Jazza Dickens Says Anthony Cacace Can’t Take His Belt

Dickens defends WBA super featherweight title Saturday in Dublin

Jazza Dickens says he will not give up his WBA super featherweight title to Anthony Cacace. The champion framed Saturday’s fight in Dublin as protecting his livelihood.

Dickens, 34, who defends his WBA super featherweight title against former IBF champion Cacace at the 3Arena, made that clear when he was asked about the intensity of the face-off. He did not go down the usual road of promising a great performance or talking about what a win would do for his career. He reduced it to something much simpler and more believable.

“It’s mine,” Dickens said. “You wouldn’t give your livelihood away to anyone, would you? I’m not giving mine away.”

That was the most revealing line from either fighter at the weigh-in because it cut through all the polite talk that had followed them through fight week. Dickens and Cacace have spoken respectfully about one another, and both know the other has had to work hard to get here. Once the belt was sitting between them on Friday, though, Dickens no longer sounded like a man discussing a professional challenge. He sounded like someone protecting his own ground.

He doubled down on that mood when asked about Cacace.

“He’s a great champion, but I’m not letting no one take my belt,” Dickens said.

Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) has his own belief and said Dickens (36-5, 15 KOs) made “the wrong move” by taking the fight. Dickens, though, looks at it from a simpler place. This is his first defence, his belt, and his means of keeping hold of what he has earned the hard way. That usually produces a better version of a fighter than any press conference line ever will.

Dickens will defend his WBA super featherweight title against Cacace on Saturday night at the 3Arena in Dublin. The event will be broadcast live worldwide on DAZN.

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