Cacace vs Ball: Belfast World Title Defence Set for December
Anthony Cacace will make the first defence of his WBA super-featherweight world title against Nick Ball at The O2 in Belfast on 19 December (BBC Sport).
For Cacace, it is a homecoming that has been a long time coming. The 37-year-old from Belfast last fought in his home city in May 2023, when he defended the IBO belt — a lesser-recognised world title — against Damian Wrzesinski on the undercard of Luis Alberto Lopez's featherweight title win over Michael Conlan. He has not boxed in Belfast since.
Cacace's road to this point has been anything but smooth. His promoters, Queensberry, have described his career as "stop-start," and the record bears that out. He won the IBF super-featherweight title (one of boxing's four major belts), then relinquished it before becoming a two-time champion at the weight with a unanimous decision over James 'Jazza' Dickens in Dublin this March. That victory brought the WBA strap — another of the four major titles — into his possession and improved his record to 25 wins and one loss (BBC Sport).
Standing across from him on 19 December will be Nick Ball, a fighter moving up in weight and looking to bounce back from the first defeat of his professional career. Ball was stopped in the final round by Brandon Figueroa in February, losing his WBA featherweight title in the process (BBC Sport).
That loss ended a strong run for the Liverpudlian. Ball won the WBA featherweight title in 2024 with a points victory over Raymond Ford, three months after drawing with then-WBC champion Rey Vargas in his first world-title bid. His record now reads 23 wins, one loss and one draw.
The fight pitches a champion defending on home soil against a challenger stepping up four pounds in weight, from featherweight (126 lbs) to super-featherweight (130 lbs). For Ball, the move up comes after a punishing defeat — Figueroa stopped him in the 12th and final round — and the question of how he carries his power at the higher weight will be central to the contest.
For Cacace, the stakes are straightforward but significant. A second world title reign, secured late in his career, gets its first test in front of a Belfast crowd that has not seen him fight in over three years. A win cements his position at the top of the division. A loss, at 37, would be far harder to come back from.
What makes this matchup intriguing is the contrast in momentum. Cacace arrives on the high of a career-defining win in Dublin. Ball arrives off a knockout defeat and a move up in weight. Both men have held major world titles. Both have something to prove on 19 December.
