From Lewis to Bruno, and Benn to Eubank, from Joshua to McKenzie and Frampton to Haye, the honour roll for this sceptered isle is a copper-bottomed who's who to savour.

The conversation is malleable, a matter for punditry and pub-talk to pore over when they fancy a good debate - and this week, a new candidate may enter the conversation.

Anthony Cacace's route to the summit of the sport is not the sort that typically earns hall-of-fame rewards. But the Belfast man's graft and guile marks him as a fearsome player.

Few British fighters have toppled as many current or former world champions as he has across his past few fights, each one the prized scalp of a championship contender.

Joe Cordina, Josh Warrington, Leigh Wood. These are all more than domestic heavyweights - they are, or were, kings of the world, considered once among best-in-show.

Cacace's efficient power against all three of them has delivered a marker against his name. Arguments can be made that his last two bouts were with foes on the slide.

It doesn't matter to 'The Apache'. Now, as he prepares to face Jazza Dickens, the question lingers - would a win for the star in Dublin elevate him as a modern British great?

Recognition looms for Belfast brawler

Cacace's route to the summit of the sport has not seen him built like plenty of modern superstars, with a handful of small halls before the arena circuit beckoned its finger.

Turning pro in 2012, bars and leisure centres were where he cut his teeth across the first half-decade of his career, with the occasional step-up to the Odyssey Arena.

On the biggest night of his career in 2017, he fell short at Wembley Arena to Martin Joseph Ward, losing his challenge for the British and Commonwealth crowns too.

His next fight came in a Holiday Inn in Birmingham. For many fighters, that would seem to suggest the end of the road in terms of career progression towards the top.

Cacace spent 2018 away from the ring however, and returned on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr.'s win over James DeGale, scoring a points win over Alan Castillo.

Since then, he has only grown, a seven-year trajectory that has taken him through domestic glory to the top of the world - and now, back to the cusp of its peak again.

Let it not be forgotten that Cacace arrives in Dublin to face Dickens having already been world champion once - and having relinquished his belt by choice rather than force.

His IBF title win over Cordina was the signal that he had arrived as a force. His wins since have confirmed it. Add another one here? Well, the sky could be the limit.

Dickens determined to make good

Cacace is not the only man who has taken the long route to the top. If anything, Dickens and a record some churlish critics may consider journeyman has faced a longer wait.

Kid Galahad denied him the British super-bantamweight title in 2013, and then the IBF featherweight title in 2021. Guillermo Rigondeaux blocked him too in-between that.

Unlike Cacace, Dickens has still technically not won a full world title belt, having been elevated to the WBA super-featherweight crown when Lamont Roach Jr. vacated it.

His first defence last December fell apart days later when the fancied Japanese talent Hayato Tsutsumi was forced to pull out of their The Ring V contest through injury.

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Dickens could not have picked many tougher foes for this contest then, and the Liverpool fighter will know it. He wears his heart, affection and respect on his sleeve.

Cacace will bid to twist that to his advantage, to force the emotion out and bring his opponent onto the back foot. His recent record suggests he can do just that here.

If he can master the occasion and down Dickens, then Cacace becomes a two-time world champion - a rare feat for British stars in an increasingly busy boxing world.

With that, the pundits and pub-talk will have a new man to fete - and perhaps push further into the conversation for a place on the pedestal of this current generation.

Dickens vs. Cacace only on DAZN

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