Cecilia Braekhus Dreams of Ending Her Story With Championship Homecoming

Cecilia Braekhus hopes to one day return home to her native Norway with another world title.

Brækhus last fought in October 2023, earning a draw with Terri Harper in a bout she believes she won.

Braekhus (37-2-1, 9 KOs), the former undisputed women’s welterweight champion, is 42 years old. With time running out, one of her final career goals is to become a two-weight world champion, something she nearly achieved against Harper, who held the WBA and WBO junior middleweight titles.

“I would love to do that again,” Braekhus said about fighting in Norway. “But I don't see that quite happening without a belt here.”

While Braekhus doesn’t feel she needs another title, she still wants to return home with one.

Her coach, former heavyweight Jonathan Banks, added: “The only thing left for her to prove to herself is that she can become champion again and maintain championship status at this stage.

“She’s campaigning at 154, so I believe she’s mandatory for the WBC at 154,” Banks said. “She has a shot to become a two-division world champion.”

The current WBC women’s junior middleweight titlist is Ema Kozin (24-1-1, 12 KOs), a 25-year-old Slovenian who defeated Hannah Rankin in November to become holder of the WBC and WBO titles.

The past few years have been tough for Braekhus, who played a crucial role in legalizing boxing in Norway and headlined the first women’s boxing bout on HBO Boxing, which was also the network’s final fight. She lost her title and has not received the same exposure since. After losing her undefeated record and undisputed titles to Jessica McCaskill, she has since fought only twice more.

“I felt a little bit unlucky last time. It was a decision against Terri Harper in England; we got a draw there,” Braekhus said. “We thought we won the fight. Then the two fights against Jessica, I think, were complete bull****. The first fight was a robbery. The second fight should never have happened. She should never have been the undisputed champion.”

Reflecting on her role in women’s boxing – serving as a bridge between the era of Christy Martin and Laila Ali and the modern era of Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields – Braekhus said: “There was a period when women’s boxing didn’t really get any attention. That was when I was selling out arenas and selling pay-per-view. I definitely was a little bit ahead of everything that’s happening today.”