Dickens’ two-day ordeal from Dubai to Dublin for world title bout

Dickens’ two-day ordeal from Dubai to Dublin for world title boutImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Jazza Dickens is defending his world title for the first timeByDavid MohanBBC Sport NI in DublinPublished38 minutes agoThe journey to a first world title defence for James ‘Jazza’ Dickens has been elongated – and that is not confined to his boxing career.On Saturday, the 34-year-old from Liverpool puts his WBA super-featherweight world title on the line against Belfast’s Anthony Cacace at Dublin’s 3 Arena, but much like his career, arriving in the Irish capital was not without its twists and turns.Dickens, now based in Dubai where he trains under head coach Albert Aryrapetyan, was in the final throes of training camp when Israeli-US strikes began in Iran, with attacks spreading across the Middle East including the United Arab Emirates.Geopolitics is a little beyond Dickens’ pay grade, but while he was keeping his mind on the job, the logistics of flying to Dublin soon became a problem with flight disruption from the UAE.Dickens embarked upon a two-day journey that saw him travel to Oman where he caught a flight to Istanbul and from there, it was off to Dublin.Such a curve ball in the build-up to a career-defining night could throw a fighter off course, but Dickens brushed it off, reasoning: “I wasn’t training anyway, so it killed a bit of time.””It was very safe,” he told BBC Sport NI of his situation in Dubai.”You didn’t feel uneasy, but there were air-raid sirens on the phone. I suppose that was a bit unsettling when it was happening, but you get used to that.”They are doing a great job out there, intercepting everything that’s coming their way so they’ve kept the place quite safe.”Getting on a plane out of Dubai was my only concern and it turned out we couldn’t, but got out of Oman instead.”Dickens and Cacace focus on title rather than talk