- McCaskill retains titles by scores of 110-89, 99-90 and 98-91
- Estrada edges Chocolatito in classic to unify belts at 115lbs
- Marvin Hagler, famed middleweight champion, dies aged 66
That’s all for tonight. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out the full fight report here.
Related: Jessica McCaskill wins rematch with Cecilia Brækhus to retain undisputed title
Juan Francisco Estrada has edged a 12-round split decision over Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in an all-time classic. The official scores were 115-113 for Gonzalez, 117-111 for Estrada and 115-113 for Estrada. A rematch eight years in the making all but demands a third installment. Combined punches thrown: 2,529.
they combined to throw a Super Flyweight 2529 punches. Estrada threw a career high 1212 punches in a fight where Chocolatito had a 391-314 edge in landed punches. @DAZNBoxing pic.twitter.com/FiiUYQ4wv7
Six months ago, Brækhus was almost impossibly gracious after McCaskill won a razor-thin decision to take her belts. But you can sense a chippiness in the Norwegian’s remarks after tonight’s second meeting that wasn’t there in August.
When asked about her future, Brækhus immediately raises the topic of weight. Specifically, tonight’s contracted catchweight of 145lbs – two less than the welterweight limit.
“If Katie Taylor is the next one, let’s go,” McCaskill says. “If Claressa (Shields) wants to come down to 147 and see if she can make the weight? Like you said, we’ve got a lot of options.”
It’s been four years since McCaskill goaded Taylor for a title shot over social media until the Bray fighter accepted her challenge for the first defense of her WBA lightweight title in the main event of a card at London’s York Hall. McCaskill gave Taylor all she could handle only to lose a unanimous decision that was closer than the judges’ scores might suggest.
I am a younger boxer physically [than Taylor]. I’ve had less fights. She’s had a lot of amateur fights and has the Olympic fights as well. And so I feel like she’s more so on her downslope, she’s on her way out, whereas I’ve always had so much more room for learning and growth to become better. And I came to her with maybe six pro fights and around 30 fights altogether.
You take 300 versus 30, and (Taylor) almost getting knocked out with a left hook in one of those rounds. And now you double that by me fighting more world champions and having more experience and training my body to be just different altogether. I think I’ve learned a lot. There’s a lot of wisdom, a lot of boxing IQ that has come with my growth. And I think it would be definitely a different fight the second time around.
Jessica McCaskill has retained her WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO welterweight titles with a unanimous decision over Cecilia Brækhus by scores of 110-89, 99-90 and 98-91. The scores are patently absurd. But the right person won the fight, so that’s something.
Round 10
A very good round for Brækhus to finish the fight. She landed a number of crisp shots, at times really loading up on her punches, especially in the final minute. But will it be enough?
Round 9
Brækhus continues to fall for the slip counter by McCaskill, who is tagging it with her time after time after time. Another clean round for McCaskill as the challenger further flags. “There’s a million dollars on the other side of that ring,” Ramos tells McCaskill in the corner, urging his charge to close the fight strong. One more round.
Round 8
Another round for McCaskill, who seems to have found her second wind not long after Brækhus found hers. She continues to take the fight to Brækhus, who appears to have a large welt forming on her forehead.
Round 7
McCaskill is the busier, more aggressive fighter throughout the seventh and does enough to take the round. And in what could be a crucial development, Brækhus has a point deducted by the referee for pushing McCaskill’s head down while in the clinch.
Round 6
Brækhus getting back to basics, stepping back and pecking away with the jab from distance. After appearing so fatigued earlier, Brækhus appears to have found her second wind. Easily the Norwegian’s best round of the fight.
Round 5
McCaskill beginning to slow down. Brækhus beginning to pick it up. This one keeps getting more interesting.
Round 4
McCaskill continues to push the pace and make things uncomfortable for Brækhus. She’s walking the challenger down, connecting an unpredictable mix of looping and straight rights. But Brækhus has got her legs under her and is beginning to land counters on the way in. A close round and Brækhus may have just done enough to nick it.
Round 3
McCaskill is really forcing the issue. She’s getting off first and closing the distance at all times. The pace dramatically favors the champion, Brækhus is doing her best to make this a boxing match but McCaskill is not accommodating. According to Compubox’s punch statistics, McCaskill has outlanded Braekhus by a 51-26 margin through three rounds.
Round 2
Brækhus lands a sharp uppercut early in the round. She’s looking more settled here. But McCaskill connects with another overhand right and Brækhus looks hurt! Both fighters extremely aggressive in the early going and McCaskill is getting the better of the exchanges. Says McCaskill’s trainer Rick Ramos in the corner about Brækhus: “She doesn’t want to be here anymore.”
Round 1
McCaskill bursts from the corner and is quick to the inside, letting her hands go and moving Brækhus backward. Brækhus keeps moving back, looking to use her size and reach advantages. A very nice straight right by Brækhus finds the mark. McCaskill keeps going forward and it looks like Brækhus’s nose is already a bit swelled. And Brækhus walks into a massive overhand right from McCaskill in the final seconds of the frame. That might have wobbled Brækhus! She looks a bit aflutter but the bell rings before McCaskill can really test her. Brækhus may have been winning the round before that punch, but that swings it clearly to the champion.
Jessica McCaskill lands a big right late in the 1st pic.twitter.com/uuULr3V2ee
It’s been a long, long time since Cecilia Brækhus was introduced first. But here she is: boxing’s First Lady. And she looks all business. Then it’s Jessica McCaskill’s turn and the champion ambles slowly out of the tunnel before climbing through the ropes. The ring announcer is going through the particulars and we should be under way shortly.
@jaydi_mac and @1LadyCecilia do it all over again for Welterweight supremacy! Live now on @DAZNBoxing#McCaskillBraekhus2 #EstradaChocolatito2 pic.twitter.com/doZYLkNtJC
As we count down toward McCaskill-Brækhus II, it would be malpractice to not mention the passing of Marvelous Marvin Hagler today at the age of 66. A middleweight terror who reigned as the division’s undisputed champion from 1980 to 1987, Hagler leaves behind a towering legacy as demonstrated by the tributes that continue to flood in from around the world of boxing.
Related: Marvelous Marvin Hagler – a life in pictures
The quick finish means we’re getting a swing bout right now before McCaskill and Brækhus. Mexico’s Daniel Echevarria and France’s Souleymane Cissokho are in the ring for an eight-round super welterweight contest.
@1LadyCecilia#McCaskillBraekhus2 pic.twitter.com/xiozoq7B40
An abrupt end to what had been an entertaining fight between Hiroto Kyoguchi and Axel Aragon Vega. Seems that Vega broke a bone in his hand with a punch that landed on the top of Kyoguchi’s skull. (“Fourth metacarpal,” says the ringside doctor.)
It will go down a technical knockout at 1:32 of the fifth round for Kyoguchi, who defends his WBA junior flyweight title for a third time and improves to 15-0 with 10 knockouts.
Jessica McCaskill went from homelessness to a successful investment banking career while moonlighting as a professional boxer. It was an extraordinary journey even before last August, when she defied the 6-1 odds against her to defeat Cecilia Brækhus for the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO welterweight titles.
Less than 30 hours after winning the fight of her life, she was back in the Body Shot Boxing Club on Chicago’s South Side on Monday morning at 6am.
McCaskill, who balances her boxing career with a full-time job as a regulatory reporting analyst for Chicago brokerage giant RJ O’Brien & Associates, has brought her work to the gym in the four months since her office shut down for the coronavirus pandemic. But working from home, as it were, has done little to compromise her productivity.
Three days a week, McCaskill starts her day at 3.30am, taking care of her two rescue pit bulls before meeting her trainees for a strength and conditioning session at a quarter to five. After heading to the gym in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood for another workout, she settles in behind her computer from 6am until 3pm. Unlike office life in the beforetimes, ducking out for a lunchtime run no longer requires a wardrobe change on either end.
Related: Jessica McCaskill: ‘No days off is really a mentality that encompasses everything’
Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams has defeated Denis Douglin by a unanimous decision by scores of 79-73 (twice) and 77-75. The highly touted middleweight prospect from Houston improves to eight wins in eight pro fights. Williams landed 145 of 301 punches on the night (47%), compared to 78 of 272 for Douglin (29%). One to watch, no question.
= ✅@ammowilliams makes a giant leap forward as pro beating @DaMommasBoy in Dallas [79-73, 79-73, 77-75]#WilliamsDouglin #EstradaChocolatito2 pic.twitter.com/N1CehBygZ1
Hello and welcome to tonight’s welterweight title fight between Jessica McCaskill and Cecilia Brækhus. Tonight’s four-belt showdown for the undisputed championship at 147lbs is a rematch of their first meeting six months ago, when McCaskill sprang a major upset against Brækhus, the previously unbeaten Norwegian widely regarded as the sport’s pound-for-pound world No 1.
Brækhus, who was attempting to surpass Joe Louis’s record of 25 consecutive successful title defenses and instead settled for a tie with the American legend, strongly hinted at retirement in the immediate aftermath. But several months spent running at home in Norway convinced her to take one crack at winning back the title that she’d held for more than 11 years.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look back at last year’s first meeting between McCaskill and Brækhus.
Jessica McCaskill, a 35-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 Brækhus, the undisputed welterweight champion widely regarded as the sport’s pound-for-pound world No 1.
The younger and busier American challenger won a narrow 10-round majority decision by scores of 97-94, 97-93 and 95-95 to capture the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles at 147lbs in a purpose-built ring on the streets of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. (The Guardian had it 95-95.)
Related: Jessica McCaskill stuns Cecilia Brækhus for undisputed title in massive upset
