By Keith Idec
CARSON, California – Cecilia Braekhus battled through some troublesome moments Saturday night to survive Kali Reis’ rally in the final four rounds of their fight.
Braekhus, commonly considered the best female boxer in the sport, got up from a seventh-round knockdown, withstood getting hurt again in the eighth round and a won a unanimous decision in their 10-round welterweight championship match at StubHub Center. Each of the three judges – Tim Cheatham (97-92), Edward Hernandez Sr. (96-93) and Zac Young (96-93) – scored the fight for Braekhus.
Norway’s Braekhus (33-0, 9 KOs), women’s boxing’s undisputed welterweight champion, defended her IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO 147-pound titles in the co-featured fight on the Gennady Golovkin-Vanes Martirosyan undercard. The 36-year-old Braekhus’ victory marked the first time HBO aired a women’s match since the premium cable channel began broadcasting boxing in 1973.
Braekhus acknowledged to HBO’s Max Kellerman in the ring that the fight was close and that she would embrace a rematch. Many fans at StubHub Center booed when the decision was announced.
“She’s a top, top fighter,” Braekhus said. “She gave me a tough fight. She was bigger, heavier than me and I could feel it in her punches. She’s the hardest puncher I’ve fought.”
The 31-year-old Reis (13-7-1, 4 KOs), of Providence, Rhode Island, moved down from middleweight to welterweight for the opportunity to battle Braekhus and nearly capitalized on it. She thought she did enough to upset Braekhus and also wants a rematch.
“That was awesome,” Reis said. “That was fun. The knockdown was ugly. I was setting her up for the right hand to be open all night long. I thought I had the win, especially with the knockdown.”
Reis, a former WBC middleweight champion, had won three straight bouts before Braekhus beat her Saturday night. Two of Reis’ previous three losses came against WBC/WBO champ Christina Hammer (22-0, 10 KOs).
Understanding she might’ve been down on the scorecards, Reis went after Braekhus at the start of the 10th and final round. She couldn’t hurt her again, however, and the fight went to the scorecards.
Braekhus tried to box and keep away from Reis’ right hand throughout the ninth round because she was hurt by it in each of the two previous rounds.
After scoring a knockdown against Braekhus in the seventh round, Reis rocked Braekhus with a left hook-overhand right combination that buckled Braekhus’ knees just prior to the eighth round ending.
Braekhus was winning the fight pretty easily until Reis got full extension on a right hand that wobbled Braekhus in the seventh round. That hard shot sent Braekhus into a squatting position and her left glove touched the canvas, which referee Gerard White correctly counted as a knockdown.
Reis caught Braekhus with a flush overhand right, her best punch of the bout to that point, just before the sixth round ended. Braekhus took that shot very well, but wasn’t able to withstand a similar shot in the seventh round.
Braekhus connected with two straight left uppercuts and followed it with a left hook in the fifth round.
Braekhus blasted with a Reis with a right hand in the middle of the fourth round. Earlier in the fourth, Braekhus battered Reis’ body with lefts and rights.
Braekhus began warming up in the third round, when she drilled Reis with an overhand right early in it.
There wasn’t much action during the first two rounds, in which both boxers appeared reluctant to engage.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
