Joe Cordina faced veteran Anthony Cacace with Cordina’s IBF super featherweight championship on the line in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Northern Ireland’s Cacace added to his IBO belt on Saturday night when he outworked his Welsh opponent to claim a surprise but deserved win on the Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk undercard. Later, Jai Opetaia became IBF cruiserweight champion against Mairis Briedis.
Anthony Cacace pulled off a shock victory as he claimed Joe Cordina’s IBF super featherweight belt on Saturday night, live on TNT Sports Box Office.
Cordina, from Wales, had been discussing a potential move up to lightweight but the chance to unify kept him in the division where he made his name.
Cacace brought the IBO belt to the table, with Cordina already the IBF champion. A win would put him in contention to hunt down the remaining three major governing-body belts.
At 35, Cacace was likely in his final fight to secure a world title and he had raised the question as to whether Cordina was struggling to make the weight.
Cacace started well and connected with some decent shots in the first few rounds and the Northern Ireland fighter caught Cordina after a break which led to a stern talking to. Despite the illicit nature of the blow, Cacace would not let the opportunity go and had Cordina struggling.
Cacace then had his opponent down in the corner. After recovering, Cordina slipped and needed to hold on for the bell with around 20 seconds to go as he offered little defence to keep the referee at bay.
While Cordina was under the count, Cacace slyly closed in again, instead of waiting in the corner, to get back on the attack swiftly as he continued the gamesmanship.
In the fourth, Cordina rattled his rival and Cacace slowed down a little but then the pair continued to let their hands go when the chance presented itself.
The fifth ended well for Cacace as he stiffened Cordina’s legs and he appeared to be goading his opponent with a wide smile as the bell rang out, and at the denouement of the sixth the IBF champion was again soaking up punishment with the championship rounds still to come.
Those rounds were far from guaranteed as Cacace continued his bombardment with a relentless pace and Cordina was struggling to find reserves of energy.
A long right from Cordina brought cheers from the crowd, perhaps more in hope than expectation that it would herald a comeback, and the pair exchanged taps of respect at the end of the seventh with the underdog outpunching the pre-fight favourite by a ratio of around 3:1.
The eighth saw Cacace back and still invigorated and that appeared to be Cordina’s limit as he was no longer able to offer up any serious defence, prompting the ref to wave the fight away.
For Cacace he will now look to land a high-profile fight to make the most of a late flourish to his career, while Cordina may now be tempted to step up to lightweight and hope increased weight improves his form.
In the final fight before the main event, Jai Opetaia became IBF cruiserweight champion for the second time as he won his rematch with Mairis Briedis.
Both fighters have been IBF cruiserweight champions in the past, and they fought in 2022 when the Australian claimed Briedis’ belt when he was defending champion.
The 39-year-old was getting a second chance against Opetaia after the latter vacated the belt last year.
Opetaia came in with an undefeated record and as the favourite in ahead of the clash.
After a meandering start, Briedis ate a heavy punch in the second and occasionally Opetaia found his way through in the first four rounds.
In the sixth round there were signs that Opetaia had caused some damage as the Latvian sported a bloodied face, and he fizzed in another heavy effort in the eighth only for Briedis to recover and leave the younger man struggling for stability after some clinching.
With the final round approaching, Opetaia looked like he was told to keep his cool, with Briedis’ corner seemingly more urgent in its encouragement as their man aimed for a fourth cruiserweight title win
The veteran rallied hard as he looked to stop the fight to grab victory, and the two embraced before they waited for the judges’ decision.
The three went 117-111, 116-112, 116-112 in favour of Opetaia as he reclaimed his belt.
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Fury and Usyk will meet in Riyadh on Saturday, May 18.
The ring walk for Fury v Usyk is expected to be around 23:00 UK time.
TNT Sports Box Office coverage will be presented by Becky Ives alongside Carl Frampton, David Haye and Steve Bunce with commentary from Darren Fletcher and Richie Woodall.
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