
Swan sung: Pioneer Cecilia Braekhus wins unified titles in final fight
Cecilia Braekhus put a bow on her Hall of Fame career Saturday in outpointing Ema Kozin in Lillestrom, Norway, to win unified junior middleweight titles.
Ema Kozin: record, next fight and profile →

Cecilia Braekhus put a bow on her Hall of Fame career Saturday in outpointing Ema Kozin in Lillestrom, Norway, to win unified junior middleweight titles.

Cecilia Braekhus' final fight will be available to watch, but her Saturday challenge of unified junior middleweight titleholder Ema Kozin will stream on tape-delay Sunday.

Although Cecilia Braekhus cannot be certain whether her career will end on a high note or in disappointment on Saturday, she is sure of at least two things...

Cecilia Braekhus' next fight will be her last, but she isn’t treating Saturday’s swan song against unified junior middleweight titleholder Ema Kozin like a glorified farewell tour.

“October 4th, everything I’ve ever fought for comes to an end,” Braekhus said ahead of her fight against Ema Kozin.

It's official: The First Lady and WBC interim super welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus, 38-2-1 (9KOs), meets WBC, WBO and WBF champ Slovenian Ema Kozin, 24-1-1 (12 KOs) October 4 in Lillestrom, Norway.

The WBC and WBO junior-middleweight champion Ema Kozin has been unable to get a visa to enter the United States and thus is not able to defend her titles on Saturday against Cecilia Braekhus

Ema Kozin no longer has to settle for being defined by her lone career defeat. An awkward battle with former WBA titlist Hannah Rankin saw the visiting Slovenian claim a ten-round, split decision to win the vacant WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles. Glasgow’s Rankin won 96-94 on one card, overruled by scores of 96-94 and 98-92 for Kozin in their ESPN+ opener Saturday at AO Arena in Manchester, England.

Nick Ball and Isaac Dogboe are all set to meet at the crossroads. Both boxers easily made weight ahead of their WBC featherweight title eliminator. Liverpool’s Ball (18-0, 11KOs) was a slim and fit 125 pounds as he faces his first former titlist. Dogboe (24-3, 15KOs)—an Accra, Ghana native who lives in London—was 125.2 pounds in a bid to bounce back from a WBO featherweight title defeat to Robeisy Ramirez earlier this year.

In a fight that is certain to draw a bumper crowd from the city of Stoke, Nathan Heaney (17-0, 6) will attempt to realise his dream when he challenges Denzel Bentley (18-2-1, 15) for the British Middleweight title, with the WBA Continental championship belts also on the line.