IBF & IBO World Super-featherweight titles: Anthony Cacace (21-1) v Joe Cordina (17-0) (Saturday, live on DAZN, TNT Box Office, Sky Sports Box Office from 5pm)
THROWING leather like it was a world title fight. The lads were in South Link in West Belfast but they fought like it was Madison Square Garden, or the MGM, or the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Childhood friends who grew up on the same street in Andersonstown, Anthony Cacace and his neighbour Tyrone McKenna boxed countless rounds in the front garden of Cacace’s family home.
McKenna only got involved in boxing because Cacace, a year older and his sporting idol, took up the sport at the local Oliver Plunkett ABC, which would also be home to Tommy McCarthy.
When they weren’t in the club with renowned coach Patsy McAllister, they pulled on Cacace’s Cleto Reyes eight-ounce gloves and went to war.
“He started going to boxing when he was about eight and I just followed him,” says McKenna.
“Every day after school we went into his front garden and we sparred for hours-upon-hours, non-stop beating the heads off each other. I think that’s why I’ve got such a good chin because Cacace is a heavy-handed man! I know his record (21-7 with seven knockouts) doesn’t suggest so, but he hits very hard. I took some beatings in that garden.
“I think that’s what made us so good – we were so dedicated to it and all our spare time was took up with boxing. Sometimes other people would join in and in the summer it would be round in the (Falls) Park and loads of kids would join in and fight each other.
“Going from his garden to Saudi Arabia… It’s some journey.”
McKenna used the word ‘dedicated’ to describe his lifelong friend and that isn’t a description always associated with Cacace. It has been well documented that – until recent years – he loved to fight, but he didn’t like to train.
“He loves sparring and fights but when it got to the training part it wasn’t his thing,” said McKenna.
“Sometimes we had to go on runs and he would stop in McDonalds and get a milkshake and walk back. Patsy (McAlister, coach at Oliver Plunkett) had to go to his house a lot of the time because Cacace was so talented, but so lazy.
“Patsy knew how talented he was so he made sure he got to training. It was the same with every sport – Anto’s unbelievable at all sports and every single coach would have been at his door because he would never go to training.
“Whether it was hurling, football, Gaelic.. They were all at his door. He’s one of those guys who’s brilliant at everything, he’s a year older than me and I always looked up to him, I wanted to be as good as him so I would train harder. When he won something that always gave me confidence that I could do it too and that brought me on.
“Our friendship brought us to the level we are because we were always competing with each other.
“He’s the most naturally-talented boxer I’ve seen. He hits hard and he has everything. His boxing IQ is phenomenal and I’ve always said to him that he will get the breaks and finally, after years of disappointment, he’s finally got the break that he deserves. It’s a massive show, even seeing him this week in Saudi… He’s just living it up.”
Over a dozen years of throwing his hands for a living, McKenna has been to the very top of the sport. A couple of years ago he fought in the Middle East himself and he says the Cordina camp will write off his friend at their peril.
“Cordina is one of my favourite fighters in the UK to watch and people are saying he’s going to be too good for Anto but they don’t realise how good Cacace is,” he says.
“They don’t realise how hard he is to hit – if Cacace doesn’t want to get hit, he doesn’t get hit. He is so crafty in the ring and his distance-control and everything about him is very underrated. And there’s his power… Anyone who has sparred him well tell you how hard he hits.
“People will look at his record and think Cordina will go out and drop him but they don’t realise how hard Cacace will make it for him – if he touches Joe I can see him knocking him out.
“At that level things have to go right. It’s not about luck but things have to go right on the night. He’s under no illusions, he knows Joe is world class and he’s a very tough opponent but Cacace is up there with him, he’s just as good.
“I’m buzzing for him, it’s be unbelievable if he wins and that’s his life made if he does.”
Just like the battles in South Link all those years ago, Cacace will be throwing leather like he’s fighting for a world title. This time he is…
