Boxing
Cecilia Brækhus, Jessica McCaskill explain how training during pandemic has actually been positive
Click here to watch Brækhus vs. McCaskill on DAZN
Jessica McCaskill used her mobile phone to pan over and show DAZN the makeshift office she set up at the Body Shot Boxing Club in Chicago.
The WBA and WBC super lightweight champion had her laptop and another computer monitor propped up on a table, so she could handle her day job duties as an investment banker. She sat just a few feet from ringside, where she trained for her mega showdown with undisputed world welterweight champion Cecilia Brækhus on Saturday night.
Training for a championship bout of this caliber during a global pandemic isn't ideal. Yet, ironically, it has worked for both McCaskill and Brækhus leading up to their clash in the heart of downtown Tulsa, Okla.
"It has been very positive in my eyes because I'm at the gym right now and I have my computers up and I'm able to work," the 35-year-old McCaskill recently told DAZN's Chris Mannix. "I'm able to shut down for 15 minutes, run two miles, take a shower and come back and everything is just really close-knit. I don't have to commute, so it has taken out some of that unnecessary time. And it's been great for me, honestly."
Brækhus, who turns 39 in September, expressed a similar sentiment during a separate interview with Mannix. She trained for this bout in the high altitude of Big Bear, Calif., where she feels the isolation did wonders for her even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
"For me, personally it has been a good thing because I'm normally traveling back and forth from my camp here in the states to Norway, my home country, and I'm always on the road," she explained about training during the global crisis. "Staying in one place for a couple of months has really been good to me and I think, honestly, I can say I'm in my best shape in many, many years."
She added: "Being able to settle down for a couple of months, the solitude has done me very well."
Whichever champ got the most of her training will be evident Saturday night, when the undefeated Brækhus (36-0, 9 KOs) puts her undisputed welterweight crown against McCaskill (7-2, 3 KOs), live on DAZN.
