UNDISPUTED WORLD WELTERWEIGHT champion Cecilia Braekhus remains keen to face unified lightweight queen Katie Taylor in a potentially era-defining fight for women’s professional boxing, and is also eyeing a clash in the ring with UFC star Cris Cyborg in 2019.
The42 has previously reported that Taylor’s team wish for her to square off with undefeated Norwegian star Braekhus [35-0, 9KOs] provided the Irish icon first beats Delfine Persoon [43-1, 18KOs] to win the undisputed lightweight championship and then Amanda Serrano [36-1-1, 27KOs], the outspoken seven-weight world champion who is signed on to face Taylor if she overcomes Persoon.
All going to plan, a clash between Taylor [13-0, 6KOs] and the ‘First Lady’ of pro boxing, Braekhus, would be by a considerable margin the most significant in the history of female prizefighting.
With both women due to meet in the middle at 140 pounds, it would make for the first time in the history of the sport — male or female — that two undisputed champions (Taylor at 135lbs, Braekhus at 147lbs) trade leather.
Braekhus, 37, has previously told The42 that she’s willing to shed the seven pounds required to face Taylor at a neutral weight, and is still keen on a battle of boxing’s First Ladies as well as a high-profile fight with former UFC champion Cyborg.
“In the past couple of weeks, I’ve seen many mentions of a massive fight with Katie Taylor and also a huge showdown with Cris Cyborg, both of which are very appealing to me,” said Braekhus, who became the first-ever woman to win an undisputed title in 2014 and has reigned since.
A fight with Katie Taylor would be a massive event in either Ireland, Norway or New York City. For a fight with Cyborg, we both have fans on the West Coast so Las Vegas or Los Angeles would be perfect. These would be very big international events to elevate the sport of women’s boxing.
“I’ve been a fan of Katie’s since before she turned professional,” the Scandinavian added. “We sparred together when she was an amateur and she is clearly one of the most talented female fighters in the world. With Cyborg, we also are mutual admirers of our work and when we first met in December 2017 we had some discussions about having a boxing match.”
“I’m back in training now in Norway and look forward to these specific opportunities and defending all of my belts in the fashion that my fans all over the world have become accustomed to. The most meaningful fights on the biggest stages is my goal for 2019.”
Taylor, already the highest-earning female professional boxer on the planet, could stand to earn over a million dollars to face Braekhus should she first win high-six-figure bouts with Persoon and Serrano.
Like her Norwegian contemporary, she too could have a crossover bout with a mixed martial artist on her horizon: informal and tentative talks have taken place with the representatives of UFC star Holly Holm — a former boxing world champion — with a view to bringing ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ back into the ring to face Taylor sometime in 2020.
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