At the Sheraton Los Angeles Hotel at LAX in Los Angeles, California, Cecelia Braekhus (32-0, 9KO’s) made weight coming in at 145.8lbs while her opponent, Kali Reis (13-6-1, 4KO’s), came in at 144.8lbs.
The fight is tomorrow on Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, at the StubHub Center in Carson California where Cecelia Braekhus will be defending her World Boxing Association (WBA) World Female Welterweight Title in a record 22nd defense after winning it all the way back in March of 2009.
This will be the first time that a female bout has been broadcast on the network, as it was moved up to the co-feature of the HBO premium network broadcast of Gennady Golovkin vs Vanes Martirosyan. Ironically enough Golovkin will be making the 19th defense of his WBA Championship on that very same night.
Braekhus is very excited for the chance to shine on the premium giant HBO network, saying at the press conference, “I am so excited and so thankful to my team, Tom [Loeffler], HBO, and sharing the stage with the best pound for pound fighter in the world.”
It is never a good idea to look past an opponent, and surely Braekhus is not, but at an astounding 100/1 favorite over Reis everyone figures that the champion is likely to keep her record breaking streak in tact.
Braekhus is coming into the fight off of a dominating win over Mikaela Lauren in October of 2017 while Reis is coming into the fight off of a three fight winning streak in 2017 herself. This will be Braekhus’ second time fighting in the United States – with the first time being nearly a decade ago for her eighth professional fight.
The StubHub Center is set for a historic night of boxing, with Gennady Golovkin and Cecelia Braekhus coming into their respective fights with over 40 combined WBA title defenses.