Ringside Report: Lauren Price Beats Jessica McCaskill To Claim World Title Glory In Cardiff

Ringside Report: Lauren Price Beats Jessica McCaskill To Claim World Title Glory In Cardiff

By Dan D’Alessio

Lauren Price produced a boxing masterclass to claim a technical decision win on Saturday night in Cardiff and become a world champion.

The atmosphere at Cardiff International Arena was electric before the fighters entered the ring, and the crowd went into raptures when it was formally announced that Welsh heroess Price was the winner. It was like Wales were playing in the final of the World Cup, and Price was the star player leading her nation to victory.

Chants of ‘Lauren, Lauren, Lauren’ exploded around the arena as it became apparent that the Welsh wanted another world champion on the record books. The arena was filled with thousands of passionate fans, and during the Welsh national anthem, the pressure on Price’s shoulders was palpable.

And who is more fitting than a former Olympic gold medallist in Price to join the elite club featuring legends such as Joe Calzaghe, Enzo Maccarinelli, and current IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina.

After getting booed into the ring, it became clear that McCaskill had a mountain to climb if she had any chance of retaining her welterweight baubles. Well, it was an unclimbable mountain as Price proved too fast, smart, and athletic for McCaskill over eight rounds. McCaskill was the bull, and Price was the matador.

The American seemed to have one game plan all night, which was to lunge forward and try to land a big right on Price. This was often telegraphed, though, and Price did well to mitigate McCaskill’s punching power.

Indeed, Price boxed beautifully in the centre of the ring by finding a home for the straight left hand and right check hook, while McCaskill threw punches and missed wildly most of the time. Price was the one with the extensive amateur pedigree, and it showed as she also peppered McCaskill with the southpaw right jab all night long. She is nicknamed ‘The Lucky One’ but there was nothing fortuitous about Price’s ability to make McCaskill and then make her pay.

To McCaskill’s credit, she never stopped trying and when it was clear she was overmatched in boxing ability, she resorted to roughhouse tactics by pushing Price against the ropes and even getting her into a headlock at one point.

Of course, McCaskill did get through with the odd power punch, yet it never fazed Price, who was always a few steps ahead of her opponent. And McCaskill would have kept looking for that one big punch to change the complexion of the fight if she didn’t have massive amounts of swelling over her left eye.

Two seconds into round nine, referee Michael Alexander asked the ringside doctor to take another look at McCaskill’s injury, which prompted a halt to the contest.

At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Price up with identical scorecards of 90-82, which meant McCaskill would have needed a knockout to salvage her night.

McCaskill’s best rounds were the early ones as the gap in class seemed to widen as the fight went into the later rounds. Overall, minus the occasional holding, it was an exciting, action-packed spectacle and a brilliant advertisement for women’s boxing.

Price is now officially the first Welsh female boxing world champion ever, and based on that performance, she is the woman to beat in the welterweight division. The one-sided victory earned Price WBA, IBO and Ring Magazine welterweight honours.

Meanwhile, on the undercard, another potential Welsh superstar in Rhys Edwards captured the best win of his career by outboxing Thomas Patrick Ward over ten rounds.

Hughie Fury captured his first knockout win since 2021 by stopping Patrick Korte in round two.

Mark Jeffers brutally knocked out Darren Johnstone to become the Commonwealth super-middleweight champion.

Kyran Jones dropped Lewis Howells in the second round en route to capturing a points decision and moved to 10-0.

Cardiff hero Kane Shepherd landed a sharp left hand to drop Ishmael Ellis in the second round and continued to dominate before promoting a corner stoppage in the third.

Moses Jolly produced a wildly exciting performance to win every round against Amine Boucetta. Jolly was unable to “Finish him!” like someone demanded from the crowd, but his Mohican-themed entrance was a fan favourite.

And to start a phenomenal night of boxing from Boxxer, Lewis Edmondson proved too skilful for Joel McIntyre as he cruised to a wide points win.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer