Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DAZN.com.
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Cecilia Braekhus has been using rewriting history as motivation for her welterweight title defense against Jessica McCaskill on Saturday night in Tulsa, Okla. If she wins, Braekhus will snap Joe Louis’ record of 25 consecutive title defenses.
But what could come after that feat might be even bigger: The winner of Braekhus-McCaskill is expected to face the winner of the Aug. 22 Katie Taylor-Delfine Persoon rematch.
During a recent interview with DAZN’s Chris Mannix, the “First Lady” didn’t hesitate to say that she hopes she and Taylor are victorious, so it could be the undefeated, undisputed welterweight champion against the unbeaten, undisputed lightweight champ up next.
“Oh, definitely, yes,” Brækhus told Mannix. “That would be the biggest fight in women’s boxing — without comparison.”
Of course, McCaskill (7-2, 3 KOs) would like nothing more than to play spoiler to Braekhus’ ambition and set up a rematch with Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs) herself. Taylor delivered a unanimous decision over McCaskill in December 2017.
“If I win, I’m setting myself up for some really big plans coming after this,” McCaskill told DAZN earlier in the week about what a victory over Braekhus would propel her toward. “Winning this won’t satisfy me. I will want bigger and better coming after this. This is just one challenge, and if I get past this, I’m going to need something that’s really going to challenge me.”
Unlike Taylor and undisputed middleweight champion Claressa Shields, Braekhus hasn’t moved out of her weight class and frankly doesn’t feel the need to. She defended that stance while speaking with Mannix.
“Well, it’s easy because I am the one who has brought the audience, the revenue, the TV,” she said. “I don’t have to change my weight division. I have actually got to fight different world champions coming down one and two weight divisions and I also had to fight world champions coming up.
“So I have fought a lot of world champions in my weight division and the weight divisions around them,” she added. “So I feel really lucky that I’ve been … able to do that.”
The Braekhus-McCaskill card will be streamed live on DAZN.