Jessica McCaskill targets Katie Taylor rematch following World Title win

Former Katie Taylor [10(5)-0] foe Jessica McCaskill [6(3)-2(0)] put herself back near the top of the list of potential Katie Taylor foes with a world title over the weekend.

The American, on short noticed, dethroned long-reigning Argentine WBC queen Erica Anabelle Farias at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago and now has her sights set on the Wicklow world champion at the weight below.

Indeed, her manager, Rick Ramos, believes a repeat would be a bigger fight than the pair’s first encounter which remains the toughest fight of Taylor’s pro career thus far.

The Bray boxer made history when fighting the American last time out at the York Hall. The Olympic gold medallist became the first woman to top a Sky Sports-broadcast fight card while outpointing McCaskill in her first world title defence last December.

McCaskill, who was homeless as a child, has since moved up in weight, rebuilt and can now boast world title success of her own.

The 34-year-old became the first female fight from Chicago to win a world title when she beat Farias – who Taylor defeated in 2006 to claim her first of five world amateur titles.

McCaskill claimed a 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 points win to pick up the green belt, live on DAZN.

The fact the fight played out on a Matchroom card certainly suggests Eddie Hearn and co are happy to keep CasKILLA relevant as they continue search for viable opponents for the Irish boxing sensation.

In recent months Team Taylor have taken a hit on this front following the retirement of Amanda Serrano and the shock knockout defeat of Natasha Jonas – and they will certainly have their fingers crossed that Irish-American Heather Hardy defeats Shelley Vincent in their WBO featherweight title clash at the end of the month.

Ramos believes his charge is a worthy foe and believes a rematch would be much bigger than their first meeting which played out on relatively short notice following a campaign from their side to secure the fight.

“I think a rematch would be good, maybe even bigger than the last time,” he told Bernard O’Neill.

“I do think Katie will come up in weight soon. We worked hard to get here but we have a ways to go.”

Taylor is next out in Boston at the TD Garden on Saturday October 20th where she puts her IBF and WBA lightweight titles on the line against Cindy Serrano – a former WBO featherweight champion and elder sister to the aforementioned Amanda..

The 32-year-old will then perhaps look to fulfil her undisputed dream and will target the two other world titles at lightweight – WBC top dog and pound-for-pound-rated Belgian Delfine Persoon and Brazilian WBO beltholder Rose Volanter

However, Taylor, who is a very small lightweight, still has multi-weight world champion ambitions and, if McCaskill still holds the title when she does decide to resize, it’s a fight that could make sense.

Smack talk would be a massive exaggeration but the vocal McCaskill was the first to draw verbals from Taylor, is known to the casual, has a title, and looks to be a likely later foe.

When the pair first met, the rugged McCaskill enjoyed some success, with Taylor eventually winning out 97-92, 97-92, 98-91.