Cecilia Braekhus is the No. 1 pound-for-pound women’s boxer in the world. The 36-year-old boxing star, who goes by the nickname “The First Lady,” currently holds four major women’s welterweight tiles and a perfect 32-0 professional record with nine wins by way of knockout. Braekhus is the reigning WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and IBO female welterweight champion.
Braekhus is one of only four boxers in history — regardless of gender — to hold all four titles simultaneously, joining stars like Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, and Terence Crawford.
After going a perfect 3-0 in 2017 and retaining her belts, Braekhus was named the inaugural Female Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Braekhus has also won a silver medal in the World Championships, and a gold and silver in the European Championships while representing Norway, despite being born in Cartagena, Colombia. She was adopted at two-years-old by Norweigan parants and was raised in Bergen on the west coast of Norway.
Braekhus began kickboxing at age 14, before taking up boxing and competing as an amateur. Prior to turning pro, Braekhus compiled an incredible amateur record of 75-5-0.
In her next fight on Saturday, May 5, Braekhus defends her titles against Kali Reis at the Stubhub Center in Carson, Calif. The bout serves as the co-main event to the HBO Boxing headliner of Gennady Golvkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan.
“Cecilia is one of the best fighters in the world. Period,” executive vice president of HBO Sports Peter Nelson said in a statement to ESPN W. “She deserves to be seen by as large an audience as possible. We are privileged that her debut on HBO coincides with ours in women’s boxing.”