Jessica McCaskill, a 33-year-old investment banker from Chicago who overcame homelessness as a child and moonlights as a professional boxer, sprang a seismic upset on Saturday night in dethroning Cecilia Braekhus, the undisputed welterweight champion widely regarded as the sport’s pound-for-pound world No. 1.
The younger and busier US challenger won a narrow 10-round majority decision by scores of 97-94, 97-93 and 95-95 to capture the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization titles at 147 pounds (66.7kg) in a purpose-built ring on the streets of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“This is for the fourth-grade homeless Jessica,” said McCaskill, a titleholder at 140 pounds (63.5kg) who moved up in weight for a shot at Braekhus.
Photo: Reuters
“This is for the little girl that just didn’t care what people thought about her, and learned to love herself even though she was really weird, and for the me now that sacrifices everything to put this sport first and make a difference,” McCaskill said.
Braekhus (36-1, 9 KOs), the 38-year-old Norwegian who became a world champion in 2009 and the first woman to unify all four major title belts in any weight class in 2014, landed the cleaner and more accurate blows throughout the fight, which took place at a catch-weight of 145 pounds (65.8 kg).
However, McCaskill (9-2, 3 KOs), who went off as a 6-1 underdog, was by far the more active of the pair, landing 84 of 499 punches, or 17 percent, compared with 85 of 269, or 32 percent, for her Norwegian opponent.
“I just didn’t stop,” McCaskill said. “I didn’t expect her to be as rough as she was, but I was ready to be as rough as I had to be, and that’s what came out.”
“Two hundred thirty more punches than she did. That shows you that I wanted it,” she added.
Braekhus, who was attempting to surpass Joe Louis’ all-time record of 25 consecutive successful title defenses, instead had to settle for a tie with the legendary American heavyweight.
Afterward she was gracious in defeat, wishing the new champion well.
“Jessica just threw more punches than me tonight. She really, really wanted it,” Braekhus said. “I’m proud and happy to pass the torch to her. I have to say, I don’t know what’s going to happen right now, but I’m incredibly proud to be a part of women’s boxing right now.”
“If this is my last fight, I can leave women’s boxing and say I was a part of this. I was a part of taking women’s boxing to this level, and that will be my biggest achievement of all,” she said.
When pressed on her future plans, Braekhus strongly hinted at retirement.
“I’ve done so much and I miss my friends, my family,” she said. “Women’s boxing is just in an amazing place right now, so they’ll do fine without me.”
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