HBO Boxing: Cecilia Braekhus vs. Kali Reis round-by-round coverage

Kali Reis out of Providence, Rhode Island is out first, making her way to the ring with a group of Native American dancers and singers. Cecilia Braekhus is up next. She walks out to I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas.

There is being a lot made about Braekhus’ making a last-minute switch in trainers for her fight with Reis tonight. She will be joined by Jonathan Banks in her corner instead of the usual Lucia Rijker. It’s time for a fight.

Round One: Reis lands a couple of pretty solid left hooks in the round but Braekhus controls the pace and the timing. Banks tells his fighter that it wasn’t a bad round and the only thing Reis is coming with is that left hook. She wants her to follow the right hand with a left hook every time out. Not a bad start for Reis but Braekhus takes it on our unofficial scorecard. 10-9 Braekhus.

Round Two: Braekhus immediately shows that she’s a good listener by throwing that left hook after the right hand. Reis is a crisp puncher but her movement is years behind Braekhus. Some nice left jabs and right hooks to close out the round for Braekhus. 20-18 Braekhus.

Round Three: Danny Davis tells Reis to just have fun before we start the third round. CompuBox has power punches even as we enter the third. Left jab landing at will for the favorite early. She starts going to the body before we hit the mid way point. Nice right hand by Braekhus lands and Reis goes for the clinch. Braekhus is beginning to pull away now. She closes out the round with some combos and appears to be the fresher fighter. 30-27 Braekhus.

Round Four: Jab, hook, jab, hook then shoot the right hand is the message in Cecilia’s corner in between the third and fourth round. Reis comes out and takes the center. All she has is the left jab while Braekhus puts together some nice combos. More body work from the champ. Reis is game but this is beginning to become a clinic. Jab, jab, hook from Braekhus. The commentators are beginning to talk about her competition for the top spot. It’s pretty clear what’s going on here. Braekhus 40-36.

Round Five: Reis is starting to wear Braekhus’ punches now. She’s still throwing but she’s eating leather at about a 3:1 ratio now and Braekhus is landing the cleaner shots. Another round for the champ. Braekhus 50-45.

Round Six: Reis’ corner tells her that she has to take this sh*t in between rounds. Braekhus’ corner tells her that she’s looking good and to keep it going. Some nice body work and solid left hook for Braekhus. This is starting to get a little sloppy now. Braekhus takes it but this wasn’t her best round. She may have decided to take it off. Braekhus 60-54.

Round Seven: Braekhus continues to land that left hand followed by the right hook. Reis hammers Braekhus with a right hand against the ropes! She knocks her down to one knee it appears but Braekhus hops back up. This the first time she’s ever been knocked down in her career. Braekhus is awake now. She starts landing some shots of her own and continues to mix it up to the body even after being knocked down. That’s a 10-8 Reis round with the knockdown. Braekhus is up 68-64.

Reis knocks down Braekhus with a straight right in Round 7. #BraekhusReis pic.twitter.com/TJxe3o82Po

— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) May 6, 2018

Round Eight: Reis’ corner tells her to be first in between rounds. Things have gotten interesting all of a sudden. Braekhus lands a clean left near the end of the round but Reis buckles her again with a left hook and an overhand right! The right did the damage. Reis stole that round. Braekhus is still up but it’s become a fight here with 2 rounds left. Braekhus 77-74.

Round Nine: Banks tells his fighter to stop trading with Reis in between rounds. Reis clearly has the power advantage here and it’s become more evident in the latter rounds. Reis finishes strong. This was a very close round but it goes to Braekhus. Braekhus is up 87-83.

Round Ten: It’s time for the final two minutes of the fight. Reis is going for the KO here. She knows she’s down the scorecards and she’s having success here with that right hand late. Braekhus isn’t afraid to stand and trade with Reis. Huge right uppercut left hook combo from Braekhus. Where was that all night?

.@1LadyCecilia lands a big combination in round 10 of her win against Kali Reis. #BraekhusReis pic.twitter.com/BeZaT6fx2c

— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) May 6, 2018

She closes out the fight strong against an ultra game fighter in Reis. Braekhus takes this contest 97-92 on our scorecard.

The official scorecard reads 97-92, 96-93, 96-93 for Cecilia Braekhus. She improves to 33-0 while Reis drops to 13-7-1.

Here are your official CompuBox numbers.

CompuBox stats for #BraekhusReis pic.twitter.com/DYtebaij21

— Write on the Button (@mikebaca2) May 6, 2018

Braekhus said the following in the post-fight interview with Max Kellerman: “This was such a hard fight. She’s such an amazing and tough fighter. [Crowd boos] I think she gave me a very tough fight and I think it was very close. She has some very good hard punches. It’s very new to adjust to American gloves and she’s also heavier than me.”

Braekhus would give all of the credit to her opponent. Kellerman asks if she’d do rematch and she says yes. “I think definitely we should do a rematch We make one hell of a fight. Let’s do a rematch.”