After spending years struggling for recognition, the Belfast man’s unanimous decision victory over Dickens made him a two-time world champion and earned him a place alongside Irish boxing legends like Katie Taylor and Carl Frampton.

Cacace and Dickens produced a technical and tense affair rather than edge of the seat drama but the new champion was relieved to have had his hand raised after far from ideal preparations.

“It's absolutely insane,” Cacace (25-1, 9 KOs) told Queensberry after the fight.

“I mean, I'm well aware it was a below performance but that style didn’t gel well with me and I had a a bad hand throughout camp. We hadn't got any sparring. We worked hard together to get through it.”

Success has arrived late in Cacace’s career but the 37-year-old has more than justified the faith that his promoter, Frank Warren, has always shown in him.

Warren has promoted Cacace for six years and rather than petering out, his career seems to be building to a crescendo.

“It's unbelievable what he's done. It's all credit to him and his team. Over the last few years he’s got himself back together,” Warren said after the fight.

“He's always had great skills and he showed everybody what he's all about. He should be proud of himself and everybody here should be proud of what he's done. We're going to get bigger fights for him. We're coming back here. This is his home, Ireland. This is where we're going to make the fights happen.”

Cacace is currently positioned at number three at 130 pounds by The Ring and has been a mainstay of the rankings since he stopped Joe Cordina to win the IBF belt back in 2024. Since then, he has racked up impressive wins against a who’s who of British boxing.

With the scalps of Josh Warrington, Leigh Wood and Dickens under his belt, he is looking across the Atlantic for his next opponent but believes that he will need to produce a much better performance if he is to beat either Navarette of Foster.

“100%. I'm well aware of that, too,” Cacace told Queensberry.

“I will perform better because our styles will gel better. He's a southpaw. He's small. Every time I threw a punch, he would just drop down and he was hitting me with his head continuously.

“Full respect to Jazza. He's a lovely fella. He's got a great family and it was just my night.”