Jessica McCaskill proved that her victory against Cecilia Braekhus in 2019 was no fluke. McCaskill won the rematch against the Norwegian fighter with a surprisingly lopsided unanimous decision and retained her status as the undisputed welterweight champion, by scores of 100-89, 99-90, 98-91. The fight took place on the Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez undercard at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday.
McCaskill, 36, was strong early and caught Braekhus (36-2, 9 KOs) in the opening rounds. McCaskill's bullying approach appeared to wear down the 39-year-old Braekhus and even wobbled her at one point.
However, the "First Lady" of boxing rallied as the fight wore on and was effective on the outside and stung McCaskill (10-2, 3 KOs) in the middle rounds as the Chicago native started to slow down.
Heading into the 10th and final round, McCaskill's trainer, Rick Ramos, told his fighter to win the round and secure a future $1 million payday against another one of the sport's top champions. It turns out McCaskill was well ahead on the scorecards and protected the possibility of a lucrative title fight against someone such as Katie Taylor or Claressa Shields.
Kyoguchi defends title against Vega
Hiroto Kyoguchi picked up a fourth-round stoppage in an unfortunate ending for Axel Aragon Vega.
After Vega (14-4-1, 8 KOs) was able to hang with the defending WBA junior flyweight champion from Japan in the first few rounds of the fight, Vega's night was cut short after he appeared to suffer a hand injury in the fourth round.
Following a right hook that glanced off Kyoguchi's forehead, the Mexican challenger immediately grimaced and retreated to the ropes while clutching his hand.
The fight was immediately stopped as Vega was in too much pain to continue. Doctors immediately cut off Vega's glove and hand wraps while Vega was still seated in the ring.
Kyoguchi (15-0, 10 KOs) made the third defense of the belt he won in a 10th-round TKO over Hekkie Budler in 2018.
Williams takes care of business against Douglin
Austin Williams dominated Denis Douglin in an action-packed middleweight clash on his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Williams, who fights out of Houston, landed big punches throughout the eight-round fight and came close to picking up a stoppage win. In the seventh round, Williams (8-0, 6 KOs) landed a big right uppercut that sent Douglin (22-8, 14 KOs) back to the ropes. However, Douglin, the Las Vegas-based veteran, was able to land enough punches to stifle Williams' attack and make it to the bell without going down.
Douglin stepped in to replace Aaron Coley, who was the originally scheduled opponent for Williams. Williams picked up his third victory in the past three months, while Douglin has dropped four of his past six fights.
Cissokho dominates Echeverria for TKO victory
The fight between Souleymane Cissokho and Daniel Echeverria served two main purposes. First, Cissokho needed the ring work after being inactive in all of 2020. Secondly, and perhaps just as important, DAZN and Matchroom Boxing needed to fill some time on the undercard of Saturday's event.
Cissokho (12-0, 8 KOs) remained undefeated and picked up a sixth-round stoppage over Echeverria (21-10, 5 KOs), a 28-year-old journeyman out of Mexico. Cissokho, a former Olympics bronze medalist from France, used straight and precise punches to overwhelm Echeverria.
It was Cissokho's first fight in the United States since he appeared on the undercard of Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr. 1 at Madison Square Garden in June 2019.
Ford and Perez fight to a split draw
In a bout between two undefeated fighters, rising prospect Raymond Ford was more heralded than his opponent, Aaron Perez. However, Perez gave Ford everything he could handle and ultimately did enough to earn a split draw in an eight-round featherweight fight that kicked off the Estrada-Chocolatito undercard on DAZN.
Perez (10-0-1, 6 KOs), of El Paso, Texas, was aggressive early and used clubbing hooks and unorthodox angles to give Ford problems in the opening rounds. Perez slowed down in the second half of the fight as Ford (8-0-1, 4 Kos), of Camden, New Jersey, found success with a couple of big body shots and was able to maintain range with his precise punches.
But that damage wasn't enough to hold off Perez late. In the eighth and final round, Perez and Ford engaged in some big exchanges.
One judge scored it 78-74 for Perez, while another had it 77-75 for Ford. One judge produced a 76-76 scorecard, which resulted in the draw.