Anthony Cacace pulls off shock TKO over Joe Cordina for first world title

Anthony Cacace pulled off a shock, eighth-round TKO win when he overwhelmed Joe Cordina for the IBF world junior light-weight title on Saturday.

Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs), 35, from Belfast in Northern Eire, gained his first main world title and ended Cordina’s second reign as champion in a second protection on the undercard of the undisputed world heavyweight title struggle between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A pivotal second within the struggle got here within the third spherical, when Cacace caught Cordina with a left hand after referee Bob Williams referred to as for the fighters to interrupt and cease preventing. Cacace then went on the assault and landed an ideal proper uppercut and Cordina crashed face first on to the canvas for a rely.

Cacace produced the struggle of his life and dominated Cordina after flooring the champion within the third spherical.

Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), 32, from Cardiff in Wales, acquired up and his head cleared as he recovered by the fourth spherical, however Cacace repeatedly nailed the Welshman with proper uppercuts.

From then, Cacace went on to land 116 energy punches to Cordina’s 41 in accordance with CompuBox statistics.

Simply 39 seconds into the eighth spherical, a dominant Cacace overwhelmed Cordina, who was bullied for giant durations of the struggle from the third spherical onward.

“I am in shock,” Cacace mentioned. “Joe is a hell of a competitor however I used to be hurting him with each single shot. The referee mentioned break as I threw a punch, there was nothing soiled about it.”

Cordina could now decide to step as much as light-weight after some shut fights not too long ago. Cordina gained a disputed, majority factors determination over Edward Vazquez in November after prevailing by a cut up factors verdict towards Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov earlier final yr.

The Welshman made an excellent begin however within the third he appeared shocked by the blow that landed after Williams referred to as the fighters to interrupt. Cacace piled on the stress and snapped again Cordina’s head with a proper uppercut that despatched the champion down for a rely.

Cordina seemed in bother however he recovered by the fourth spherical. Nonetheless, Cacace remained on high and he repeatedly landed heavy hooks. Cacace completed the sixth spherical by touchdown three successive proper uppercuts and within the seventh Cordina took some punishment camped on the ropes.

Cacace landed some large hooks amid a barrage of punches that led to the smart stoppage and Cordina will now take into account stepping up a division to restore the harm of his first skilled defeat.