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5′ 7½″ junior welterweight Cecilia
Brækhus was born on September 28, 1981 in
Cartagena, Colombia to Norwegian parents. She now lives in Bergen,
Norway. She began kickboxing at age 14 and won World and European
amateur gold medals in 2003 at 65 kg before she turned to boxing..
At the 2004 European Women's
Championships in Riccione, Italy, Cecilia took the silver medal at 63
kg with a loss to Vinni Skovgaard of Denmark in the final.
In March 2005 at Trondheim,
Norway she won the Norwegian 75-kg championship with a 31-7 decision
over Ingjerd Skogmo.
In May 2005 she won the 63-kg
European Women's Championship in Tonsberg, Norway defeating Julya
Nemtsova of Russian in the final on May 14 by a 22-15 margin. She had
previously defeated Mandy Leunissen of Holland (RSCO-2) and Larisa Pop
of Romania (29-18) in her quarterfinal and semifinal bouts.
She won the silver medal at 63
kg in the 2005 AIBA Women's World Championships in Podolsk, Russia,
losing a rematch to Julya Nemtsova of Russia by a 34-23 margin in the
final on October 2. She had previously defeated Islak Elif of Turkey
RSCO- in the preliminary round, Alanna Murphy of Ireland (30-12) in the
quarterfinal, and Vinni Skovgaard of Denmark (40-24) in the
semifinal.
At the 2006 Nordic Women's
Championships in Tonsberg, Norway on March 26, Cecilia defeated Vinni
Skovgaard of Denmark by a 17-14 margin to win the 63-kg division.
She made her professional
debut on January 20 2007 at St. Jakob Halle in Basel, Switzerland,
with a four-round unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-36) decision over Ksenija
Koprek from Croatia,
who fell to 0-2-0. Both boxers had weighed in at 140½ lbs.
She also caught the eye of coach Ulli Wegner,
On February 17, 2007 at
Complexe Sportif in Evere, Belgium, Brækhus stopped Jana Matisova
of Košice, Slovakia in the second round, dropping Matisova's record to
1-2 (0 KO's).
On May 26, 2007 at Jako-Arena
in Bamberg, Germany, Cecilia (141 lbs) won a four-round unanimous
(40-36,40-36,40-36) decision over Olga Bojare (133¼ lbs) of Latvia, who
fell to 1-5-1 with the loss.
(Bojare has never won outside Latvia but is a frequent opponent for
rising boxers in Germany.)
On June 23, 2007 at Stadthalle
in Zwickau, Germany, Cecilia (141 lbs) won a six-round unanimous
decision over Borislava Goranova (140 lbs) of Bulgaria, who fell to
3-19-0 (0 KO's). (Goranova has never won outside Bulgaria but since
2001 has been a frequent opponent for world-ranked fighters in other
countries,
including Jane Couch four
times, Anne-Sophie Mathis
twice, Miriam Lamare, Agnieszka Rylik,
Heidi Hartmann
and Natascha Ragosina.)
Although Cecilia decided to
take some time away from boxing after these bouts, she has built a fan
and media following in Norway. In January 2008 it was
announced
that she would be the first female boxer to be signed by
Team
Sauerland Event Gmbh, one of the leading boxing stables in
Germany and a competitor to Universum Box Promotion which built a
women's boxing franchise around Regina
Halmich.
“Her tremendous
popularity and her great success have convinced us,” said
Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer about Brækhus.
“I am really looking forward to coaching a female
athlete,” said Sauerland trainer Ulli Wegner, adding: “There
are a lot of things my boys can learn from her. She´s got what it takes
to be a world champion.”
She says of Wegner: “He
looks very strict on TV but if you meet him in person he is a very nice
guy – a true gentleman. It´s been great to work with him.”
Brækhus,
who will be known henceforth as "First Lady", says her goal is to be a
world champion one day, adding that “Team Sauerland give me
all the support I need. I will pay back their confidence with a lot of
wins. For me it´s a great honour to be part of such a high-profile
boxing stable.”
On January 26, 2008 making her
Sauerland Event debut at the Tempodrom in Kreuzberg, Germany, Cecilia
(143¼ lbs) won by a TKO at 1:47 in the fourth round over Wanda Pena
Ozuna (141½ lbs) of the Dominican Republic, who fell to 4-3-0 (1
KO).
Brækhus improved to 5-0
(2 KO's) as a pro boxer with this result.
On March 29, 2008 at
Sparkassen-Arena in Kiel, Germany, Cecilia (143½ lbs) won a six-round
unanimous (60-64,60-53,60-53) decision over Tatjana Dieckmann (146¾
lbs) of Hamburg, Germany who fell to 1-3 (0 KO's).
On May 17, 2008 at
Oberfrankenhalle in Bayreuth, Germany,
Cecilia (141¼ lbs) won a six-round unanimous
(60-53,59-54,60-54) decision over Adelita
Irizarry (142¾ lbs) of Hartford, Connecticut,
USA. Irizarry fell to
4-2 (2 KO's).
On June 21, 2008 in the first
ever women's bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
Hollywood, Florida, Cecilia (139½ lbs)
fought a tough six-round see-saw battle with Nicole Woods (144 lbs) of
Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA, winning by a unanimous
(59-55,60-54,60-54) decision. Woods said, "Braekhus is a good
fighter and to take nothing away from her it was her day. I broke my
hand in the second round but continued on fighting with skill, heart
and determination, by no means was I outclassed. I would have loved to
see how the fight would have turned out if I had the use of both hands.
So to the Sauerland Team whether it be here in the US or in Germany,
Let's Do It Again". Woods fell to 4-3 (0 KO's).
On
September 20, 2008 at Seidensticker Halle, in Bielefeld,
Germany, Cecilia (144½ lbs) won an eight-round unanimous
(80-72,80-72,80-73) decision over Kimberly "Cim" Harris (144¼ lbs) of
Tampa, Florida. Some of the card was televised, but the
Braekhus-Harris bout was not.
According
to Erik Schmidt of BoxingNews.com, "Braekhus
used her speed advantage to jab and pound Harris with combinations in
the first round. The speed difference between the two fighters was
immediately apparent, as well as the ability to move around the ring
... For the most part, Braekhus used quick combinations to hound
Harris, hitting her often with crisp 1-2 combinations to the head as
she lumbered forward ... After tasting a couple of big right hands from
her in the first round, Braekhus looked as if she thought better of
staying in close with Harris and opted for a safer punch and move
strategy to keep from getting hit as often. This worked well, for
Harris was unable to cut off the ring and adjusted slowly when Braekhus
was using any kind of lateral movement. In the second round, Braekhus
landed some tasty left hands, hitting Harris cleanly with them one
after another ... Braekhus hit Harris at will in the fourth round ...
Harris, for her part, tried to land but she was too slow in getting her
wide body around the ring that by the time that she would get in range
to land a shot, Braekhus had already moved out of distance ... Harris’s
nose began to redden in the 5th round ... She did start the round off
well, rushing in at Braekhus and hitting her with a flurry of shots. It
was quite impressive and I couldn’t help but wonder why Harris had
waited this long to unleash some shots, because she looked good when
she was letting her hands go. Braekhus, however, continued firing off
fast combinations to the head and she quickly regained control over the
round. Near the end of the round, Harris landed several big right hands
to the head. Harris came out strong again in the 6th round, throwing a
fast flurry as she bum rushed Braekhus, keeping her back to the ropes.
Braekhus fought back well with some good combinations, but Harris came
on strong in the last second of the round with several right hands.
Braekhus tried slugging with Harris in the 7th round, and took a lot of
shots for her efforts. She fought back well, but didn’t have the power
or the size to win at Harris’ power game. Braekhus then thought better
of it and started moving in the last seconds of the round. In the 8th
round, Braekhus concentrated on throwing fast combinations to the head,
keeping Harris under a constant rain of shots. Both fighters clinched
often after throwing shots. The round, however, belonged completely to
Braekhus, who used her speed and combinations to dominate Harris."
Harris
dropped to 5-13 (0 KO).
On October 25, 2008 at Weser -Ems-Halle in Oldenburg,
Germany, Cecilia Braekhus won an eight-round unanimous (80-70,80-70,80-71)
decision over Borislava Goranova of Sofia, Bulgaria. Goranova fell to 4-25-1 (0 KO's).
 On
March 14, 2009 at Ostseehalle in Kiel, Germany, Cecilia defeated her
former amateur rival Vinni Skovgaard of Denmark by a 10-round unanimous
(98-92,96-94,96-94) decision for the vacant WBA and WBC Welterweight
titles. As
reported
by Erik Schmidt of BoxingNews24.com., "Braekhus ... used a
combination of movement and speedy combinations to edge the hard
punching Skovgaard through 10 hotly contested rounds. Braekhus was
forced to move pretty much throughout the fight, for whenever she would
stand in any one place for long, Skovgaard would find her with her hard
jab and big power shots. However, Braekhus’s excellent movement was
just what the doctor order, preventing Skovgaard from landing enough of
her big shots to come out on top at the end of the tough fight. The
constant movement may not have been pretty to watch for the boxing fans
in the arena, yet it was effective in getting the win for Braekhus. In
the 1st round, Braekhus came out circling the ring, landing well with
her jab and then changing directions. She seemed to understand that
being predictable was something that could lead to her getting hurt,
and continued to switch directions every so often. Skovgaard, used to
fighting opponents that stand directly in front of her, she wasn’t able
to handle the frequent movement from Braekhus or her blazing fast hand
speed. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, Braekhus continued giving Skovgaard
problems with her movements and speedy combinations. Skovgaard’s fast
began reddening and swelling on the left side starting in the 3rd.
Braekhus’s jabs were causing a lot of damage to her fast. At the same
time, Skovgaard began to find success landing her own jabs, which were
like a mini power punch. When she would land her jab, often times it
would snap Braekhus’ head back violently. At the start of the 4th
round, Skovgaard landed a powerful jab, snapping Braekhus’ head back.
Skovgaard would later land some huge right hands catching Braekhus when
she was coming in to land her usual short flurries. Skovgaard still
wasn’t having much success in predicting where and when Braekhus would
make her attacks, and had to settle for landing a shot whenever she
could. Braekhus constant movement began to have an effect on her
starting in the 5th, as she was now looking more tired, having even
less power on her weak shots and getting caught more frequently by
Skovgaard. After getting hit more than she was used to ... in the 5th,
Braekhus stepped up the pace of her movement in the 6th. However, she
was still getting caught over and over again as Skovgaard would cut off
her avenue of retreat and then tagging her with big right hands and
jabs. In rounds even through ten, Braekhus was now reduced to throwing
arm punches as she was now running on fumes. She was still able to keep
up her constant movement but you could see from her body language that
she was quite tired. In the 10th, Skovgaard caught her often and landed
some really big shots. However, by then, Braekhus had the fight well in
control and could afford to lose a round." Skovgaard
fell to 7-1 (3 KO's).
On May 30, 2009 at Hartwall
Arena in in Helsinki, Finland, Cecilia (144½ lbs) won a ten-round
unanimous (98-92 x 3) decision over Amy Yuratovac (146 lbs)
of Hammond, Indiana, USA defending the WBA and WBC
Welterweight titles.
According
to Erik Schmidt of BoxingNews24.com, "Braekhus ... dominated
the 26-year-old Yuratovac for 10 rounds, using her longer reach,
quicker hands and better movement. Yuratovac put a lot of pressure on
Braekhus throughout the 10-round bout, but Braekhus’ long jab and fast
combinations got the better of Yuratovac when she was able to get close
to land. Occasionally, Yuratovac was able to land some nice hooks.
However, those occasions were few and far in between as Braekhus was
much too quick for Yuratovac to get in more a rare shot without getting
hit numerous times to the head and body. If there’s anything that’s not
to like about Braekhus’ performance it’s her lack of power. Braekhus
could probably hit much harder than she does if she would sit down more
on her punches instead of moving so much and fighting on her back foot.
However, the crowd didn’t seem to mind her lack of power and cheered
Braekhus continuously.". Braekhus progressed to 12-0 (2
KO‘s) with the win as Yuratovac fell to 6-3 (6 KO's).
On September 12, 2009 at MCH Messecenter
in Herning, Denmark Cecilia Braekhus (146 lbs) won a 10-round unanimous (98-92,99-92,97-93) decision over previously
undefeated Lucia Morelli (142¼ lbs) of Offenburg, Germany for the WBC
and WBA Welterweight titles. Morelli fell to 13-1 (6 KO's) with the
loss while Braekhus improved to 13-0 (2 KO's).
 Video
of fight
“I am pleased with my performance,”
Braekhus
said.
“Amy was an unorthodox fighter, she tried to fight
and I tried to box, but I am happy I defeated her clearly.”
Coach Ulli Wegner added that “Cecilia did very well
tonight. Her development is tremendous. Today was a good test for her
because her opponent was a true fighter and put on a strong
performance. But Cecilia found the right solutions.”
On May 15,
2010 at Herning Kongrescenter in Herning, Denmark, Cecilia (146½ lbs)
won a convincing ten-round unanimous (100-90x3) decision over Victoria
Cisneros (142¾ lbs) of Albuquerque, NM, USA defending the WBC and WBA
Welterweight titles and adding the vacant WBO Welterweight title to her
collection. Cisneros never got untracked offensively and did
well to stay on her feet throughout this bout, which was dominated from
start to finish by Brækhus's boxing skills. Cisneros fell to 5-9-1 (1 KO's). On October 30, 2010 at the Stadthalle in Rostock, Germany, Cecilia (146½ lbs) TKO'd previously unbeaten Mikaela Lauren (144¾
lbs) of Sweden at 0:40 in the seventh round of a scheduled ten-rounder
for Braekhus's WBC, WBA and WBO Welterweight titles. Lauren, a former
Swedish national swimming team member who was coming off a
six-round unanimous decision over veteran US boxer Jill Emery, had no
answers for Brækhus's aggressive body attack so the outcome of
the fight never seemed in doubt. Lauren fell to 6-1 (1 KO) with the
loss.
On November
20, 2010 at Herning Kongrescenter in Herning, Denmark, Cecilia Brækhus (145 lbs) won by a third round KO over
Eva Halasi (142¼ lbs) in a scheduled ten-rounder for the WBC and WBO Welterweight titles. Halasi fell to 6-3 (6 KO's). 
Jill Emery vs Cecilia Braekhus in April 2011
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mary Ann Owen
On April 2, 2011 at Herning
Kongrescenter in Herning, Denmark, Cecilia (147 lbs) won a
10-round unanimous (98-92,98-92,99-91) decision over Jill Emery (145 lbs) of New York defending her WBA, WBO, and WBC Welterweight titles. Photographer Mary Ann Owen told WBAN.
"Braekhus was very aggressive all ten rounds landing more
punches. Emery had problems with Braekhus's pressure
through out the rounds. Emery landed a few punches but
not enough pull out a win. Both fighters showed good
sportsmanship and hugged and talked after the fight." Emery fell to 10-5 (4 KO's). On
May 7, 2011 at the Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, Cecilia (145¾ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous
(97-93,98-92,98-92) decision over Chevelle Hallback (142¼ lbs) of
Tampa, Florida defending the WBC, WBA and WBO Welterweight
titles. Although the scorecards favored Braekhus, many
rounds were close as the smaller Hallback appeared to surprise Brækhus
with her
punching power and raised a noticeable swelling under the defending
champion's right
eye wih one of several hard shots in the fifth. Braekhus had
controlled Hallback in
the early rounds but Hallback swung for the KO in the last two rounds
while Brækhus used her mobility to get away and secure the points
decision.
"It was a good fight, but I still have some things to work on", said Brækhus, adding "my guard was not good enough. I did not think she would hit as hard as she did." Brækhus improved to 18-0 (4 KO's) while Hallback fell to 28-7-2 (11 KO's). On December 3, 2011 at the Hartwall Arena in
Helsinki, Finland, Cecilia Brækhus (146½ lbs) TKO'd Kuulei Kupihea (146 lbs) of Honolulu, Hawaii, at 0:57 in the final round of a scheduled ten for the WBC, WBA, and WBO
welterweight titles. Brækhus
controlled the action with her slick boxing skills before trying
to put her opponent away late in the fight. Kupihea was clearly
outskilled by the champion but she defended well until the final round,
then took a series of clean shots to the face including a right-left
hook combo that had her stumbling against the ropes to
draw the stoppage. Brækhus improved to 19-0 (5 KO's) while Kupihea fell to 7-2 (2 KO's). [Video] Brækhus had talked of a future big-money fight with American Holly Holm, but Holm's KO loss to Anne-Sophie Mathis
of France on December 2 2011 took the potential "best-in-the-world"
luster off that match. A showdown with WBAN Welterweight
champion Mathis, widely seen as the most dangerous woman in pro
boxing, now looks like the toughest challenge for Cecilia.
To check out fight reports,
complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go
to
the WBAN Records
Member Site
Other Cecilia Braekhus links
Page
last updated: Saturday, 10 December, 2011
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