Undisputed Women’s Welterweight World Champion ‘The First Lady’ Cecilia Braekhus will return to the iconic StubHub Center Dec. 8 to once again make history by being the first woman boxer to headline a televised HBO Boxing card. The original face of Tom Loeffler’s SuperFly series, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, will be the co-main event as he returns from a tremendous knockout victory last September. The card will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 7:20 p.m. PT/10:20 ET.
The undefeated welterweight champion fighting out of Bergen, Norway will step in the ring against two-time world title challenger, Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes in a scheduled 10-round bout.
‘I’m defending all the belts as you see in front of me,” Braekhus told the media at her fight announcement press conference. “They represent a lifetime of hard work. Hopefully when it becomes time to retire I can do so undefeated, that is my dream, that is my goal. I thank you for all your support and to the fans here in the United States and those attending the fight internationally.”
Lina Baker
Braekhus will defend her world titles for the third time this year, coming off a spectacular performance in the World Boxing Super Series defeating Inna “Ice Queen” Sagaydakovskaya who at the time was undefeated. Prior to her appearance in the WBSS, Braekus (34-0, 9 KOs) faced former WBC Women’s Middleweight Champion Kali Reis (15-7-1, 5 KOs) on May 5 and made history being the first televised women’s boxing card on HBO Boxing. Though Braekhus kissed the canvas in the seventh round for the first time in her professional career, she dominated Reis the majority of the rounds to earn a unanimous decision victory.
Polish native Magdziak-Lopes (18-4-3, 1 KO) will have her third shot for not just a world title, but all of Braekhus’ championship belts. Magdziak-Lopes hopes to keep the momentum going, coming off a majority draw, and two unanimous decision victories in her last three fights. Both Braekhus and Magdziak-Lopes share Kali Reis as a mutual victory, though Magdziak-Lopes defeated Reis in their rematch, avenging her first pro career loss.
Though Magdziak-Lopes has lost both her attempts at acquiring vacant championship belts, the Polish fighter now fighting out of Marshfield, Massachusetts has never been knocked out.
On Nov. 2014, she suffered a loss for the vacant WBC Super Welterweight World Title against Swedish boxer Mikaela Lauren (31-5, 13 KOs) remaining resilient throughout 10 competitive rounds, falling short in the judges’ scorecards by a majority decision. Sept. 2016, Magdziak-Lopes fell short for a vacant title once again, this time against country-woman Ewa Piatkowska (12-1, 4 KOs) for the vacant WBC Super Welterweight World Title, losing a hard-fought 10-round decision.
“It’s been my dream to fight Cecilia, and I can’t wait to fight her,” said Magdziak-Lopes. “She is the best women’s fighter in the world and has been for many years; but on December 8, I will be up to the challenge and come out victorious with her titles.”
Braekhus promised to deliver an exciting performance come Dec. 8 saying, “I don’t do boring fights.”
The co-main event will feature former pound for pound champion, fighting out of Nicaragua, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez who will take on Mexican former world champion, Pedro “Jibran” Guevara.
Though most fans and some HBO commentators believed his devastating knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai as the end for the former Nicaraguan champion, Gonzalez delivered a jaw-dropping knockout victory against Mexican super flyweight contender Moises Fuentes in the pay-per-view undercard of Saul Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin to silence his critics.
A former champion himself, Guevara, 29, has never tasted the canvas and hopes to keep his knockout streak going against the former four-division world champion. In his most recent victory this past Sep. 1, Guevara (32-3-1, 19 KOs) scored a 10th-round stoppage against countryman Roberto “Tornadito” Sanchez. Earlier in the year, Guevara acquired another victory by an eighth-round knockout against Angel Guevara of Sonora, Mexico.
“Guevara is a very strong fighter,” said Roman. “He was already a world champion and wants to return to that status. I’ve always respected my opponents. For me, it’s important to train very hard and really let my hands go in the fight like I did in my last fight against Fuentes and I got the knockout.”
Roman is currently training with Marcos Caballero in Coachella Valley, who took over as head trainer following the death of Roman’s long-time trainer Arnulfo Obando. Should he rise victorious against Guevara, Roman will persist on salvaging his career and becoming world champion once again. Roman also expressed interest in fighting Rungvisai for the third time in the near future.
Presented by Tom Loeffler’s 360 Boxing Promotions, advance tickets to the last HBO Boxing bout priced at $25, $50, $100 and $150 can be purchased through AXS HERE .
