Queensberry announces Cacace vs Wood and Taylor vs Essuman in May

Queensberry’s May lineup will see two former champions square off and a onetime undisputed titlist challenge a new weight class

Queensberry Promotions announced this morning that their partnership with DAZN, which kicks off April 5th with Dillian Whyte vs Joe Joyce, will also feature a pair of May shows that see Anthony Cacace battle Leigh Wood in Nottingham on the 10th and Josh Taylor make his welterweight debut opposite Ekow Essuman in Glasgow on the 17th.

Cacace (23-1, 8 KO) vacated his IBF super featherweight title a couple weeks back to avoid a mandatory defense against Eduardo Nunez, who will reportedly battle Masanori Rikiishi for the title later this year in Japan. He’ll have what looks to be an easier and more lucrative challenge against Wood (28-3, 17 KO), who’s battled injury since a comeback knockout of Josh Warrington in October 2023.

Taylor (19-2, 13 KO), the former undisputed super lightweight champion, hasn’t won a fight since controversially edging out Jack Catterall nearly three years ago. After a long layoff saw him drop three of his four belts while insisting he couldn’t make 140 anymore, he suffered a one-sided decision loss to Teofimo Lopez upon his return and subsequently fell to Catterall almost a year later.

Essuman (21-1, 8 KO) is 2-0 over undefeated opponents since losing his British and Commonwealth titles to Harry Scarff in November 2023, knocking out Owen Cooper before picking up a majority decision over Ben Vaughan. At 35, he’s got a very limited window in which to get back in contention, but a win over name like Taylor would definitely give him a boost.

That show will also see Lee McGregor (15-1-1, 11 KO) face Nathaniel Collins (15-0, 7 KO) in a nifty all-Scotsman featherweight clash and cruiserweight prospect Aloys Youmbi (9-1, 8 KO) take on David Jamieson (13-3, 10 KO).