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.”
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
RSS