Anthony Cacace’s title-winning excessive must make approach for a ‘Sugar’ rush.
The Ring has confirmed that the IBF has ordered a compulsory title protection for its newly topped junior light-weight beltholder. Belfast’s Cacace was instructed to subsequent face IBF number-one contender Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Núnez.
IBF Championship Committee chairman Carlos Ortiz knowledgeable Queensberry Promotions and Matchroom Boxing, the respective promoters for each events on Thursday. A letter obtained by The Ring famous that the 2 sides have till June 22 to succeed in phrases and keep away from a handbag bid listening to.
The decision got here 5 days after Cacace dethroned Joe Cordina by way of eighth-round knockout on Could 18 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Cacace (22-1, 8 knockouts), The Ring’s No. 5-rated junior light-weight, delivered a career-best efficiency on his largest stage to this point. The bout befell on the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury undercard.
Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) entered the battle on the hook to honor the obligatory protection with a win. That obligation has now transferred to Cacace, who has received seven in a row.
Núnez (27-1, 27 KOs) stormed into the number-one slot with an eleventh-round knockout of former titlist Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. Their Feburary 16 title eliminator noticed Núnez hit the highway to put on down and cease Rakhimov (17-2-1, 14 KOs) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The battle marked the primary time that Núnez was prolonged past the tenth spherical. He didn’t want for much longer than that, nevertheless, to shut the present. The win prolonged his present seventeen-fight win and knockout streak.
Cacace and Núnez are obligated to enter talks, per IBF Rule D (b) and (c).
Failure by any IBF titlist to honor a compulsory protection will end result of their being stripped of the title. Equally, challengers who abandon the method can be ineligible to take part in any IBF-sanctioned bout for no less than six months. Moreover, such failure by a challenger may also end in a demotion exterior the IBF’s prime ten.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for The Ring and vice chairman of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America.
Observe @JakeNDaBox
