Josh Warrington will get the chance to dethrone a reigning titleholder.
He just won’t have the chance to leave the ring with the belt.
The Ring has confirmed that Anthony Cacace’s IBF 130-pound title will not be on the line in his fight against Warrington this weekend. Their fight will move forward, but as a non-title fight, according to a ruling by the sanctioning body. Cacace-Warrington is part of Saturday’s Riyadh Season: Wembley Edition show at London’s Wembley Stadium.
As previously reported by The Ring on June 26, sanctions were never secured when the fight was announced. Cacace (22-1, 8 knockouts) already had to face mandatory challenger Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez (28-1, 278 KOs). However, the show’s plans called for all UK matches.
Leeds’ Warrington (31-3-1, 8 KOs) has not won a fight since March 2022, nor has he campaigned at junior lightweight. As only boxing can, he was considered the perfect candidate to face Cacace simply because he speaks The King’s English.
The fight was never blessed by the IBF. Cacace was only approved to participate in an optional fight after Nunez’s team agreed to the scenario.
However, this concession is conditional.
“The IBF, with the consent of Eduardo Nunez, has agreed to take part in an optional fight against Josh Warrington,” an IBF spokesperson confirmed to The Ring. “Not a defense of the IBF Jr. Lightweight title.”
Cacace will be stripped of the title should he lose to Warrington at the weekend. If the Belfast native wins, he will have to honor his previously ordered fight against Nunez no later than next March 20.
Furthermore, Cacace cannot ask for an exception. This means his team cannot entertain the idea of a title unification match, although no such bouts have come up.
Both fighters must agree to the IBF’s terms in writing or Cacace’s reign will end once the opening bell rings this weekend.
A similar status was given to RING cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who had to vacate his IBF title last December. The undefeated 200-pound king ignored an arranged rematch with Mairis Briedis and instead faced Ellis Zorro. The IBF refused to sanction the fight, resulting in Opetaia relinquishing the title.
Opetaia stopped Zorro in the first round of a December 23 fight in Riyadh. He returned to the city to regain his title in a May 18 victory over Briedis.
In the same show, Cacace won the IBF 130-pound title in an upset eighth-round knockout of undefeated Joe Cordina (15-1, 9 KOs). A negotiating period was ordered soon after to face Nunez, who knocked out former titleholder Shavkat Rakhimov in a Feb. 16 title eliminator in Tajikistan.
Cacace and Nunez could not come to terms, although three separate scholarship hearings were canceled. The June 26 announcement was followed by confirmation that Nunez would be fighting a busy fight. He knocked out Miguel Marriaga on August 31st in Carson, California to retain his spot in the lineup.
Warrington’s last win came in a seventh-round stoppage of Kiko Martinez to reclaim the IBF featherweight title. He lost the belt in a twelve-round decision in December 2022 to Luis Alberto Lopez (30-3. 17 KOs). Ten months later, Warrington was coming off his seventh round knockout loss to WBA featherweight titleholder Leigh Wood last October 7 in his most recent fight.
Cacace-Warrington is one of six fights on the British debut of Riyadh season. The show will be broadcast live on DAZN Pay-Per-View. IBF heavyweight titleholder Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) attempts his first defense against former two-time unified titleholder Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) in the main event. A record crowd of over 96,000 is expected.
