By Erik Schmidt: Talented undefeated female welterweight prospect Cecilia Braekhus (9-0, 2 KOs) defeated American Kimberly Harris (5-12) by an eight-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Seidensticker Halle, Bielefeld, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 80-73. Braekhus, 26, from Norway, had too much speed and boxing skills for the slower 40 year-old American, who came into the fight having lost five of her last seven bouts. Braekhus used her speed advantage to jab and pound Harris with combinations in the first round.
The speed difference between the two fighters was immediately apparent, as well as the ability to move around the ring, which Harris, more of a slow plodder, had little ability. For the most part, Braekhus used quick combinations to hound Harris, hitting her often with crisp 1-2 combinations to the head as she lumbered forward. Harris’ stocky build was more attune to a stationary opponent that would stand directly in front of her so that she could land her big right hands. With that, I have no doubt that she probably would have been too much for Braekhus if she had chose to stand and trade shots in Harris’ power alley, because Harris showed a lethal right hand despite her wide girth and terrible foot movement.
After tasting a couple of big right hands from her in the first round, Braekhus looked as if she thought better of staying in close with Harrison and opted for a safer punch and move strategy to keep from getting hit as often. This worked well, for Harris was unable to cut off the ring and adjusted slowly when Braekhus was using any kind of lateral movement.
In the second round, Braekhus landed some tasty left hands, hitting Harris cleanly with them one after another. Although Braekhus was only slightly taller at 5’7″ compared to Harris’ 5’6″, her arms were considerably longer and faster than her American opponent, enabling her to hit her at a distance without worry of getting hit in return with any kind of frequency.
Braekhus hit Harris at will in the fourth round, finding it easy to hit her as often as she wanted. Harris, for her part, tried to land but she was too slow in getting her wide body around the ring that by the time that she would get in range to land a shot, Braekhus had already moved out of distance, preventing her from landing anything.
Harris’s nose began to redden in the 5th round all the shots that she was taking from Braekhus. She did start the round off well, rushing in at Braekhus and hitting her with a flurry of shots. It was quite impressive and I couldn’t help but wonder why Harris had waited this long to unleash some shots, because she looked good when she was letting her hands go. Braekhus, however, continued firing off fast combinations to the head and she quickly regained control over the round. Near the end of the round, Harris landed several big right hands to the head.
Harris came out strong again in the 6th round, throwing a fast flurry as she bum rushed Braekhus, keeping her back to the ropes. Braekhus fought back well with some good combinations, but Harris came on strong in the last second of the round with several right hands. Braekhus tried slugging with Harris in the 7th round, and took a lot of shots for her efforts. She fought back well, but didn’t have the power or the size to win at Harris’ power game. Braekhus then thought better of it and started moving in the last seconds of the round.
In the 8th round, Braekhus concentrated on throwing fast combinations to the head, keeping Harris under a constant rain of shots. Both fighters clinched often after throwing shots. The round, however, belonged completely to Braekhus, who used her speed and combinations to dominate Harris.