Jessica McCaskill, the Ring magazine welterweight champion, will square off against Sandy Ryan in a title defense, Matchroom Boxing announced Wednesday.

Matchroom Boxing also announced they signed McCaskill, the No. 6-ranked fighter in the Ring magazine women’s pound-for-pound ratings, to a new promotional deal.

The date and location of the McCaskill-Ryan will be announced at a later date.

McCaskill (12-3, 5 knockouts), who resides in Chicago, Illinois, dropped down to 140 pounds to face Chantelle Cameron in her last fight on November 5, losing a close unanimous decision. Cameron was the reigning WBC and IBF world titleholder, and added the vacant WBO and WBA world titles with the win over McCaskill.

Because of the loss to Cameron, McCaskill was stripped of her IBF and WBO welterweight title belts in the subsequent weeks. She currently holds the WBC and WBA world titles.

The 38-year-old last fought at 147 pounds on June 25 of last year, stopping once-beaten Alma Ibarra of Mexico in the third round.

McCaskill is best known for her back-to-back victories over Cecilia Braekhus in August 2020, which earned her the undisputed welterweight championship, and seven months later in March 2021.

Ryan (6-1, 2 KOs), who resides in Derby, England, won the vacant WBO belt in her last fight on April 22, defeating Canada’s Marie Pier Hoile by unanimous decision. Ryan has won her last three fights since a split-decision loss to Erica Farias on March 12 of last year.

The 29-year-old avenged the Farias loss less than five months later, winning by unanimous decision.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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