Dickens' two-day ordeal from Dubai to Dublin for world title bout
On Saturday, the 34-year-old from Liverpool puts his WBA super-featherweight world title on the line against Belfast's Anthony Cacace at Dublin's 3 Arena, but much like his career, arriving in the Irish capital was not without its twists and turns. Dickens, now based in Dubai where he trains under head coach Albert Aryrapetyan, was in the final throes of training camp when Israeli-US strikes began in Iran, with attacks spreading across the Middle East including the United Arab Emirates. Geopolitics is a little beyond Dickens' pay grade, but while he was keeping his mind on the job, the logistics of flying to Dublin soon became a problem with flight disruption from the UAE.
Dickens embarked upon a two-day journey that saw him travel to Oman where he caught a flight to Istanbul and from there, it was off to Dublin. Such a curve ball in the build-up to a career-defining night could throw a fighter off course, but Dickens brushed it off, reasoning: "I wasn't training anyway, so it killed a bit of time. " "It was very safe," he told BBC Sport NI of his situation in Dubai.
"You didn't feel uneasy, but there were air-raid sirens on the phone. I suppose that was a bit unsettling when it was happening, but you get used to that. "They are doing a great job out there, intercepting everything that's coming their way so they've kept the place quite safe.
"Getting on a plane out of Dubai was my only concern and it turned out we couldn't, but got out of Oman instead. " Dickens and Cacace focus on title rather than talk Dickens' victory over Zelfa Barrett in February 2025 proved he belonged in the super-featherweight division With that significant road block now cleared, there is an 'Andytown Apache' in his sights as he puts the world title on the line for the first time. "I'm not giving ground and he isn't giving ground" is how Dickens views Saturday night and considering how the pair have arrived at this juncture, it is difficult to argue with that pre-fight synopsis.
The Merseyside southpaw began as a super-bantamweight and racked up 16 wins before tasting defeat for the first time, and not the last, to Kid Galahad. That was for a British title in 2013 and although he would win the same belt three fights later against Josh Wale, his first foray into world title level in 2016 proved a painful one, retiring with a broken jaw in the second round against Guillermo Rigondeaux. A step up to featherweight brought a second world title opportunity in 2021 when Galahad again proved his undoing and, while he did claim an IBO title, he would lose it first time out against Hector Andres Sosa.