The Final Bell Rings For Cecilia Braekhus October 4

As the first woman to become an undisputed world champion in the four-belt era of boxing, Cecilia Braekhus of Norway is guaranteed to enter the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

But Braekhus will have to wait a bit longer, delaying her entry by returning to the ring for one last accomplishment in her impressive and groundbreaking career in women’s professional boxing. Braekhus (38-2-1, 9 KOs) will face unified WBC/WBO World Super Welterweight champion Ema Kozin of Slovenia (24-1-1, 12 KOs).

Former undisputed welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus will seek titled in a second division in her final fight on October 4 in Norway. Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom

By winning, Braekhus, known around the world as “The First Lady,” would become a two-division unified champion at age 44 after an 18-year career, and end it holding two world titles.

It will be all the more meaningful as Braekhus fights at home one final time at the Nova Spektrum in Lillestrom, Norway. The fight is being called “The Final Bell.” Fight fans around the world can watch Braekhus’s last appearance on UFC Fight Pass.

Training For The Final Bell

Braekhus spoke with NY Fights as she wrapped up her final week of training in Norway with trainer Johnathan Banks. “Training is going great. It’s the last week of hard training, and we have next week, fight week,” said Braekhus.

Working with Banks has brought Braekhus the calm she needed in the ring. The footwork, my jab definitely, and just made me very comfortable in the way I’m boxing and fighting and with a lot of jabs, lot of technique and footwork, putting all that together for me, for sure,” adding that Banks loves being in Norway during camp.

Knowing it is her final fight, Braekhus said she has blocked out the significance for now, not allowing herself to be overwhelmed by remaining fully focused on her preparation.

Watch: Interview With Cecilia Braekhus

“I’m so focused on getting those two belts; it means everything to me. I’m in the bubble. Everything else is just noise.

“I think when I start loosening up a little bit from the hard training, I will start to kind of think about, you know, this is the last fight. But to be honest, right now I’m so laser focused on my tasks in the gym, my tasks in the ring, and getting the right sleep, restitution, getting food, the right food, and everything,” said Braekhus, who said she will not have much time left to think about her last walk to the ring.

The demands on Braekhus’ time are extensive this week as one of Norway’s most famous athletes, with many media interviews and expectations. “So that also makes things extra extremely hectic days, of course, which is a good thing, right?”

Cecilia Braehkus Secures Place In Boxing History

As women’s professional boxing surges in popularity and respect, along with many other women’s professional sports in 2025, it is hard to recall through the fog of history when boxing was illegal in Norway. “It was illegal, like, you would go to jail if you boxed in Norway,” explained Braekhus. So Braekhus took on the effort to remove these restrictions. It took her seven long years.

“I became the world champion. And people were lining up watching my fight on the television. People were starting to question, ‘Why can’t she fight at home?’ At home, because I was able to fight outside of Norway. So, we thought the same. We took up that fight with politicians and a lot of supporters and got that ban removed,” recalls Braekhus, staging her first fight in Norway in 2016. And now, her final fight in 2025.

“There’s just nothing that beats fighting in front of a home crowd. And they also have been the ones lifting me up and making it able for me to have this kind of career. So, this was very, very important,” said Braekhus of appearing in the ring one last time in Norway.

Debt of Gratitude to Braekhus

Cecilia Braekhas has fought around the world from Moscow to Monaco to England and Los Angeles. Here, Braekhus defends her undisputed titles against Victoria Bustos in Monte Carlo. Photo: Matchroom Boxing

Braekhus eventually filled arenas in Europe and won her titles, but pursuing her sport has always been another battle she had to fight outside the ring. Today’s generation of women stars, such as Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, Claressa Shields, and Gabriela Fundora, owe Braekhus a debt for the platform and paychecks now available to them.

Braekhus called it amazing as she looks back. “I’m very proud to be a part of that, just picking it out when it was a completely other time. It was a very, very rough environment for women’s boxing all over, you know. Digging it out and then paving the way for the next generation so they don’t have to go through all the bullshit that we had to.”

Braekhus said many of the current top women pros appreciate what she went through, but the younger fighters don’t grasp just how difficult it was even a decade ago.

“The really new and next generation, it’s just hard for them to understand what we went through, how the doors were locked for us, and how we had to kick down the doors.

“It’s a good thing that they don’t have to think about that, you know? I think it’s just because so much has happened in a very short time. It’s hard for them to imagine the kind of situation we were in when we started.”

Tough Title Fight Against Ema Kozin

Braekhus could have staged a fight in Norway that was nothing more than a victory lap. Instead, she wanted to challenge herself one more time, as she has through her 41 professional bouts since 2007. The opportunity to win two world championship belts gave Braekhus all the motivation she needed.

Braekhus knows Kozin will not give up her belts easily. “She’s a very tough fighter. She’s also a southpaw. She’s strong physically.

“I feel like, boxing-wise, I’m a better boxer than her when it comes to ring IQ and technique, but she’s tough as a nail, and she will never stop. She’s a world champion for a reason. She has two belts for a reason. She went to England and beat Hannah Rankin, took her belt.

“It’s not going to be an easy fight. It’s definitely not going to be a show fight for my last one. But I think that was important.

“The two belts were the motivator, for sure, becoming world champion in two weight divisions. I mean, I couldn’t turn that down. That was definitely the motivation,” said Braekhus, who says she fights comfortably at super welterweight after fighting for the majority of her career as a welterweight.

Career Milestones Include HBO Boxing

Cecilia Braekhus and Kali Reis delivered a banger of a fight in the first women’s fight aired on HBO Boxing in 2018. Photo: Tom Hogan, Hoganphotos

Among Braekhus’s many accomplishments is her appearance in the first women’s professional fight aired on HBO Boxing in its 45-year history. It took place on May 5, 2018 at the storied War Grounds in Carson, California. Braekhus squared off against the tough Kali Reis, who has gone on to a successful acting career, most recently in the HBO series “True Detectives: Night Country” to great acclaim.

Braekhus said she and Reis felt the pressure to represent women’s boxing. “That’s why we chose Kali Reis, because she was a very good and entertaining and rough fighter. I knew she would make it hell of a fight. And we did. It was incredible.

“I definitely felt the same way I do now for my last fight. I definitely felt that this is something that will go down in the history books.”

Braekhus said her first fight in Norway and the fight on HBO Boxing against Reis were major milestones. However, the fight that meant the most to her was her victory against recent Hall of Fame Class of 2025 inductee Anne Sophie Mathis of France in 2012, which allowed her to retain her world welterweight titles.

“The fight where nobody believed in me, when nobody thought I was going to win, was against Anne Sophie Mathis. The only one who thought that I would win was me and my team. There was no one, nobody thought that I would beat her. So that was amazing,” said Braekhus. It is a fight that stands the test of time well.

Advice From The First Lady, Cecilia Braekhus

Cecilia Braekhus awaits her final ring walk in Norway on Saturday, October 4. Photo: Ed Mulholand, HBO Boxing

As Braekhus becomes one of boxing’s elder stateswomen, she offers her best advice to the women who follow her path.

“The truth, it’s not going to be easy. But if you are willing to put down the work, the hard work, then it’s a tremendous feeling, to succeed, and it’s going to be worth it,” despite all the blood and all the tears.

There may be a few tears shed on Saturday. For Braekhus, she hopes it is when she hears “And the new!” in Norway as the new unified super welterweight champion for the final time. Then Braekhus needs to mark her calendar for June 2029 and plan that trip to Canestota, New York.