Boxing

Anthony Cacace Stops Leigh Wood, Retains IBO Super-Featherweight Title

Anthony Cacace continues his stellar run of form against Leigh Wood, extending his win streak to nine fights.
Johan Alyas Blanco|
Anthony Cacace
Anthony Cacace | IMAGO / PA Images

The last 18 months has really been taken over by "The Apache" from Northern Ireland.

Anthony Cacace delivered a one-side performance against Leigh Wood, forcing his corner to throw in the towel during the ninth round on Saturday at Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. With the win, Cacace makes the fourth defense of his IBO super-feathweight title.

Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) established the tone early, using his footwork, movement and reach to keep the former featherweight champion at his punching range. And with Wood (28-4, 17 KOs) coming up from 126 lbs, Cacace made sure Wood felt like the smaller fighter.

As the fight progressed, Cacace continued to pick up momentum, landing punches at will and began doubling, even tripling up on his combos. Wood, who usually is a slow starter, began to show frustrations towards the fifth round.

In the ninth round, as Wood was charging forward, the 36-year-old from Northern Ireland lands a hard left hook moving backwards, hurting Woods. That shot leads to a powerful flurry, forcing Wood to try to survive. But Cacace would turn up the aggression with a barrage of punches, leading to Wood needing the rope to keep him up, resulting in a knockdown.

Once Wood recovered, Cacace went for broke, mixing his movement, strength and killer instinct. A hard body shot would force Wood to retreat, with his corner ultimately throwing in the towel with 43 seconds left in round nine.

Cacace is now on a nine-fight win streak, last losing to Martin Joseph Ward on July 15th, 2017. The 36-year-old vacated his IBF super-featherweight prior to this fight, instead accepting a more lucrative bout against Wood.

The IBO champion is the Ring Magazine's No. 3 ranked super-featherweight coming into the bout. And depending on how Emanuel Navarrete vs Charly Suarez goes on Saturday, there's a good chance that "The Apache" could land at the No. 1 spot in next week's rankings.

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Johan Alyas Blanco
JOHAN ALYAS BLANCO

Johan Alyas Blanco is a writer for KO On SI. Before joining in March 2025, he worked as a News Producer in Tallahassee and Orlando. He also works for several fight promotions in boxing and MMA, working on social media content. When he’s not writing, Alyas covers boxing on his own YouTube channel, The Split Decision. Blanco has a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from UCF, with a minor in sports business management. Alyas has interviewed several big names in combat sports, including Jorge Masvidal, Edgar Berlanga and Brian Norman Jr. His goal is to bring boxing back to prominence.

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