Cecilia Braekhus last headliner for HBO Boxing, Saturday
Unified women’s welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus will look to put all four of her major world title on the line the WBO/WBA/WBC/IBF on the line against lesser-known Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes in a 10-round main event to conclude HBO’s 45 year tenure with boxing, at the StubHub Center in Carson, Ca.
Women’s boxing is not very popular in America, and a bias stands against it as well with a lot of fans of the sport. 360 Promotions promoter, Tom Loeffler, has been courageous in his promotional endeavors in the United States bring over the rarely seen on television, flyweights and offering opportunities to female fighters, early and often.
Loeffler’s final card on HBO, which also happens to be HBO’s last card, has been riddled with problems, mostly just a short time to promote the card.
The bout was announced roughly two months ago, for a fight happening weeks before one of the biggest financial institutions in America, Christmas. The card requires one of the following a) loyalty to Loeffler’s 360 Promotions, which has done great things for fighters b) knowing a fighter on the card and/or c) an interest in being a part of history for the final HBO card.
It also doesn’t help that it is going up against a Golden Boy Promotions card two hours away, which will be broadcast on Facebook and a world title fight with a top ten pound-for-pound fighter in Vasyl Lomachenko taking place on ESPN from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
As I combed through social media today looking for press conference quotes, it was hard to find a video and I never saw a press release of quotes we usually go off for quick quotes.
In short, the card based solely on analytics on the internet looks to be in trouble, which is a shame since it should be historic statement that women are headlining the final HBO card after mere months ago, Heather “The Heat” Hard had to take to social media to get added to a Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko in New York.
Instead, the card is moving along quietly, with more questions about Cecilia Braekhus fighting Claressa Shields than the opponents either women are fighting on Saturday night.
Another story to pay attention to is the fact that Cris “Cyborg” Justino, one of if not the best women’s MMA fighters ever, will walk Claressa Shields to the ring earlier in the evening. Cyborg wore a t-shirt to the last Braekhus bought that read “Cyborg vs. Braehkus”. The two seem destined to fight soon, and with a win the two could get promotion started early.
Regardless, Braekhus makes history this Saturday, to close out boxing on the network