Last Saturday, May 11th, saw the rise of Wales’ first female world champion as Lauren Price defeated American fighter Jessica McCaskill to win the WBA welterweight title [and The Ring title] in her home country at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff. Price effectively won the match by technical decision following a clash of heads that forced the bout to be stopped a round earlier than planned in the 9th round.
Jessica McCaskill’s (12-4-1, 5 KO’s) reign as a world champion is definitively over after she lost her last remaining world title [WBA welterweight] to Lauren Price (7-0, 1 KO’s) in a title defense where she lost by a significant margin―with all three judges’ scoring the bout 90-82 in favor of Price.
While the match was originally scheduled for 10 rounds, the two fighters clashed heads in the fifth round; forcing the bout to be stopped in the 9th when McCaskill’s swelling had grown too severe for her to continue competing.
In essence, it was a nigh-perfect match by Lauren Price who competed in her first-ever world title bout and delivered in an almost dominant fashion as she won the majority of the rounds with pinpoint boxing―made even more significant that this concerned the first fight in Wales that Price ever fought.
McCaskill’s strategy proved to be the entirely wrong choice, with Price’s speed and jabs proving to be a rather simple yet effective method to stifle McCaskill’s come-forward style. Lauren Price proved so effective McCaskill relied on holding several times after she proved unable to defend the onslaught of quick punches and seemed incapable of throwing enough significant punches on her own.
The two fighters clashed heads in the 5th round to spur an early end of the title bout in the 9th round due to intense swelling on McCaskill’s part, resulting in Price being announced the winner by technical decision (TD) after the judges’ scorecards unanimously favored her. Price won the WBA world and The Ring lineal title as a result.
The undercard saw Welsh featherweight Rhys Edwards (16-0, 4 KO’s) successfully defeat English contender Thomas Patrick Ward (34-2-1, 5 KO’s) for the WBA inter-continental 126 lbs title, allowing Edwards to establish himself as a hopeful new contender for a world title while retaining his unbeaten record. Edwards won the [10-round] bout by unanimous decision (UD).
The Boxxer card also saw Hughie Fury (28-3, 16 KO’s)―cousin of current WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KO’s)―grab his second win for the year. While Tyson Fury is set to fight to attempt to become undisputed this upcoming weekend on May 18th in one of boxing’s most pivotal clashes, Hughie Fury has only recently returned to the ring following an absence of the ring of approximately three years due to health issues related to COVID-19.
While Fury was supposed to return in 2023, the month of April marked his official return where he won his match by points. His second match occurred on last Saturday’s card where he grabbed a stupendous win by technical knockout (TKO) after stopping German opponent Patrick Korte (21-4-1, 8 KO’s) in the 2nd round of their 8th round fight.
The 29-year old is now in the position to go back to the path of title contention in the heavyweight division after his last match against Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KO’s) in 2017 saw him last challenge for a world title [WBO]. Since losing his zero against Parker, Fury has had quite an up-and-down career, winning several noticeable fights yet finding his career derailed after two losses against Kubrat Pulev (31-3, 14 KO’s) and Alexander Povetkin that prevented him from gaining momentum.
For Hughie Fury, the priority now appears to be remain as active as possible with him already being scheduled for another match on June 29th where he will face an opponent that has yet to be announced.
The welterweight title match officially marks the end of McCaskill’s more than half-a-decade tenure as a world champion, having won her first world title [WBC] in 2018 at 140 lbs before moving up to welterweight where she eventually became undisputed in 2020. Since 2018, McCaskill had only been involved in world title fights, winning all barring her last three matches in which she suffered a draw, and two losses.
For Lauren Price, a new era has arrived for the former professional footballer and kickboxer, with plenty of new opportunities lurking for her against either the top-rated contenders, or other champions, in the division. For the first time in history, the 147 lbs division is now home to three different British female world champions―with English fighters Sandy Ryan (7-1-1, 3 KO’s) and Natasha Jonas (15-2-1, 9 KO’s) holding the WBO and IBF titles respectively.
