‘How Mental is That’ – Anthony Cacace targets fights with Future Hall of Fame names
Anthony Cacace is as surprised as anyone when names like Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis pass through his lips.
The shock doesn’t arise because believes calling out multi-weight world champions is fanciful but rather because he knows he is now in a position that allows him to legitimately mention some of the best fighters on the planet when discussing his next move.
The IBF super featherweight world champion added Josh Warrington to his fight resume without any trouble or having to consult top form in Wembley on Saturday and wants to keep leveling up.
The IBF gave Cacace dispensation to fight without his world title on the line on the Joshua – Dubios card but have ordered him to defend against another Matchroom fighter in Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez next.
The Belfast man doesn’t mind that fight and thinks it would provide him with a chance to top a bill in his home city, but he has bigger aspirations.
The super featherweight title holder is considering a move to lightweight where he’d like to fight some massive names.
“I would be more looking at moving up to lightweight and fighting the likes of Lomachenko, Tank Davis and the like,” he said
“How mental is that,” he adds when it dawns on him whose names he has just dropped.
“I’m in that league, I’m right there for any of those boys. If I move up to lightweight, I’m the mandatory challenger for Lomachenko’s title. We’re just going to have to see. It’s all in my hands. I’m in the driving seat.
“We’ll see what the future holds.”
It is a massive turnaround for the former Holy Trinity amateur considering 18 months ago he was working as a takeaway driver to feed his family.
At that stage, it looked as if a fighter known within boxing as one of Irish boxing’s biggest natural talents wouldn’t be afforded the chance to fulfill his potential.
Now he has just claimed a world title, dethroned Joe Cordina, got Irish revenge of multi-time world champion Warrington and is plotting a course for Lomachenko and co.
“If you were to ask me this a year-and-a-half-ago, I’d have dismissed it as silly talk.
“Now it’s real talk and we’re all in the big time and we want to continue marching forward.”
Reflecting on Saturday night’s victory over the ‘Leeds Warrior’ the 35-year-old added: “He was very strong and very intelligent.
“He had definitely done his homework on me. He was holding me from the left-hand side so I couldn’t get the right uppercut or the right hook.
“But he’s a two-time world champion. He’s got a great team behind him, Sean O’Hagan his father and the rest of the people around him are all clued in. I didn’t expect anything less, to be honest – I expected a hard fight and that’s what I got.”
