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From sleeping in a church to the top of the boxing world - with the help of a milk carton
Jessica McCaskill: from homelessness to investment banking, willing a Katie Taylor fight into existence, and becoming a living legend in her own right. Gavan Casey By Gavan Casey Thursday 1 Jul 2021, 7:45 AM 2 hours ago 9,754 Views 1 Comment Undisputed welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill (L) and her trainer-manager Rick Ramos (R). Source: Ed Mulholland, Matchroom Boxing
ONE DAY LATE last August, Jessica McCaskill received a package in the post. At the time, she was expecting the delivery of four world-title belts, all of which she had won from the previously undefeated Cecilia Braekhus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a few days beforehand.
Jessica McCaskill and Cecilia Braekhus have different memories of their first fight and different outlooks on the rematch, writes Thomas Gerbasi
UNDISPUTED welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill has a singular goal heading into her March 13 rematch with Cecilia Braekhus. “My main goal is to retire her, so I need to do that in a grand fashion.”
Those are fighting words, ones we didn’t expect to hear from either combatant after their first bout in August 2020, when WBC and WBA super-lightweight champ McCaskill went up a division and took all the belts from Norway’s Braekhus via 10-round majority decision, handing the “First Lady” the only defeat of her 37-fight career. In the lead-up to the bout, it was all respect between the two, and even after the razor-close battle, it remained that way, with a post-fight video in the locker room in Tulsa going viral as Braekhus seemingly passed the torch to Chicago’s McCaskill. But as soon as Braekhus left the United States for No