Cecilia Braekhus made an exit that befits a legend of the sport in her final fight on Saturday.
Braekhus, 44, still managed to dominate Ema Kozin. Her unanimous decision victory – 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 on the cards – in Lillestrom saw her win the unified WBC and WBO super-welterweight world titles.
The Norwegian trailblazer will now retire from boxing.
It marks the end of a 42-bout professional boxing career that began in 2007. Back then pro boxing was outlawed in her native Norway. Braekhus saw the ban lifted when she brought an undisputed title defence to Oslo in 2016.
Braekhus had long undisputed championship reign.
In 2014 Braekhus became the first woman to become the undisputed world champion in the four-belt era, when she handed Ivana Habazin a unanimous decision defeat.
Braekhus had racked up a remarkable 36-bout winning run over 13 years before she suffered her first defeat. She has still only lost twice in her whole career and only been beaten by one opponent, with Jessica McCaskill defeating her in their two welterweight world title fights.
Her reign as undisputed welterweight world champion stretched from 2014 to 2020 and included 10 defences.
In 2023 she also just missed out on unifying the WBA and WBO super-welterweight world championships when Terri Harper escaped with a draw against her in Sheffield.
Cecilia Braekhus beats Kali Reis in Carson, California.
Reflecting on her career, Braekhus previously told Sky Sports: “When I started out in boxing I couldn’t even see somewhere out there what we are doing right now. It was hard to fathom at that time when I was starting out.
“Remember we weren’t allowed to join the Olympics, the Olympics was only for men. It was a whole different world,” she continued.
“It was rough. One of the toughest things was being told every day that you’re less worthy as women.
“That was the thing that definitely did not sit right with me at all. It didn’t matter how many people told me I was less worthy, I would never listen to them.”
Only one opponent, Jessica McCaskill has ever beaten Braekhus.
She added: “I’m so happy that the next generation don’t have to be in that position.
“Where we are today, for us who started out at that time when I started out, you just have to wake up sometimes.
“Just realise how far we came.”
The future of women’s boxing
With Braekhus retiring and Irish superstar Katie Taylor contemplating how and when to bring her glittering career to a close, there is a new generation of stars at the forefront of women’s boxing. Two could dominate in the years to come:
Claressa Shields is 30 years old but has no intention of slowing up and has not come close to losing yet.
She’s made history, repeatedly. Shields has won two Olympic boxing gold medals. As a professional she’s picked up titles across five divisions, including going undisputed in three of them. She is the reigning undisputed heavyweight champion, though her natural division is really middleweight.
Lauren Price, another Olympic champion, was a sensational GB amateur boxer and is only nine bouts into her professional career. In that time though she’s already unified three world championships at welterweight and beaten Jessica McCaskill, Braekhus’ sole conqueror, and defeated another British star Natasha Jonas.
