April twentieth in Croatia. WBC, IBO, and WBA women's welterweight titles at stake - McCaskill's fifth defense of each. Previously the American did hold all five major belts in the division as undisputed champion, but forfeited both the IBF strap (now held by Natasha Jonas) and the WBO. She failed to regain the latter in a unification with Sandy Ryan last September that ended in a split draw. Habazin's promoter won the purse bids for this, her ninth world title contest. She is 3-5 in her previous eight, capturing the vacant IBF welter and hot potatoing it without any successdul defenses in 2014 and the vacant IBO middleweight in 2018 with a single defense. She is 2-2 in the last four years. Common opponent: Cecilia Carmen Linda Brækhus - lost to McCaskill twice in a row in 2020-21, defeated Habazin via shutout UD several years earlier.
I mean, women's boxing has long struggled to get anyone to care about it - and some of the "big names" of late haven't exactly done much to sweeten Joe Public's view with their bland and off-putting in-ring styles and equally bland and off-putting personalities. (looking at you, Predator) There will be no closure of the pay gap in this industry within our lifetimes, methinks.
Yeah, both of her reigns started with low-hanging fruit, "gimme" type opponents for vacant belts. Jess is on the downslide in form recently but she is still a full level above what Ivana has ever beaten.
