Cecilia Braekhus Retains Titles On HBO’s First Women’s Boxing Match

Carlos ToroMay 6, 2018, 5:57 am

As women’s boxing continues to get more exposure in the United States, HBO gets its turn to broadcast a title fight featuring one of the top women in the world.

In the first-ever live women’s boxing match televised on HBO, undefeated undisputed women’s welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus had one of the toughest tests of her long reign as champion when she defeated Kali Reis to retain her titles. Braekhus scored the win over Reis by unanimous decision (97-92, 96-93, 96-93) while Fightful had scored the fight 95-94 in favor of Braekhus. Below is an excerpt from Fightful's live coverage of the fight.

Round 10: Reis is moving forward, throwing several right hooks. Braekhus lands a strong right hand and is getting some much-needed momentum. She lands a good combination, but Reis then lands a solid body shot as the fight ends.

Fightful scored round 10 for Braekhus 10-9, making it 95-94 for Braekhus

Braekhus had dominated the fight throughout the first six rounds of the bout while Reis managed to turn the table in the seventh round. An overhand right by Reis that landed on Braekhus’ jaw knocked down Braekhus for the first time in the champion’s career. In the last three rounds of the fight, it was a more even affair between the two women that made the fight a little closer in the scorecards.

In a post-fight interview, Braekhus said she would love to have a rematch against the former world champion, who had moved down in weight to fight Braekhus.

"It was such a hard fight. She is an amazing and tough fighter. I think she gave me a very tough fight and I think it was very close. She had some very good hard punches and actually one or two times I was surprised. I just have to give her all the credit. A rematch, a rematch for sure. Let's do a rematch," Braekhus said.

Braekhus, who had been a world champion since 2009, is the only active boxer to hold the WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and IBO titles at the same time and is the only undisputed champion across both men and women's boxing.