Proud Cacace seeks Navarrete unification duel

What is your why? Whether business or pleasure, it’s a question many ponder in regard to what drives them and Anthony Cacace is no different.

Putting food on the table remains priority for the newly-crowned WBA super-featherweight champion, but now it’s also about etching the family name into the tapestry of world boxing.

While some still struggle with the pronunciation of the surname, inherited from his father who hails from just outside Sorrento in Italy, there appears to be plenty of opportunity for practice as the Belfast boxer seeks to become the undisputed man of the 9st 4lb (59kg) division and put his name on the lips of his rivals.

Victory over Joe Cordina in May 2024 saw him realise a dream by lifting the IBF title – since relinquished – and now adding another by way of a unanimous decision victory over Liverpool’s ‘Jazza’ Dickens on Saturday, the champion took added satisfaction by putting “my daddy’s name down in the history books”.

“No-one really heard of Cacace but now the name’s known,” the 37-year-old from Andersonstown in west Belfast said after his victory.

Reflecting on what he assessed as a “below-par performance” against Dickens on Saturday, the wish-list remains clear.

Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete now holds his former IBF belt as well as the WBO version, while USA’s O’Shaquie Foster is the reigning WBC king.

At 37 years of age, time isn’t on Cacace’s side and while be confirmed he will fight again, these last few laps of his career will have to gount.

“Give me Navarrete – it’s not that hard to make, so let’s make it,” he said after Saturday’s victory which improves his record to 25 victories and one loss.

“The styles [against Dickens] never really gelled but I believe I can do better and unify.

“I can beat Navarrete and these guys, so that’s what I’m aiming for now.”

His promoter, Frank Warren, was happy to join in that particular chorus.

“Of course I’d like to see it and that’s what we want to do,” he said.

While it was far from a vintage display from Cacace in a fight many suspected may not have been a swipe right affair to begin with, due to the orthodox v southpaw styles, he edged home and just enough on the cards.

His best round was undoubtedly the fifth, when jumping on the Liverpool fighter and letting his hands go with spite.

Dickens was not going down without a fight and rode that storm to have his own moments in subsequent rounds, but the new champion revealed a “chinned” left hand in the build-up may have contributed to his inability to finish the argument when he enjoyed that spell of dominance.

“I tagged him and I could have had him out of there, but that’s where the sharpness and the sparring comes in,” he reasoned.

“I genuinely believed that I punched way too hard for him, but I just had to keep it nice and safe. I knew what to do in the fight and what way to control the fight.

That hand issue resulted in Cacace admitting is was “mentally challenging in the changing room” before he shook off the negativity, just as he shrugged off the array of setbacks earlier in his career to reach the summit.

There was a flat refusal to get on an open-top bus when he returned with the IBF belt in 2024 and that remains his position after taking the WBA title.

Fame and celebrity is not his why, but being the best version of himself has paid dividends and if that should inspire the next generation it would repay the support he enjoyed in the build-up to Saturday’s victory.

“When I hear the kids at St Agnes’ [GAA club he played for when younger] all coming together and singing ‘oh Anto Cacace’ and kids from my old primary school, Holy Child, screaming my name, it fills me with pride and makes me emotional.

“I was watching [those good luck videos] before I left the hotel just to kind of give me that gee up. I’m all about the up and coming – I want to inspire them.