Supersonic Steals the Spotlight: Can He Shine on the Joshua vs Dubois Undercard
Anthony Joshua will be returning to Wembley Stadium for the first time since 2018.
When you think about it, six years has gone by in the blink of an eye. Joshua has always been known for his stadium fights, but in 2019, his defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. was in the United States, and the rematch is in Saudi Arabia.
After that, there was Wembley Arena, but the stadium was Tottenham Stadium (for the first fight with Usyk), which is slightly smaller than Wembley Stadium, and then there was O2 Arena. That being said, Joshua, who is favored by Turki Alarcik, is also popular in Saudi Arabia.
In any case, this fight, Joshua’s comeback at Wembley Stadium, will be a special one in the UK. Will it be able to attract nearly 100,000 spectators like in the past?
So, what do the boxers who are on the undercard of such a large-scale event think about this glorious stage? So, this blog is about the undercard of Joshua vs. Dubois.
↓Main preview
boxingcafe.hatenablog.com
9/21 (9/22 Japan time) London, UK
Anthony Cacas (Ireland) 22 wins (8 KOs) 1 loss
vs
Josh Warrington (UK) 31 wins (8 KOs), 3 losses, 1 draw
This match is not a semi-final. It is a world title match, with the world champion appearing.
IBF World Super Featherweight Champion Anthony Kakas defeated Joe Cordina (UK) by 8th round KO in his previous fight, winning his first world title in an upset.
He is a skilled but fearless boxer, and frankly, this world championship bout has a bad reputation. In the third round, Kakas gained the upper hand by “attacking after the referee had called for a stop”, but up until then, Cordina was completely at the pace. Cordina seemed to have given up on Kakas early on, but the damage he sustained was very great, and the referee allowed Cordina to continue without giving him a rest, meaning Cordina was unable to recover. As a result, he was knocked out, still suffering from the damage until the eighth round. This was truly awful refereeing.
↓ Match report
boxingcafe.hatenablog.com
Although Kakas has now become the IBF champion, this time he will not be defending his title against Josh Warrington.
The IBO, which he originally held, seems to have recognized it as a title fight, but because Warrington is not ranked by the IBF, it was not recognized as a title fight.
Well, this is Warrington’s super featherweight debut, and he is currently on a two-fight losing streak, so there is no reason to approve this as a title fight, even though he is a former champion.
This is a battle where you don’t know which side to root for. Maybe they want to stir up the Ireland vs England rivalry, but is this really the right thing to do?
The IBF has a designated challenger in the form of the powerful Eduardo Nunez (Mexico), a vacant second place and a third place in the form of Masanori Rikishi (Ohashi). I hope that Kakas will be stripped of his title and move on to the deciding match.
Other Undercards
Leaving aside these world title match-like matches, the rest of the undercard is filled with great action.
First up is the EBU European Middleweight Title Match between Tyler Dennehy (UK) and Hamza Sheeraz (UK).
The undefeated Sheeras has 20 wins (16 KOs), and in his last fight he defeated undefeated Austin “Ammo” Williams (USA) by TKO in the 11th round, and prior to that he defeated former title challenger Liam Williams (Great Britain) by TKO in the first round.
As the top contender in the WBC and WBO rankings, and with others also ranking highly, Sheeraz should already be counting down to a title shot. Will he be able to gain momentum for a world title by winning here? And for Denny, this is a fight that can take it all. This is very interesting.
And then there’s Joshua Buatsi (UK) vs Willie Hutchinson (UK). As the quality of his opponents has improved, Buatsi’s momentum has waned, but he remains undefeated with 18 wins (13 KOs).
His opponent, Hutchinson, is also a boxer with a good record, with 18 wins (13 KOs) and 1 loss.
This fight is for the WBO World Light Heavyweight Interim Championship. I’m not sure if an interim championship is necessary when the unified light heavyweight champion of four organizations is about to be decided, but this fight is also interesting.
Also, Josh Kelly (UK) vs Liam Smith (UK) was originally scheduled to be a great match, but it was cancelled due to Smith’s injury. This happened just a few days before the fight, so it remains to be seen how good of a boxer Ishmael Davis (UK) is, who will step into the ring in place of Smith. If he wins this fight, it will be a big step up for him. By the way, his nickname is “Black Panther”. Cool.
There is also a match between undefeated fighters Mark Chamberlain (UK) and Josh Padley (UK), but Chamberlain seems to have the advantage in terms of the quality of the opponents he has fought and his career.
Putting that undercard aside
Now, I have always said this on my blog many times that boxing is a serious sport, and there is no need for staging things like musicians coming out and singing, and that the fight should just get on with it quickly.
Unfortunately, however, my argument turned out to be that I simply didn’t like the idea of people who I wasn’t interested in appearing.
The reason is that I was unintentionally excited about the halftime show this time. I’m sorry for criticizing 3150FIGHT and LUSHBOMU so much. I realized that it must be a great pleasure for fans to be able to see such a great production along with their favorite boxing. Even though I ignored Eminem’s performance at the Riyadh Season.
Well, what that means is that this time, former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher will be appearing at Wembley Stadium!
Just the other day, Oasis announced their reunion. When this news came out, I thought it was a complete lie, but the next day, the band released a statement and announced a reunion tour in the summer of 2025. Tickets for that tour are already sold out, and an additional performance at Wembley Stadium at the end of September next year has already been decided. Anyway, I hope they come to Japan soon.
I’ve seen Oasis perform a few times in the past, and a few times since they went solo, but their performance at Summer Sonic in 2005 was truly amazing. The venue was extremely hot, but Liam came out and sang well.
Some time passed, and the 2009 tour, while not as good as the 2005 Summer Sonic, was still good, and Liam’s voice was barely heard at Fuji Rock in July of that year.
They then disbanded in August 2009.
Well, I’ve been talking about things that are not related to boxing blogs, but I like Liam and I think Noel is great, but I can say with confidence that my favorite musicians (living people) in the world are “Oasis”. I think I’ve probably seen their live shows the most.
So I’m really looking forward to Liam performing (even if just solo) here at Wembley Stadium for my friend and fan Anthony Joshua. I always say the opposite, but I hope it’s before the main event, and not before Cacas vs Warrington (which is likely).
That’s why my biggest hope for this performance is, “I wonder if Noel will show up.”
Even though they have reunited, there is no telling when Liam might get upset and refuse to go on stage even if he comes to the live venue, and there is also no telling when Noel might lose patience.
So, this weekend (only) I’m looking forward to the halftime show as well as the boxing. There’s a good chance it will start with Rock’n Roll Star, and they probably won’t do Wonderwall, but if by some chance Noel shows up and plays Acquiesce, then it’ll be over.
Actually, it’s Morning Glory and Live Forever. It’s three songs. I’m looking forward to it.
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