Cecilia Brækhus has been using rewriting history as motivation for her undisputed welterweight championship defense against Jessica McCaskill on Saturday night. A win and Brækhus will snap Joe Louis' record of 25 consecutive title defenses.
But it's what could come after that feat that has Brækhus (36-0, 9 KOs) really anticipating. A victory over McCaskill, and Brækhus would face the winner of the Aug. 22 rematch between Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon. During a recent interview with DAZN's Chris Mannix, the "First Lady" didn't hesitate saying 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 about a mega showdown between herself and Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs). "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 Brækhus's ambition and set up a rematch with Taylor 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's Andreas Hale earlier in the week about what a victory over Brækhus 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, Brækhus 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 in position that has been able to manage and be able to do that."
A showdown with Taylor may change that.
The first step to that coming to fruition is Brækhus facing McCaskill in the heart of downtown Tulsa, Okla., and live on DAZN, on Saturday night.