Anthony Cacace will not be for the world title has dampened excitement for what could well have been the fight of the night. Now, the Yorkshireman has spoken out regarding the IBF’s decision and has admitted his disappointment.
Warrington has twice held the IBF world title in the featherweight division but has registered just one victory in his last five fights. As a result, news that ‘The Leeds Warrior’ would move up a weight division and be granted an instant world title shot at Anthony Cacace’s super-featherweight crown did raise eyebrows.
In an interview with Boxing Social, Warrington explained that even he was surprised by the fight offer, after being told that the IBF would not sanction the bout as a world title affair just three weeks before agreeing to the supposed title contest.
“The initial week [that I was spoken to] I got offered to fight for the IBF world title and the IBO against Anthony Cacace. I was a little bit surprised at first because the fight was spoken about around three weeks prior to that but initially it got squashed because I’ve not had a fight at super-featherweight, and I am not in the super-featherweight rankings with the IBF. I was surprised that they were allowing me to fight for it because a few weeks prior the fight had been negotiated and they said ‘no, Josh can’t fight for it [the title].”
However, the opportunity has indeed proved too good to be true and it has now been confirmed that the IBF world title will not be on the line for Warrington. Yet, had Warrington been aware of this decision earlier, he could have debuted in the division and banked a win during the interim to improve his chances of eligibility, with the timing of the IBF’s refusal proving to be the most aggravating part of the fight week drama for the 33-year-old.
“The IBF have obviously pulled the rug and said ‘no, he can’t fight for it’. Am I disappointed? Yes, I am, especially when that is one of the main marbles. I am not taking no smoke away from the IBO but the IBF is one of the main four. I may have dipped for a few hours but now if anything I am even more determined to win.”
“The IBF are a good group with the weight checks and that, but exceptions are made everywhere throughout the sport, and I feel like the size of the show [should have made this fight one].”
“It is annoying that they couldn’t sort all of this out prior, so that with twelve weeks to go we know what we are dealing with. We started juggling training around to make plans to fight abroad and get this ‘tick over’ fight done with or whatever rules it was that we needed to comply with.”
As stated, the IBO world title will still be on the line for both men, meaning that Warrington can still become a two-division world champion on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Anthony Cacace will still lose the IBF world title if he is trumped by the supposed challenger, with Eduardo Nunez and Masanori Rikishi the men poised to meet for the belt if it were to become vacant.
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