“All Guts, No Brains” – Anto Cacace knows he can cruise past basic Woodstock

It could be an anti-climax.

Now on its fourth date, Belfast’s Anto Cacace [18(7)-1(0)] will defend his British super featherweight title versus Lyon Woodstock [12(5)-2(0)] on Saturday night.

The fight at the Arena Birmingham is being sold as a war, a clash of styles, and a brilliant domestic fight.

It might well be, but Cacace believes it is more a mismatch than anything and that he will dominate the Leicester brawler live on BT Sport.

In a conversation with 32Red, Cacace confidently claimed that “I know what Lyon’s all about. He’s all guts, no brains.”

“It’s a good fight for the fans and a good fight for TV – or it could be. Potentially it might not be. We just have to see what Lyon brings. He’s got the same kind of style as Sam Bowen but not as good if you ask me. It should be an interesting one.”

“This is one of these fights where I could make it a war if I wanted to do that. I could keep it at distance. There’s lots of things I can do here. Lyon isn’t known to take a step backwards but he’s never felt what I’m going to hit him with. He can keep thinking what he wants but I don’t think it’s a great approach. All Lyon can hope for is a lucky punch or to break my heart.”

Having won a war with Craig Poxton in 2017, Woodstock lost to Archie Sharp and Zelfa Barrett in his only other fights of note in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Cacace isn’t thinking about putting forward a positive comparison with his domestic rivals but does note that these fights exposed levels.

“I’m at the stage now where I don’t give a sh*t about their performances,” admits the 32-year-old.

“If you asked me, Zelfa Barrett boxed the stone clean off him. People say it was a good fight, yeah it was a good fight because Lyon is a hard man but he got outclassed in every department. Archie Sharp slowed the pace and can obviously bang a bit. Lyon kind of feared Archie in a way if you ask me.”

“It’s not really a thing that I’m thinking about. I’m no spring chicken, I just wanna think about the win. I just want to think about picking up on Lyon’s mistakes and punishing him.”

 

 

 

 

 

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While such declarations could be construed as smack talk, Cacace really is not one for back-and-forths or big talk.

Don’t, however, mistake that for a lack of ambition.

Hugely confident in himself, he feels he has world class talent and a unique approach. ‘The Apache’ described how “I don’t bring an amazing all action style but I do bring range and power. I haven’t got a big knockout ratio but there are reasons behind that.”

“Early on I was happy to cruise on and get the win. Now I’m trying to hit these guys as hard as I can. Sam Bowen did well to stay in with some of the shots I hit with him. You can’t pick up on my style until you’re in there with me.”

“That’s the way I feel about it. The TV can make you look a certain way, when you’re in there it’s different. I like to pick shots. Wasting unnecessary energy is stupid when I can pick that one shot that will break his heart and from that point on box the head off him.”

“I believe that nobody knows what punch is coming next from me. Even my coach doesn’t know what’s coming. I just believe I’ve got that style. I’m not blowing my own trumpet, it is what it is really.”