Josh Warrington & Cacace Knew IBF Wasn’t on the Line For ‘Over a Month’ Before Announcement
This Saturday, Anthony Joshua makes his bid to become a three-time world champion as he’s set to take on Daniel Dubois for the IBF title in front of a record-breaking 96,000 fans in Wembley Stadium. Also on the card, Josh Kelly takes on Ishmael Davis – a late replacement for Liam Smith, who pulled out with illness, and Tyler Denny who faces off against Hamzah Sheeraz for the EBU European Middleweight title.
The co-main event, however, is none of the above, but is instead Leeds’ Josh Warrington versus Anthony Cacace, who fight for the IBO World Super Featherweight title. Anthony Cacace comes off a career-best win, stopping Joe Cordina on the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk undercard, whilst Josh Warrington comes off back-to-back losses to Luis Alberto Lopez and, more recently, Leigh Wood.
Though Cacace’s IBF belt was initially believed to be on the line, it has since been ruled that because Cacace has been mandated to fight Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez, and his current opponent Josh Warrington is not ranked with the IBF, the belt will in-fact not be on the line. This means that if Cacace loses on Saturday night, the IBF belt will become vacant.
How Long Have Josh Warrington & Cacace Known?
Though the announcement was only made this week, TalkSport’s George Glinski has reported that both Warrington and Cacace’s teams have known for ‘over a month’ that the IBF was not going to be on the line.
Warrington now sits with a record of 31-3-1, with his first loss coming at the hands of Mauricio ‘Bronco’ Lara, who also stopped his rival, Wood. Cacace boasts a record of 22-1, with his one loss being a close decision loss against Martin J Ward.
It remains to be seen if Warrington’s recent losses will have an effect on his next performance, though one thing is certain, and that is Saturday night’s card is sure to give some entertaining all-British clashes.
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