If Cecilia Brækhus can defeat Jessica McCaskill on Saturday night, the undefeated, undisputed welterweight champion may very well end up being slated against Katie Taylor — depending on how Taylor’s Aug. 22 rematch against Delfine Persoon shakes out first.
While being the lone boxer standing at the end of this mini tournament would spell yet another feat for Brækhus, there’s still another undefeated, undisputed champion out there, and this one refers to herself as the “GWOAT” — the Greatest Woman of All Time.
Earlier in the week during a Zoom conference call, Brækhus was asked if she needs a fight with Claressa Shields in order for her fighting legacy to be complete.
MORE: Brækhus says women 'deserve' to be the main event
Brækhus didn’t hesitate welcoming the fight, while making sure to state that the 25-year-old Shields’ self-proclaimed GWOAT tag is premature and must be proven into existence.
“Yeah, I think everybody needs that,” Brækhus said. “I've had a couple of good fights coming up in my career, but maybe for the American audience, (myself vs. Shields) would be needed for them.
“I like when Claressa Shields says that,” Brækhus continued, referring to the undisputed middleweight champion calling herself the GWOAT. “She huffs and puffs and makes good commercial for herself. She also draws attention to women's boxing, but that's it. Right now, nobody is really in a position to call themselves the GWOAT (laughs). We just have to see what's happening now because the pool of talent is so big.”
She added for extra reassurance: “I mean, that's a big title. I think we have to wait a little bit before we could declare anyone that title. We need some more big fights, and like I said, the talent pool is so big. Claressa calling herself the GWOAT is great for the attention and women's boxing, but she has to prove herself a little bit more first.”
Unlike Shields (10-0, 2 KOs) and Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs), Brækhus (36-0, 9 KOs) has stayed put in the welterweight division. If she can get past McCaskill and defeat the winner of Taylor-Persoon II, there would be plenty of clamoring for a Brækhus vs. Shields bout to declare the GWOAT definitively since the former insists that title is up for grabs. Brækhus, who turns 39 in September, may have to leave her comfort zone at welterweight for that mega bout to happen, and perhaps junior middleweight would be the logical destination.
After becoming the undisputed middleweight champion last year, Shields snatched the WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles this past January before the coronavirus pandemic managed to halt boxing and the world along with it. Perhaps, Brækhus could meet her there.
As part of a separate interview with DAZN’s Chris Mannix, Brækhus said that she’d be willing to meet Shields at 154 pounds, but only if the offer is respectable. She claimed Shields’ team offered her “pocket change” for a fight in 2019, but added that “they’re welcome to come to the table again,” while imploring “just be serious, guys.”
MORE: McCaskill eager to play the role of spoiler vs. Brækhus
Before that dream bout even has the chance to come to fruition, Brækhus can break Joe Louis’s consecutive title defense streak with a win over McCaskill in the heart of Tulsa, Okla. and live on DAZN.
Whatever happens in that bout, her advisor, Tom Loeffler, hinted how Brækhus would be piling on her Hall of Fame-worthy credentials at this point.
“What Cecilia has accomplished in this sport is really unparalleled,” Loeffler offered on the Zoom call about the first woman to be crowned undisputed world champion and headline an HBO card.
“Just the fact that she was able to get professional boxing approved or legalized in her home country of Norway after a 35-year ban,” he continued, “was in itself a huge feat.”
If Brækhus can run the table in this mini tournament, it will only add to her legend.
Perhaps, then, a showdown with Shields will be the only proving point left.
