Anto Cacace is the new IBO World Champion after a stellar victory tonight in Manchester.
The Belfast super featherweight outpointed Italy’s Michael Magnesi on the undercard of the Joseph Parker v Joe Joyce pay-per-view at the AO Arena.
Cacace was the most consistent fighter throughout twelve competitive rounds and earned a deserved victory on points.
After a tight start, the switch-hitting batsman from Andersonstown pulled away down the stretch to take the win.
A feud built across social media, Lou DiBella-backed Magnesi was willing to answer Cacace’s call, or, at least, his vocal support. In retrospect, the fighter from Lazio probably regrets this.
Magnesi entered the ring undefeated and in possession of the IBO belt, but entered the fight as an underdog with the bookies. Having fought just once outside of Italy and with all three of his title fights coming against disappointing opposition, this perhaps came as no surprise.
Indeed, the surprise was arguably the confidence of Magnesi and his team throughout the build-up and fight week, but the Italian proved to be an enemy of the game, but not enough to interrupt the enigmatic Irishman.
For Cacace, tonight was a highly anticipated important fight. Since he defeated Sam Bowen for the British title in November 2019, the Belfast boxer has only boxed once: his delayed defense against Leon Woodstock in August 2021.
A fight against Jhonathan Romero on the Fury-Whyte undercard was meant to kick off this year for Cacace, but visa issues intervened and it almost looked like the mercurial talent might walk away from the sport before Magnesi’s opportunity arose.
The Italian pushed early and perhaps won his fair share of the first six rounds, but ‘The Apache’ took over midway through.
Fighting hard, Cacace hurt Magnesi at the bottom of the eighth before pulling away down the stretch.
A split decision, with which the majority did not agree, the final scores read 116-112, 112-116 and 117-111 in favor of Cacace who goes to 20(7)-1(0). Magnesi drops to 21(13)-1(0) after his first career loss.
