IBO featherweight champion Anthony Cacace makes his first title defense in his Northern Ireland hometown of Belfast on Saturday May 27th at the SSE Arena, live on BT Sport. Cacace (20-1 with 7 KOs) takes on Poland's Damian Wrzesinski 26-2-2 with 7 KOs). Promoted by Conlan Boxing, in association with Top Rank and Queensberry Promotions, the event will see another Belfast boy, Michael Conlan, challenge for the IBF featherweight championship against champion Luis Alberto Lopez, who last fought on British soil when he defeated former champion Josh Warrington in Leeds last year.
Cacace won the IBO version of the 126-pound title by overcoming Michael Magnesi at the Manchester Arena last September. Wrzesinski, 35, a multi-time national title holder is coming off a win over Artjoms Ramlavs in October 2022.
Alos on the show, Liverpool favorite Nick Ball (17-0) takes on unbeaten South African Ludumo Lamati, 21-0-1. Ball, 26, enjoyed a productive 2022 that encompassed a trio of victories over Isaac Lowe, Nathanael Kakololo and Jesus Ramirez Rubio. All three were stopped by the ‘Wrecking’ Ball, who is increasingly becoming a must-see attraction on Queensberry shows.
Pierce Lamati, 30, became IBO world super bantamweight champion in June 2021 with victory over Jose Martin Estrada Garcia. Now campaigning at 130 pounds, O’Leary (11-0) faces Romania's Alin Florin Ciorceri (17-3). a Dubliner, the 23 year-old Lamati holds a convincing points win over Emmanuel Mungandjela at The O2 in November of last year.
Also featuring on the card are Willo Hayden (5-0, 1 KO), the Dublin lightweight, along with Liverpool junior welterweight Callum Thompson (6-0, 1 KO). Hayden will fight over six rounds and Thompson over four.
“We took this opportunity through our friends and colleagues at Top Rank to secure a top quality world title fight for BT Sport viewers involving local hero Michael Conlan,” said Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren.
“The added incentive was getting five BT Sport favorites from the Queensberry ranks onto the card and three of them being Irish fighters in Anto Cacace, Pierce O’Leary and Willo Hayden, who will all relish the occasion of performing in front of a packed house in Belfast. Then there is our demolition man, Nick Ball, who wants to impress and throw down the gauntlet to the winner out of Conlan and Lopez. The Liverpool contingent is doubled by our hugely promising super lightweight Callum Thompson, who I am also looking forward to seeing back in action.”
Belfast’s unbeaten super middleweight Pody McCrory (16-0, 9 KOs) features in ten-round action, alongside super flyweight Conor Quinn (5-0-1, 4 KOs) and featherweight Kurt Walker (5-0, 1 KO), both fighting over eight rounds.
Lightweight Feargus Quinn (5-0, 2 KOs) from Belleek and welterweight Kieran Molloy (5-0, 1 KO) from Galway will fight over six rounds, with welterweight James Freeman from Armagh making his professional debut over four rounds.
