(AUG 14) Los Angeles, CA ---
Undisputed Women’s Welterweight World Champion ‘The First Lady’
Cecilia Braekhus, (35-0, 9 KOs), has commenced training under
the watchful eye of the world-renowned Abel Sanchez at his gym,
The Summit Training Center in Big Bear Lake, CA as she prepares
for her return to the ring.
“I’ve known Abel for a few years
and was very aware of the enormous success he has had training
the best fighters in the world,” said Braekhus, a native of
Oslo, Norway. “When I approached him about training me he was
very interested. We spent a few days working together and it
clicked, I’m learning a great deal from him every day.”
Braekhus has previously trained
in Santa Monica, CA; Kiev, Ukraine; Berlin, Germany; Spain and
Norway. “As soon as I arrived in Big Bear I felt very
comfortable, it’s a beautiful part of the world and very
conducive to an overall great training experience.”
Said the 2015 Trainer of the
Year, Sanchez, “I’ve long admired Cecilia boxing skills, she’s a
tremendous fighter, one of the very best female boxers in
history. She’s also very willing to learn which is important as
we move forward in training and prepare to face the toughest
competition.” Among the world champions Sanchez has trained
include Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin, Terry Norris, Orlin Norris,
Murat Gassiev and at least a dozen others.
Braekhus is holder of the WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO
Welterweight World Titles as well as the RING Magazine title
belt. She was previously trained by Johnathon Banks.
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On January 5, 2018, the Boxing Writers Association of America
named Braekhus the recipient of their first-ever Women’s Fighter
of the Year Award (2017). The award was presented by female
boxing pioneer Christy Martin at the BWAA’s Annual Awards Dinner
on May 11, 2018 In New York City.
On May 5, 2018, Braekhus was specifically chosen by HBO to fight
in the first women’s bout telecast on the network over their
45-year history of boxing events. Defeating world ranked
contender Kali Reis by unanimous decision at the StubHub Center
in Carson, CA, the fight was telecast to an average of 904,000
viewers in the United States, the second highest viewership by
the network for boxing in 2018.
As previously proclaimed by Ring Magazine, the Boxing Writers
Association of America named Braekhus the Women’s #1
Pound-for-Pound Fighter in the World on June 26, 2018 in the
first poll taken by organization for this honor. (The belt
presentation by Ring Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Doug Fischer
took place on September 13, 2018 in Las Vegas).
Fighting for the first time in Russia, Cecilia Braekhus won a
10-round unanimous decision over junior middleweight world
champion Inna Sagaydakovskaya on July 21, 2018 in Moscow. The
victory took place in front of over 25,000 spectators at the
Olympic Stadium and an international televised audience.
Finishing out her year in Grand Style, Braekhus improved to 35-0
on Saturday, December 8, 2018 with a dominant ten-round decision
over world ranked contender Aleksandra Madgziak-Lopes at the
StubHub Center in Carson, CA.
Defending all of her undisputed welterweight world titles, (WBC,
WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO and Ring Magazine), the victory capped off a
remarkable year filled with tremendous performances inside the
ring and a wealth of accolades outside. The main event clash
headlined an HBO Boxing telecast and marked the second
appearance for Braekhus on the premium cable channel in 2018.
Braekhus has been an undisputed world champion, holding all four
major sanctioning body titles since September 2014. She is only
one of seven boxers to achieve this historical feat.
