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Cecilia Brækhus wants 2019 Katie Taylor fight – and clash with UFC star


‘The First Lady’ of boxing Cecilia Brækhus wants massive fights in massive venues with fellow boxing trailblazer Katie Taylor and UFC star Cris Cyborg.

The Norwegian, who has has reigned as the undisputed female welterweight champion since 2014, made three defenses of her WBO, IBF, WBA and WBC titles in 2018 and made moves into the mainstream with fights in America show on HBO.

In 2019 Brækhus wants to move things to a new level and has her eyes on the kind of super fights that seem to have been muooed since Taylor brought added spotlight to the sport.

The Oslo resident is open to a McGregor-Mayweather style clash with Brazilian mixed martial artist and former training partner Cyborg [0-0] and certainly wants what could be a battle of the undisputed champions with lightweight queenpin Taylor [13(6)-0].

“2018 was a very busy year and I’ve had a chance to relax and spend time with family and friends but now my immediate thoughts are to return to the ring,” said Brækhus [35(9)-0] ahead of her next fight, which remains to be confirmed.

The Colombian-born fighter has been identified as a potential ‘step four’ for Taylor in 2019 following a unification with Rose Volante, duly won last month, an undisputed fight with Delfine Persoon, and a grudge match with controversial Puerto Rican seven-weight champ Amanda Serrano.

Brækhus is open to such a fight and notes how “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.”

Talk of a Brækhus fight has gone on for over two years, with the Scandanavian mentioning Taylor in post-fight interviews previously.

A major star in her homeland, Brækhus has sought to branch out recently and the fighter deemed the female pound-for-pound #1 believes a clash with Taylor would be massive no matter where it’s hosted and admits to being a fan of the amateur legend.

The 37-year-old outlined how “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, 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.”

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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