Pierce O\u2019Leary<\/a> earned a career-best stoppage victory over South Yorkshireman Maxi Hughes to improve to 19-0 (11KOs) and pick up a secondary world title.<\/p>\nO\u2019Leary, who sold the bulk of the 8,500 tickets for what is effectively his local hall, rocked Hughes en route to fifth-round retirement and shook the venue with a near-perfect performance. The 26-year-old announced himself as a potential world-level talent and will almost certainly headline at The Point in the near future.<\/p>\n
The energy generated by O\u2019Leary\u2019s TKO6 victory continued into the main event ring-walks, with challenger Cacace walking first to Zombie by The Cranberries and Dickens \u2014 who has many friends and boxing contacts in Dublin \u2014 emerging on stage to a hearty mix of boos and cheers.<\/p>\n
But in truth, the headline fight sapped much of the atmosphere from the arena as Cacace and Dickens played out something resembling a stalemate.<\/p>\n
In the end, however, the Belfast and rest-of-Irish massive were on their feet celebrating wildly, mirroring their boxer and his team, as the words \u2018and new\u2019 reverberated around the amphitheatre. <\/p>\n
Round one was a range-finder, with Cacace stabbing Dickens to the body with his straight right hand and controlling the tempo behind his jab. Dickens landed a couple of probing right hands of his own to Cacace\u2019s body early in the round, but it was a clear opening 10-9 for the home fighter. <\/p>\n
Dickens became more assertive in a closer but still-tentative second. Each boxer found moderate success upstairs, but this was coin-flip round in which neither man truly made inroads.<\/p>\n
The cagey start continued into the third, with Cacace briefly switching to southpaw in an effort to unlock Dickens\u2019 defence. He was disabused of that notion by a tidy Dickens flurry to either side of his jaw, but continued to pivot between stances as the round progressed. Dickens had almost nicked it when he planted a straight left on Cacace\u2019s chin with 20 seconds remaining in the round, but Cacace responded with the most stinging shot of the round \u2014 and, indeed, the fight to that point \u2014 as he zipped Dickens in the mouth with an overhand right. Dickens may still have been within his rights to lay claim to the round, but it was another squeaker. <\/p>\n
The previously effervescent crowd had long since quietened by the fourth, another three minutes of chess, with Dickens landing the volume \u2014 if one could describe it as such \u2014 and Cacace again touching him to the head with a couple of moments of quality. A tough night for the judges through four.<\/p>\n
Cacace, however, brought the crowd to its feet a minute later, exploding into action to start the fifth. A beautiful barrage put Dickens under pressure, with the Belfast man smiling and snarling as he began to unload on his briefly stationary opponent. Dickens weathered the storm without taking massive damage, even flicking out a couple of right hands in response, but Cacace breezed the round. His tail was up as he strutted back to the corner, while Dickens prepared for an earful on the opposite side of the ring.<\/p>\n
Cacace continued to lead the dance in a more tepid sixth, albeit he swallowed a couple of neatly delivered left hands from Dickens as the Liverpudlian successfully slowed the home fighter\u2019s advances.<\/p>\n
The bout felt close at the turn, perhaps with only a round in it either way.<\/p>\n
The seventh was a tight affair again, with champion and challenger picking their moments to raid with only singular shots, few of which landed cleanly. Cacace may have nicked it with some astute pressure in the final minute, but Dickens also found the mark with a tidy one-two upstairs seconds before the bell.<\/p>\n
Dickens\u2019 left hand was becoming a menace for Cacace, albeit the Englishman was still using it sparingly. It was likely enough to edge the eighth, with Cacace attempting to box off the front foot but walking into a couple of Dickens left hooks while landing little of note himself. <\/p>\n
There was a swagger to Dickens\u2019 movement heading into Round 9, the visitor visibly growing in confidence. He unbalanced Cacace with a couple of combinations, the Belfast man unhurt but smiling back at him to acknowledge his period of success. Dickens upped the ante, landing some of the best shots of the fight as Cacace appeared troubled, and perhaps borderline hurt, for the first time in his career. The away support was on its feet. Dickens had seized control heading into the 10th.<\/p>\n
Cacace needed a response \u2014 and he conjured some swagger of his own in the following round. Using his head movement to take Dickens\u2019 left hand out of the equation, the Andersonstown native landed the better, more consistent work. <\/p>\n
Into the championship rounds, then, and it was all to play for. <\/p>\n
But again, there was little to split them in a tense 11th, and there was little else to say about it. <\/p>\n
The home crowd roared back to life to start the final round, which appeared to stir both boxers: first Dickens, who found the mark with a combination upstairs, and then Cacace who returned serve. It was a case of pick your poison once more, with Dickens arguably landing the more consistently effective work.<\/p>\n
It was Cacace, however, who earned the nod from all three judges, sending Dickens home heartbroken and taking the WBA title up the M1 to Andersonstown. <\/p>\n
![\"pierce-oleary-celebrates-with-brian-peters-and-katie-taylor\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773556451_660_.jpeg\")
\n Brian Peters, Katie Taylor and Pierce O’Leary celebrate post-fight. Gary Carr \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
Gary Carr \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
A fight earlier, local hero Pierce O\u2019Leary, who is believed to have sold over 5,000 tickets for tonight\u2019s event, passed every test, dominating from start to finish before Maxi Hughes\u2019 corner retired him on his stool before the start of the sixth round.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Leary twice rocked the usually tricky Hughes with thudding left hooks upstairs in the fourth. He picked up where he left off in the fifth, leaving Hughes\u2019 eyes swollen and the Englishman spiritually beaten. <\/p>\n
Hughes\u2019 corner made the wise decision not to send him out for more punishment in the sixth, with a raucous 3Arena erupting as O\u2019Leary was hoisted on trainer Joe McNally\u2019s shoulders and saluted his home support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gavan Casey Reports from the 3Arena IRELAND\u2019S ANTHONY CACACE is a two-time super-featherweight champion of the world after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[158236,158237,1812,61,60,158238,112],"class_list":["post-347108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-and-new","tag-anthony-cacace","tag-boxing","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gavan-C-133x133.png\")
<\/p>\n