ANTHONY Cacace might be the defending champion, pre-fight favourite and the in-form fighter heading into tomorrow's Nottingham headliner with Leigh Wood, but has embraced enemy territory as both seek further success to finish their respective careers.

Both weighed in two ounces under the contracted 130lb limit Friday afternoon, before their 12-round junior-lightweight contest tops Queensberry's 12-fight card at Nottingham Arena, the scene of two drastically different evenings featuring Wood in previous years.

Leighthal trailed on all three scorecards during a frantic firefight with Michael Conlan in March 2022 before a dramatic 12th-round stoppage win. 11 months later from the same venue, his corner were criticised after throwing in the towel midway through his return bout against Mauricio Lara, unhappy with his response after a heavy seventh-round knockdown.

That decision - though unpopular in a world title fight - ultimately aged well as he comprehensively outpointed the younger Mexican in their rematch three months later.

Yet a lengthy injury lay-off means he's only boxed once since then, another comeback stoppage win at Josh Warrington's expense to cap a whirlwind 2023 campaign. Cacace, by contrast, hasn't looked back since a SD12 win over then 21-0 unbeaten pro Mike Magnesi.

The same night as Wood's Manchester redemption, he outpointed Damian Wrzesinski in his first IBO title defence and has parlayed that success into resume-altering victories over Joe Cordina and Warrington on big Riyadh Season cards in Riyadh and Wembley.

"It started happening with Magnesi, once I beat the wee Italian and got the IBO - four years as champion - I'm proud of that, so from then the opportunities kinda unfolded, Simon [Legg, his manager] and whatever else coming on board, things have worked out well," he told Queensberry's Dev Sahni in an interview posted this week.

Wood, while bullish about shaking off ring rust, knows his all-action reputation comes at a cost. Cacace made sure to think about perspective and the benefit of family when discussing the sacrifices he continues to make, admitting that one day soon he'd like to fully embrace his role as a father of three. So, this might be a case of winner stays on.

Elsewhere, unbeaten light-heavyweights tussle for English honours in an intriguing encounter when Troy Jones makes the second defence of his title against Ezra Taylor.

Taylor, who has embraced training stateside with highly-regarded coach Malik Scott, is said to have sparred unified cruiserweight world champion Gilberto Ramirez in preparation for a crossroads fight given his pro seasoning. Jones, four years his junior, hasn't done it the easy way by any means but similarly comes well-prepared under trainer Lee Beard.

Former IBO junior-featherweight champion Liam Davies makes his featherweight debut and seeks a statement after an underwhelming display saw Shabaz Masoud unseat him last November. It's easy to forget, little over a year ago, there were talks about a potential matchup with undisputed divisional king Naoya Inoue, but the Telford man insists there are new targets to achieve now that he won't be depleting his body that little extra at 122.

Two of Ekow Essuman's former foes do battle when longtime welterweight contender Chris Kongo looks to remind everyone of his quality against an ambitious Owen Cooper. Jovial as ever, highly-ranked lightweight contender Sam Noakes wades into unfamiliar territory in a stay-busy bout up at 140lbs with Frank Warren insisting bigger plans are forthcoming.

Four boxers from 154-pounds and below will all make their debut appearance in the paid ranks this weekend, including Yorkshire-born Australian featherweight Charlie Senior, who won Olympic bronze last summer and inked a deal with Queensberry in February. The 23-year-old gets a six-round contest to kickstart his promising career, as does Huey Malone.

IBO junior-lightweight world title: Anthony Cacace (129.8) vs. Leigh Wood (129.8)

English light-heavyweight title, 10 rounds: Troy Jones (173.8) vs. Ezra Taylor (173.8)

Featherweight, 12 rounds: Liam Davies (125.2) vs. Kurt Walker (125.4)

Welterweight, 10 rounds: Owen Cooper (145.7) vs. Chris Kongo (146.7)

Junior-welterweight, 8 rounds: Sam Noakes (141.7) vs. Patrik Balaz (141)

Heavyweight: Lewis Williams (226) vs. Viktar Chvarkou (218.6)

Junior-welterweight: Huey Malone (139.5) vs. Jakub Laskowski (141.1)

Featherweight: Charlie Senior (128.5) vs. Cesar Ignacio Paredes (129.9)

Junior-featherweight: Nico Leivars (124.6) vs. Darwing Martinez (128)

Middleweight: Joe Cooper (163.4) vs. Dmitri Protkunas (162.8)

Lightweight, four rounds: Joe Tyers (134.2) vs. Mario Valenzuela Portillo (136.2)

Junior-middleweight: Harris Akbar (156.7) vs. Octavian Gratii (156.6)