Anthony Cacace will make the first defence of his WBA super-featherweight world title against Nick Ball at The 02 in Belfast on 19 December.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old from Belfast won the title in March with a points victory of James ‘Jazza’ Dickens in Dublin and will face another Liverpool native in former featherweight champion Ball.<\/p>\n
Cacace’s last fight in his home city occurred in May 2023 with a defence of the IBO belt against Damian Wrzesinski on the undercard of Luis Alberto Lopez’s featherweight title victory over Michael Conlan.<\/p>\n
Since then, he has won and then relinquished the IBF title before becoming a two-time champion at the weight with victory over Dickens which saw his record improve to 25 wins with one loss.<\/p>\n
“Nick’s a great fighter, ex-world champion, so I expect a good scrap. He’s a hard man, so let’s do it,” Cacace told DAZN.<\/p>\n
“I’ll fight with him, I’ll box him – whatever way he wants, so we’ll see what happens on the night. I’m really looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
“Belfast around Christmas time is going to be jumping, so I’m looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n
Ball is coming off his first career defeat when stopped in the final round by Brandon Figueroa in a defence of the WBA featherweight title in February.<\/p>\n
The Liverpudlian won the title in 2024 with a points verdict over Raymond Ford, three months after his first bid for world honours ended in a draw against then-WBC champion Rey Vargas.<\/p>\n