JAZZA DICKENS VS ANTO CACACE - FULL FIGHT AND UNDERCARD PREVIEW

Big-time boxing returns to Dublin this weekend as the loveable Jazza Dickens makes the first defence of his WBA World Super-Featherweight Title against the always game Anto Cacace.

Before the main event, there are a couple of cracking chief support fights and some stars of the future lacing up the gloves once again, but first we’ll take a look at the main event.

After producing one of the upsets of the year to dethrone Olympic gold medallist Albert Batyrgaziev back in July, Dickens was upgraded to full champion and was originally set to make the first defence of his world title against the undefeated Hayato Tsutsumi before the Japanese star was forced to withdraw due to injury.

As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining and in this case for Jazza, it proved to be true.

Just weeks after that fight fell through, an even better fight with Cacace in Dickens’s second home of Dublin was confirmed.

In the battle of two game, tough, durable and hungry southpaws, this is a fight that has fight of the year written all over it.

Unbeaten in his last nine fights, Belfast’s Cacace is arguably in the form of his career. Victories over Joe Cordina, Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington in his last three fights have solidified his claims as being one of the best 130lbs fighters on the planet right now.

The experience in this fight lies with Dickens, but the 12-round experience advantage very much plays in Cacace’s favour.

Dickens has fought nearly 100 more rounds than Cacace. However, he’s only gone the 12-round distance on three occasions compared to Cacace’s six.

In terms of power, again, it’s very evenly matched. Dickens has more knockouts and a better KO ratio but, as we have seen against Leigh Wood and Joe Cordina, Cacace is probably the man out of the two who has used his power best at the highest level.

So, where will this fight be won and lost?

It really is a tough one to call. Arguably the most 50/50 world title fight of 2026 so far.

Both southpaws, both durable, both have shown they can whack when they sit down on their shots and both are arguably hungrier than they have ever been.

Dickens has looked like a completely different fighter since stepping up to super-featherweight and teaming up with trainer Albert Ayrapetyan.

He outboxed Zelfa Barrett over 10 rounds and then powered through Olympic gold medallist Albert Batyrgaziev — two massive wins in two completely different styles.

If Jazza is going to make a successful first defence of his world title, he’s going to need to mix it up. Out of the two, he’s probably the better, more elusive boxer but he can’t just rely on that. Cacace will bring the heat and if he chooses to meet him in the middle and have a dogfight, it may not work in his favour.

He needs to pick his moments, be patient like he did against Batyrgaziev and slowly break down the Northern Irishman.

For Cacace, it is simple: make this fight as dirty and as rough as possible, similar to what he did against Cordina, and hope the referee steps in to wave it off.

Neither of these two will quit — they’re not built like that. You’d need to nail them to the floor to stop them from getting up.

The outcome of the fight will undoubtedly come down to the officials; it just depends on who will have enough will and experience to get them through what we expect will be an all-action 12 rounds of world championship boxing.

To the undercard now and the fights you should be keeping an eye out for.

In the chief support, the undefeated Pierce O’Leary will look to move to 19-0 when he takes on the experienced Maxi Hughes.

O’Leary was originally scheduled to face Mark Chamberlain. However, the Englishman was forced to withdraw due to injury, so in stepped Hughes on relatively late notice.

It will be a solid test for O’Leary and if he can manage to get the stoppage victory, it will be a huge statement in the 130lbs division.

Before that fight, the exciting Jono Carroll will be looking to get himself back into world title contention when he takes on the undefeated Colm Murphy, whilst the likes of Steven Cairns, Ryan Garner and Eoghan Lavin will all be hoping to add to their unbeaten records.