Cecilia Braekhus and challenges she overcomes

On October 10, Cecilia will face Ema Kozin for the WBC super welterweight title at Nova Spektrum Lillestrom, in Lillestrom, Norway.

Her career:

Born in Colombia but naturalized Norwegian, Cecilia debuted on January 20, 2007, with a victory over Ksenija Koprek in Switzerland.

After 10 consecutive wins, she earned a title shot. In March 2009, she faced Vinni Skovgaard for the vacant WBC super welterweight world title.

In a close fight, “First Lady” took the decision on the scorecards. The judges scored it 96-94, 98-92, and 96-94, giving her the win by unanimous decision.

It only took her three defenses before she unified another super welterweight belt. By late 2014, after 12 defenses of her three belts, she defeated Ivana Habazin to become the undisputed super welterweight champion.

In 2021, after 28 fights and 4,172 days as champion, she lost her crown.

On August 15, 2020, Braekhus faced Jessica McCaskill in Tulsa, United States. After 10 intense rounds, the judges awarded the fight to McCaskill by a close unanimous decision. But that wouldn’t be the last time they met in the ring.

Some months later, in March 2023, Dallas hosted the long-awaited rematch. On that occasion, the American once again came out victorious, in a fight she dominated more clearly than the first.

Undeterred and determined, Cecilia fought once a year from 2019 to 2024. In her most recent fight, in August 2024, she defeated Maricela Cornejo by unanimous decision, scoring a knockdown in the fourth round.

With that win, she captured the WBC interim super welterweight title.

Now, it’s make or break time for Braekhus, as she tries  to return to the elite of women’s boxing, this time one division higher.

Cecilia holds a record of 38-2-1 with 9 KOs.