Top 10 hit Cacace eyes Santa Cruz
NEWLY-CROWNED British title holder Anthony Cacace is now hot on the trail of a showdown with world champion Leo Santa Cruz having entered the WBA super-featherweight ratings at No.9.
With Carl Frampton shooting for the WBO title when he tangles with champion Jamel Herring, Cacace’s manager Pat Magee says he is confident that the fellow Belfast man will have his chance at the WBA version in 2020.
“This is great news for Anthony. Ranked at nine, he could be given a shot at Santa Cruz right away or hopefully he is just one more win away from facing the champion,” said Magee.
Cacace’s stunning British title victory over Sam Bowen at the weekend clearly caught the eye of the WBA and now manager Magee is plotting a path to Frampton rival Santa Cruz.
IT was just as well that Carl Frampton didn’t take too many punches on Saturday evening as he had a wedding to attend the next morning. The former world champion had delivered in the ring again and then carried out his duties to a Northern Ireland couple who had asked if he would be their witness in one of the Vegas wedding chapels.
One of the country’s all-time favourite sports stars, Frampton has now set up the opportunity of becoming a three-weight world champion in 2020.
Having won world titles at super-bantam and featherweight, he is close to sealing a deal to face WBO super-featherweight champion Jamel Herring — a bout expected to take place in Belfast in April or May.
American Tyler McCreary was given a boxing lesson by the Jackal in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, paving the way for Frampton to meet Herring as well as the possibility of return bouts with the two men who have inflicted defeats on him during a professional career which started in 2009 — Josh Warrington and Leo Santa Cruz.
Realistically, Frampton will have two bouts at most over the next 12 months at the end of which he can ride into the sunset on the back of an unforgettable career.
Victory over Herring would be a special moment, a night of history and glory to arguably match any he has enjoyed and that taste of success will no doubt leave him wanting more. Every fighter has had to battle with the drug-like addiction of the ring when they know it would be better to walk away.
If Frampton does have one of the finest years of his career in 2020, the offers will only improve for more money-spinning encounters, such is his box office appeal on both sides of the Atlantic. He may well have plenty more in the tank for further glory but that is just the right time to leave — looking down from the summit with satisfaction rather than the burning frustration of one more shot at the big time.
Frankly, the 32-year-old could have made his exit last year after that painful loss to Warrington and still walked straight into boxing’s Hall of Fame as a two-weight world champion who became Northern Ireland’s first boxer to unify titles when defeating Scott Quigg in their IBF/WBA super-bantamweight clash in 2016.
But, legendary American promoter Bob Arum has signed him up and opened the door to an opportunity he would not have even dreamed of as a young boxer in the Midland.
It will be far from easy against a man five inches taller and a natural super-featherweight but as Frampton says, he is “daring for greatness”.
In the hearts and minds of the Northern Ireland public, that accolade has already been signed and sealed.
Throughout his rise to stardom, Frampton has remained grounded. Whether in victory or defeat, in New York 2016 and Las Vegas 2017, the drinks were on the Jackal for the thousands who travelled to roar him on.
Now, those loyal supporters will have at least one more chance to drive him on to a wonderful 2020 — and the perfect farewell.
On rise: Anthony Cacace lands on Sam Bowen
A fortnight ago, Santa Cruz landed the WBA super-featherweight title, having previously held belts at bantam, super-bantam and featherweight.
With Frampton expected to face Herring and Oscar Valdez lined up to meet WBC champion Miguel Berchelt, that leaves Santa Cruz and IBF king Tevin Farmer seeking opponents for early next year.
Significantly, Cacace’s manager Magee has a good working relationship with Richard Poxon, who is an associate of American powerbroker Al Haymon — the man who guides the career of Santa Cruz.
Magee added: “Santa Cruz will be looking to make a voluntary defence and if it is possible to do a deal for Anthony to take him on right away we would be up for that.
“But if Anthony has to have an eliminator before facing Santa Cruz, that’s not a problem. Anthony has turned his career around with this win over Bowen and he will have gained so much confidence from the win that I believe he’ll be 25 per cent better next time.
“So it’s just a case now of weighing up the options and seeing what we do next but it is certainly possible that 2020 could be Anthony’s year.”