Anthony Cacace has had a lot of bad luck in recent years, but things could be changing after he lifted the IBO super featherweight title with a split decision over Michael Magnesi on the Joyce-Parker bill in Manchester.
Almost three years have passed since Cacace won the British title, but he had only boxed once since then: an injury, an abscessed tooth and the Covid contagion were all reasons to cancel fights. So he should have been on the Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte bill at Wembley Stadium in April, but that was canceled when his opponent couldn’t get a visa.
However, the 33-year-old from Belfast did not give up and got his reward in Manchester. While the IBO title isn’t everyone’s favourite, beating the previously undefeated Magnesi puts him in a promising position where Shakur Stevenson’s failure to make weight on Thursday left two world titles vacant.
For six rounds it was a tough fight, with Magnesi as the aggressor, but Cacace dominated the second half and looked like a comfortable winner. This is how two judges saw it, with the Englishman Steve Gray with a mark of 116-112 and the Canadian Benoit Roussel with a mark of 117-113. Somehow, the Polish Pawel Kardyni scored the 116-112 for Magnesi, a disconcerting card.
Magnesi chased Cacace from the opening bell, but Cacace used the ring well and landed the best punch of the first round, a left uppercut, just before the bell.
The Italian kept up the pressure in the second round, but Cacace was stopped and delayed and had success to the head and body.
The third was fought at a fierce pace as Magnesi put Cacace under heavy pressure early on, but Cacace responded late in the round.
There was a slowdown in Magnesi’s work in the fourth and fifth rounds as Cacace was able to create a little more space to land some hard shots, although Cacace finished the fifth with a cut over his left eye.
The sixth was a close round as Magnesi put in a lot of effort, but the seventh was a bit trickier as they tied up while trying to throw big punches, but Cacace found more space again in the eighth when he brought Magnesi to his best. . shots
In the closing moments of the round, Cacace caught Magnesi flat-footed when he landed a big right hand that sent him reeling, though the Italian countered and then shook his head to show he wasn’t hurt.
But Cacace was the one who dominated now, since he was at a distance and had time to choose his shots. The ninth and tenth rounds were difficult for the Italian as he walked forward with little success. And Magnesi failed to turn the tide in the last two rounds as Cacace kept his distance from him and worked his way to victory.
Huge ticket seller Nathan Heaney held on to his international IBO middleweight belt via a technical decision over Jack Flatley after a clash of heads caused a large cut over Heaney’s right eye in the fifth round.
The fight had been close, though the bigger man, Heaney, seemed to be on the brink when the crash occurred, which not only dropped Heaney to his knees but left him with a three-inch gash above his right eye. Referee Steve Gray called the ringside doctor, but he was called off at 2:05 of the fifth round.
Michael Alexander and Pawel Kardyni had it 49-46 and Benoit Roussel scored it 50-45.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was a boxing correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001 to 2019, covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights around the world. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications around the world since the 1980s.
