Anthony Cacace to fight for British title in LONDON
Anthony Cacace [15(7)-0] will challenge for the British super featherweight title next month, however the fight looks set to take place in London rather than in his native Belfast.
The BBBoC Celtic champion has been awaiting a shot at champion Martin J Ward [17(8)-0-2] since last year, seeing the Leeds boxer defend his title against Ronnie Clark and Maxi Hughes.
These two wins put Matchroom’s Ward on the cusp of winning the belt outright, with mandatory challenger Cacace his final obstacle.
Purse bids for this title clash took place last month, and this were won by Cacace’s promoter Pat Magee – with the fight having to take place by the end of June.
Many Irish boxing fans had hoped and assumed that an agreement could be made and that Cacace and Ward could fight on the recently-announced Matchroom-promoted Sky Sports-broadcast bill at the SSE Odyssey Arena in Belfast on June 10th.
However, the past few days have seen rumour fly on social media regarding the fight and how it would NOT take place on the Ryan Burnett v Lee Haskins card.
Some had suggested that Ward, ranked #12 by the WBC and #2 by the EBU, had been unwilling to travel to Belfast for the fight, but confusion and uncertainty has been the order of the day.
Irish-Boxing.com contacted Magee for clarification today, and the veteran promoter confirmed that “the facts are, I won the purse bid and have notified the Board that the fight will take place on June 10th in London.”
“That is currently the plan.”
Magee, who also looks after the career of cruiserweight Tommy McCarthy, had wanted to put on the fight in Belfast, but noted how he has had no contact from Matchroom, forcing him to go with the London option.
He explained that “I promote Anthony and Eddie Hearn has promoted Martin J Ward in the past, but I am unsure of what their situation is now as Eddie Hearn did not win the purse bids and I have not heard from him since.”
“I am aware Eddie Hearn has a show scheduled in Belfast on the same night, but I have received no communications from Hearn and there is a press conference [for Burnett-Haskins] in two days time.”
Details of the June 10th London card are expected in the near future.
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