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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. Braekhus improved to
10-0 (2 KO's) with her second win over Goranova, who fell
to 4-25-1 (0 KO's).
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:
Monday, 15 February 2010 |
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