Cecilia Braekhus leading a women’s revolution in boxing
Cecilia Braekhus headlines the final HBO boxing card against Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes as she continues to put women’s boxing on the map.
Boxing is a sport long dominated by men, but the tide of gender inequality is turning. In 2018, women’s boxing has undergone a renaissance. Claressa Shields has been featured on TV regularly, and Heather Hardy fought her way onto an HBO televised card. But it’s Cecilia Braekhus who is leading the charge for the women’s boxing revolution.
On Saturday, Dec. 8, Braekhus (34-0, 9 KOs) defends her five welterweight titles against Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes (18-4-2, 1 KO) on HBO’s final boxing event. Braekhus is regarded as the best pound-for-pound female boxer in the world, and she’s using her status to better the working conditions of all female boxers. Braekhus comes from Norway, and for a long time, professional boxing was banned in the country. Luckily, the sport found her by accident.
“It was definitely a very small sport in Norway,” Braekhus told FanSided. “Just a couple of gyms here and there trying to survive. It was just accidental. I just bumped into this poster saying do you want to try it and I was like ‘sure.'”
She was only 13 years old when her training began. Braekhus started as a kickboxer, and she dominated the sport which is why she transitioned to boxing.
“It was pretty natural because I was European champion and world champion in kickboxing,” said Braekhus. “I really didn’t have anything more to win there, but I still love combat sports, and that’s why I went to boxing. Boxing is such a complex sport. I’ve been there ever since.”
She’s made easy work of boxing as she did kickboxing. Braekhus has held a world title since 2009. That’s almost 10 years of pure dominance which no other female boxer can claim. Challenging opponents are hard to come by, and Braekhus told Sporting News in May that she would consider boxing Cris Cyborg given the opportunity.
Considering her kickboxing background, a move to MMA seems plausible. However when asked by FanSided if she would ever think about a shift to MMA Braekhus responded:
"No, I didn’t because when I started boxing I absolutely and totally fell in love with boxing. And I cannot change my sport because of some unlucky circumstances in boxing. That’s what I want to do. I never thought about crossing into MMA. My goal was to make things better where I was in boxing. Maybe it’s the longer and tougher road to take. Coming Dec. 8 everything will be worth it."
Braekhus is fully invested in boxing. She’s made it her goal to make sure that women’s boxing reaches the same heights as men’s boxing. The 2004 film Million Dollar Baby presented the fictional story of Maggie Fitzgerald who defies the odds to become a superstar in a sport that doesn’t typically welcome women. Braekhus’s life and background don’t resemble Maggie’s destitute upbringing, but she does identify with Maggie’s outcasted feelings when entering the gym for the first time.
“My world is very different from the world because I have a big team around me,” said Braekhus. “It’s very professional. I have everything I need at this point of my career. Yes, it definitely reminds me of the first time she went to the gym and the looks [she receives]. That’s something I did relate to. Also, that movie was really important for women’s boxing.”
Even though Braekhus’s life and career don’t fully align with Maggie’s, her fame supersedes that of the fictional heroine. Along with her success, women’s boxing has reaped the benefits, but Braekhus is quick to point out that she’s not the sole reason for the upward mobility of women’s boxing.
"I don’t think it’s just one thing. I think it’s a lot of different things. It is the work that me and other female fighters have done for so many years. It’s the women coming to the Olympics. It’s the young hungry girls coming up like Claressa [Shields] and [Katie]Taylor and those fighters that are definitely a new generation of women empowerment with the Me Too movement. And men having the courage to stand up for all fighters."
Hopefully, Braekhus and women’s boxing will continue to enjoy joint success, but at 37 years old her time at the top might be numbered. She prefers not to think about her age as a hindrance. Braekhus believes that there’s still plenty of fight left in her.
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“Right now women’s boxing is absolutely booming,” said Braekhus. ” I’m on top. I’m sitting with the crown. I can go anywhere. I can stay where I am. I could go up. I can go down. Cyborg, Claressa, Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, Hanna Gabriels — I have 8-9 names.
“Right now, I’m so in love with boxing. I’m going to stick around a little bit more.”