Jessica McCaskill W10 Cecilia Braekhus... Jessica McCaskill spoiled Cecilia Braekhus' bid to make boxing history. With Braekhus looking to break Joe Louis' streak of 25 straight title defenses, McCaskill moved up from 140 pounds and won a debatable decision to take away the world welterweight championship from Braekhus. In downtown Tulsa, Okla. on Saturday night, the judges scored it in favor of McCaskill, 95-95, 97-93 and 97-94. DAZN News scored it 96-94 in favor of Braekhus. McCaskill (9-2, 3 KOs) goes from being homeless at one point in her life to an undisputed world welterweight champion. 

 

"This is for the fourth-grade homeless Jessica," McCaskill said with pure joy after the bout. "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."

 

The victory halted Braekhus' win streak at 36, as she suffered her first pro loss. "If this is my last fight, I could leave women's boxing and just say 'I was a part of this. I was a part of taking women's boxing to this level,'" said the 38-year-old Braekhus (36-1, 9 KOs).

 

Braekhus was the more accurate puncher, landing 32 percent of her punches to McCaskill's 17 percent. But McCaskill wanted it more, with her 499 punches thrown to Braekhus' 269.

 

From the opening bell, McCaskill came out and set the tone for the bout by throwing a bevy of punches and simply outworking the "First Lady." By the middle to late rounds, Braekhus had seemingly managed to counter punches well enough from the aggressor to perhaps eke out the historic title defense. However, judges didn't see it like that, crediting McCaskill for her motor and desire to take the bout.

 

McCaskill, who also holds two belts at 140 pounds,, will now wait to face the winner of the Aug. 22nd rematch between Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon. Taylor defeated McCaskill via unanimous decision back in December 2017. source: dazn news /mark lellinwalla