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Lauren Price won the WBA, IBO and Ring Magazine world welterweight titles with a comprehensive victory over Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff.
The fight was stopped two seconds into the ninth round, with McCaskill unable to continue due to a swollen eye.
Due to a clash, the decision went to the judges and Price was a clear winner in all three after a boxing masterclass from the Welsh fighter.
“I believe this is just the beginning,” Price said after his win.
“I want to come back here and create a legacy. She came at me from the first round and it took me a while to find distance, but I had fun and will improve. I want to fight at the Principality Stadium, that’s the dream.”
Price was competing in just his seventh professional fight after a stellar amateur career that brought him Olympic gold in Tokyo three years ago. The former international was aiming to become Wales’ 14th world champion – and the first woman – on a night when the home fans turned out in force to pack Cardiff’s Utilita Arena.
Challenger Price, almost 10 years younger than his American opponent, entered the ring to Dafydd Iwan’s anthem ‘Yma O Hyd’ before the playing of the Welsh national anthem raised the atmosphere to fever pitch.
No one could doubt McCaskill’s pedigree with the Chicago native combining two divisions in his career and boasted more world title fights on his CV than Price had professional fights.
McCaskill was also undefeated at welterweight, but a loss to Chantelle Cameron and a draw with Sandy Ryan in her previous two contests raised question marks against a fighter four months shy of her 40th birthday.
There was clear respect between the pair in the early stages, but the pace picked up as McCaskill roughed up Price and the American was caught with a good jab when the bell sounded at the end of round two.
McCaskill was spoken to by referee Michael Alexander in the third after pushing Price back to the ropes again, with the crowd clearly unimpressed by the American’s antics. Price was starting to relax, landing some venomous jabs as he moved well in and out of range, and swelling began to appear around McCaskill’s right eye.
McCaskill was under serious pressure as the fight reached the halfway point, with Price apparently targeting the American’s swollen eye. A gash also appeared over McCaskill’s left eye and Price continued to land counter punches with the American going for accurate shots.
The doctor was called in to examine McCaskill’s eye at the end of the seventh, but the fight continued without a change in the balance of power until it was eventually called off.
Price can now move on and target lucrative matches, with England pair Cameron and Ryan high on her list.
Rhys Edwards was crowned the new WBA Intercontinental Featherweight Champion with a unanimous points decision over Thomas Patrick Ward.
Huey Fury – cousin of world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury – continued his comeback with a second-round stoppage of Germany’s Patrick Korte.
Fury fights for the second time in three weeks following a six-round points victory over Konstantin Dovbyshchenko after being sidelined for three years due to health problems.
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