Jessica McCaskill pounds, stops overmatched Kandi Wyatt
Jessica McCaskill never gave late-replacement opponent Kandi Wyatt a chance on the Devin Haney-Joseph Diaz Jr. card Saturday in Las Vegas.
The undisputed welterweight champion, coming off back-to-back victories over Cecilia Braekhus, came out firing at the opening bell and didn’t stop until the scheduled 10-round bout was stopped 19 seconds into Round 7.
McCaskill (11-2, 4 KOs) appeared to go for a first-round stoppage, unloading a barrage of hard shots that found the target. However, Wyatt (10-4, 3 KOs) was able to survive the onslaught, which made it clear that the tough Canadian wasn’t going to go away willingly.
McCaskill maintained a torrid pace and landed many punishing blows. Wyatt did her best to fight back but couldn’t keep up with the champion, The only thing she did well was remain on her feet.
Finally, in the middle rounds, referee Celestino Ruiz became concerned that Wyatt was taking too many punches. He warned her to “show me something” multiple times, including after a one-sided sixth round.
Then, after Wyatt absorbed one more flurry of shots from McCaskill in Round 7, Ruiz stepped in and stopped the fight.
McCaskill had been scheduled to fight Victoria Bustos but the Argentine was unable to get to a visa in time for her to travel to the U.S.
In another preliminary bout, heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs) put Emir Ahmatovic (10-1, 7 KOs) down three times and stopped him 30 seconds into Round 3 of a scheduled 10-round bout.
