Cecilia Brækhus
Cecilia Carmen Linda Brækhus (born 28 September 1981) is a Norwegian professional boxer and former kickboxer. In boxing she has reigned as the undisputed female welterweight champion since 2014, and is the first woman in any weight class to hold the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles simultaneously. She is also one of only seven boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles simultaneously, along with Bernard Hopkins (2004–2005), Jermain Taylor (2005), Terence Crawford (2017), Oleksandr Usyk (2018–2019), Claressa Shields (2019–), and Katie Taylor (2019-). In 2016, she captured the IBO title, becoming the first ever boxer to hold five world titles from sanctioning bodies simultaneously.
In 2017, the Boxing Writers Association of America named Brækhus their inaugural Female Fighter of the Year. Guinness World Records awarded her with three recognitions in 2018: the Longest Reigning Female Boxing Champion, the Longest Reign as a Four-Belt Undisputed Boxing Champion, and the Most Bouts Undefeated by a Female World Champion Boxer. As of May 2020, she is ranked as the world's best active welterweight, and sixth best active pound-for-pound female fighter by BoxRec.
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Early life Born in Cartagena, Colombia, Brækhus was adopted as a two-year-old by Norwegian parents and raised in the Sandviken area of Bergen. Brækhus started kickboxing at the age of fourteen.
Brækhus soon began competing in amateur boxing competitions, and achieved an amateur record of 75-5-0 before turning professional.
