Anthony Cacace shocks, drops and stops Joe Cordina to win IBF super-featherweight title | Boxing News

Belfast’s Anthony Cacace scored a major surprise when he toppled Joe Cordina to win the IBF super-featherweight title on the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk undercard.

Fury and Usyk meet to decide the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world tonight at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Cacace played a starring role on the undercard as he became a new and unexpected world champion.

Cacace subjected him to sustained punishment to force a stoppage in the eighth round and he celebrated jubilantly when the referee waved off the contest.

In the third round a massive left hook stunned Cordina. The Welshman went on evasive manouvres but could not get himself clear. A huge right disconnected him for a moment, planting him face-first on the canvas.

In all sorts of danger, Cordina got through the round. He showed his quality where he could, landing punches. But he couldn’t get clear of Cacace, who found hurtful uppercuts and continued combinations.

At the start of the eighth round Cacace pounced again. He had Cordina on the ropes, beneath a barrage of punches before the referee intervened.

“I am in shock. Nobody gave me a chance to do this here,” Cacace declared.

“Joe is a hell of a competitor, Olympian, two-time world champion, but tonight I was hurting him with every single shot.”

Jai Opetaia, stripped of the IBF cruiserweight title for taking an interim contest rather than his mandatory challenger, won back his belt when he secured a repeat victory over Mairis Briedis.

But it was another hard fight.

Their first one had been brutal, with Opetaia becoming a world champion for the first time when he beat Briedis despite sustaining a broken jaw in 2022.

There wasn’t a thunderous start to the rematch with Australia’s Opetaia having to pick off Briedis with rapid, long-range attacks.

The Latvian always made him work and a sudden right, just for an instant, appeared to stun Opetaia. But the Australian was landing hard shots himself, drawing blood from Briedis’ nose.

Briedis made the fight exciting with a late charge. He poured forward and put pressure on Opetaia. His attacks marked up the Australian badly and forced Opetaia backwards.

The Latvian kept the assault up through the closing rounds, marking up Opetaia but the latter was too far ahead. Opetaia won a unanimous decision, 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Undefeated former European heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel racked up a second impressive victory in a row, handing first professional defeats to Arslanbek Makhmudov in December and now Frank Sanchez.

He diligently walked the “Cuban Flash” down, putting in combination attacks. Sanchez’s backpedalling became less and less effective.

Kabayel chipped away at his resistance, cleverly thumping body shots into Sanchez. He dropped the Cuban in the seventh round.

Wearily Sanchez clambered back to his feet but he was sucking in air and Kabayel put bodywork in once again, sending the Cuban back to the canvas and ending the fight.

19-year-old heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma felled Ilja Mezencev, the southpaw thumping a right over the top of an exchange.

It put the German over and even though he hauled himself upright, Mezencev’s legs were wobbling terribly beneath him and he had to be stopped, just 50 seconds into the second round.

Mark Chamberlain put in a vicious finish when it promptly took out Joshua Wahab in the first round.

He landed a near perfect southpaw left cross to smash Wahab off his feet.

Wahab regathered himself but Chamberlain was merciless, a left cross cannoned him back over and ended the fight.

Sergey Kovalev was a fearsome light-heavyweight world champion in his prime. But at 41 years old and after two years out of the sport, he could not recapture the menace of old.

Little known Swede Robin Safar harried him throughout their 10-rounder, undeterred by the tired shots Kovalev clipped him with. Finally in the last round a right hook smashed Kovalev over on his back.

Kovalev rose, saved by the final bell, but Safar was a clear unanimous decision victor.

Rising cruiserweight David Nyika also picked up a stoppage victory, directing Michael Seitz into a corner before clubbing a right over and bundling the German down for a finish inside four rounds.

Towering Ukrainian light-heavyweight Daniel Lapin made short work of Octavio Pudivtr, forcing him back before dispatching him with a vicious flurry.

Isaac Lowe took a clear win to open the show, dropping Hasibullah Ahmadi with a left hook on his way to a 97-92 points win over 10 rounds.

It’s one of the biggest sporting events in a generation. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk collide for the undisputed world heavyweight championship on Saturday May 18, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the fight now.