Jessica McCaskill will defend her WBA and WBC 140-pound titles against old foe Erica Farias at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Saturday October 12th, live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK. McCaskill (7-2 3 KOs) ripped the WBC crown from Farias (26-3 10 KOs) last October, putting in a then career-best performance to dethrone the Argentine in her first defense. She went on to add the WBA crown in her next fight in May, arguably surpassing that win over Farias with another mix of guts and skill unifying the titles against another Argentinian in Anahi Sanchez.
Chicago’s McCaskill has voiced her desire to rematch undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor and also face seven-weight ruler Amanda Serrano, but Farias is determined to gain revenge in her first fight since defeat in Chicago.
“I’m delighted to have the chance to defend my titles back at the Wintrust Arena,” said McCaskill. “It was a great night there when I beat Erica first time around. I know she will be determined to win her title back but I feel I am a better fighter since that first fight and I can’t wait to show that.
“It’s amazing to be in this position and we have a lot more goals that I want to reach, there’s more hard work to put in and more to come. Female boxers need to keep their level of professionalism up, keep training hard, take no days off. Female boxing is volatile, and you can get a call to fight any day, we’d often hear ‘I haven’t been in the gym’ and stuff like that. The fans are there, they want to watch great women fight and promoters want to put the fights on, so we must be ready to fight, and I always am.
“There are a lot of names that we want to mark off the list. Amanda Serrano won on Saturday, we’ve talked to her team and I think she’s done a lot for female boxing and I would love to share the ring with her. McCaskill-Taylor 2 is something that we want and there’s the other belts out there too so there’s a lot that we can build towards and target over the next year or so, but I am fully focused on Erica and October 12th.”
“I am happy to have the chance to come back to Chicago and fight Jessica again,” said Farias. “The last fight was close and I have been waiting for a shot at winning the title back – I am coming to Chicago to take back what is mine.”
McCaskill and Farias clash on a night of boxing on October 12th in Chicago, headlined by former undisputed cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk making hisheavyweight debut against unbeaten Tyrone Spong.
