Anthony Cacace v Nick Ball: Vasiliy Lomachenko interest not a distraction for world champion

The last time Cacace boxed in the arena was in 2023, out-pointing Damian Wrzesinski over 12 rounds on the undercard of Luis Alberto Lopez’s defeat of Michael Conlan in an IBF featherweight title defence.

Sandwiched between those two bouts was a victory for Ball over Ludumo Lamati, a fight that ended in worrying scenes with the South African suffering a stroke in the ring when stoppped in the final round, but has since made a full recovery.

The Liverpudlian “didn’t even know that” he and Cacace shared that undercard but is more than happy to return to Belfast for this opportunity.

Since that night, the 29-year-old has gone on to draw in a first world title attempt against Rey Vargas before getting over the line in his next outing against Raymond Ford.

Three successful defences would follow, but in February of this year, it all unravelled in the final round against Brandon Figueroa when he was dropped twice and then stopped, suffering his first career loss in his 25th professional bout.

“It was a good fight, back and forth for 12 rounds and he caught me with a good shot in the last round,” Ball reflected.

“He threw an overhand left counter as I was throwing, so that’s what happened. It’s boxing, it’s part of the game.”