Anthony Cacace secures the WBA title at the 3Arena in Dublin after a close points decision against Jazza Dickens, while Pierce O’Leary and Jono Carroll also win titles on the undercard.
Anthony Cacace has been crowned a two-time world champion in Dublin after defeating James “Jazza” Dickens for the WBA super featherweight world title.
Cacace (25-1, 9 knockouts) took the WBA title from Dickens (36-6, 15 knockouts) by a narrow unanimous points decision. The judges scored the fight 112-116, 113-115 and 113-115 in favor of Cacace, who was declared the winner in front of a home crowd at the 3Arena in Dublin – hosted by Queensberry Promotions and managed by Frank Warren.
It was a close exchange over the distance, but Cacace found additional reserves in the middle rounds. Nevertheless, the fight could have gone either way. Both boxers looked convinced that they had won before the judges’ scorecards were read out.
In the main undercard, Pierce O’Leary (19-0, 11 knockouts) was in impressive form, forcing Maxi Hughes (29-9-2, 6 knockouts) to retire at the start of the fifth round to secure the IBO super-lightweight title.
There were also other notable fights on the undercard:
Jono Carroll (26-3-1, 7 knockouts) showed great fighting spirit and secured the vacant IBO super featherweight title with a split decision against the previously unbeaten Colm Murphy (16-1, 6 knockouts).
Lightweight talent Steven Cairns (14-0, 9 knockouts) scored a technical knockout in the ninth round against Arnie Dawson (8-2, 4 knockouts), while English super featherweight Ryan Garner (19-0, 10 knockouts) spectacularly knocked out Christian Bielma (19-12-2, 7 knockouts) in the third round.