Anthony Cacace v Josh Warrington (Wembley Stadium, Saturday, live on PPV)
 
EVERY base has been covered by Anthony Cacace in preparation for Saturday’s showdown with Josh Warrington at Wembley on Saturday and head coach Michael Hawkins says they have a number of plans for whatever they face.

The Andersonstown man began preparations with a mini warm weather camp in Marbella before returning to his Holy Trinity base as he sets his sights on overcoming the challenge of former two-time featherweight champion on Saturday’s huge Riyadh Season card.

Warrington has plenty of experience of competing at the top level and is noted for his all-action, aggressive style.

He first scaled the mountain in the 126lb division with a win over Lee Selby in 2018 before successfully defending the title against Carl Frampton, Kid Galahad and Sofiane Takoucht before tasting defeat for the first time in a non-title bout against Mauricio Lara.

A rematch with the Mexican ended in a technical draw as a head clash - a theme of Warrington fights - saw Lara unable to continue with a cut before Warrington regained the title he relinquished against Kiko Martinez.

However, he lost the belt to Luis Alberto Lopez and then was stopped by Leigh Wood in a bid to take the WBA strap, but moves up to face Cacace this week and his challenge is now being taken lightly by the Belfast man or his team.

“Josh Warrington is a household name,” Hawkins acknowledged.

“He is very good, attacks and attacks, but looking at the fight, everyone has their own ideas how it goes and everyone going into a fight has their own plans. But when it comes down to it, if I had the choice of being the coach of either of them, every day of the week it’s Anto.

“He is on top form so now it’s just about making sure we get it right and are working on Plan A, B and C so we can shop and change if needed.

“We are spending a lot of time now on techniques because the fitness is there, so the tactics can be worked and changed with one short, sharp instruction.

“It’s great for everyone to have that bit of time, knowing the fight is on and we had those 10 weeks where we were in good shape before it started, but now we are just down to the details.

“Warrington will be in your face so we won’t have to go hunting for him. I don’t see any reason that will change, but we have A, B and C there if we need to adapt.”

Cacace simply had to take his big chance in May to get his hands on full world honours when he got the call to face Joe Cordina.

His career had been blighted with hard luck stories but suddenly he had his chance and at 35 years of age, it was most likely his one and only.

But he rose to the challenge brilliantly, blasting through the Welshman in sensational fashion and the confidence gained carried into this camp.

There has been an added bounce in his step and arrived in London this week knowing he has exactly what it takes to win at the top level.

“His fitness levels were brilliant, but in terms of technique, he was throwing every punch in the book,” Hawkins said of the Cordina win.

“He seems to be holding every part of that and is in great shape, physically and mentally.

“You can see he is getting better and that’s an accumulation of everything. In training, he is sharper and we are working on different things.

“We didn’t change anything radically, but just tweaked a few things and kept the critical eye on the technique. He is very good at analysing fights and spars, but he has been in the game a long time and it actually shocked me how knowledgable he was in terms of making the weight and what he needs to do in terms of the fight day check weight with the IBF.

“We’re just running our eye over everything and making sure it’s all in place so there is no panic over anything.

“Being the world champion has given him such a great lift and he is now becoming more critical in terms of identifying what works.”