Dickens and Cacace world title fight finely poised
Rewind just a few years and the prospect of James 'Jazza' Dickens defending a world title against two-time chasing Anthony Cacace may have seemed fanciful. In some quarters, they were viewed as talented but just below the top bracket, yet their stories almost mirror the other, providing a lesson in perseverance and single-minded belief. On Saturday, 34-year-old Dickens puts his WBA super-featherweight crown on the line at Dublin's 3Arena against 37-year-old Cacace whose career has aged like a fine wine - proving that if you're good enough, you're young enough.
At Friday's weigh-in, the champion scaled 9st 3. 14lb (58. 57kg) to the challenger's 9st 3.
5lb (58. 74kg), meaning all boxes are ticked and this most intriguing of battles is set. Dickens will make the walk to the ring with a spring in his step following a four-fight winning run since moving to the super-featherweight division to face Cacace, who exploded from the shadows when taking the IBF title from Joe Cordina in 2024.
Dickens' two-day ordeal from Dubai to Dublin for world title bout For the champion, it was a case of third time being a charm as previous title shots at super-bantamweight in 2016 against Guillermo Rigondeaux and featherweight in 2021 against Kid Galahad came up short. However, the move up in weight and switch to Dubai-based coach Albert Aryrapetyan has resulted in a remarkable upturn in fortunes. After boxing his way to an eye-catching 10-round decision over Zelfa Barrett in February 2025, he showed a spiteful side when stopping 2020 Olympics gold medallist Albert Batyrgaziev to take the 'interim' WBA title five months later, improving to 36 wins with five defeats.
The Merseysider boxed superbly in a battle of southpaws, crouching and thudding home the right jab despite conceding the reach advantage with the Russian's looping overhand shots whistling off target. It's somewhat similar on Saturday with Cacace holding the physical advantages, so perhaps forcing a high-pace battle on the inside will be his plan, posing a different challenge as the first southpaw Cacace has faced since a Celtic title win over Ronnie Clark in 2015. "Yeah, he's a southpaw and it's been over 10 years since I've fought a southpaw but I'm not really thinking like that.