By Ian S Palmer
WBA Super Welterweight champion Terri Harper of England puts her title on the line against former world champion Cecilia Braekhus of Colombia this Saturday, October 7th with the vacant WBO Belt also on the line. The 10-rounder from Sheffield, England can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Harper last saw action in May when she won a 10-round unanimous decision over Ivana Habazin while Braekhus last fought in December when she beat Marisa Portillo by six-round unanimous decision. Harper and Braekhus were originally scheduled to fight in May but the bout was postponed when Braekhus became ill.
The 26-year-old Harper of Doncaster climbs through the ropes with a 14-1-1 record with 6 Ko’s and has boxed 114 rounds since turning pro in 2017. She enjoyed a short but successful amateur career which saw her capture a trio of national titles along with a silver medal at the 2012 European Junior Championships. Harper stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 65 inch reach and has pretty good power in the female division with a current knockout ratio of 43 per cent.
Harper won the vacant WBC International Lightweight title in 2019 with a 10th-round stoppage over Nina Bradley after dropping her in the first and second rounds. She added the vacant IBO Super-Featherweight Belt in 2019 by stopping Nozipho Bell in the eighth round and then beat Eva Wahlström for the WBC Super-Featherweight Belt in 2020 via a unanimous decision after dropping her in the seventh round.
Her lone draw came against former Olympian Natasha Jonas in August, 2020 and her defeat came at the hands of Alycia Baumgardner when she was stopped in the fourth round in November, 2021 and lost her IBO and WBC Super-Featherweight Titles. She bounced back with a unanimous decision over Yamila Abellaneda four months later to take the vacant WBA Inter-Continental Belt and then beat Hannah Rankin in in October, 2022 out to win the IBO and WBA Super-Welterweight Titles. Harper also has wins over Claudia Lopez, Viviane Obenauf and Katharina Thanderz.
The 42-year-old Braekhus was born in Colombia and adopted by Norwegian parents as a youngster and grew up in Bergen. She enjoyed a successful kickboxing career before trying her hand at boxing and racked up an amateur record mark of 75-5, winning a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships, gold at the 2005 European Championships and silver at the 2004 European Championships. She then turned pro in 2007, has boxed 310 rounds and owns a record of 37-2 with 9 Ko’s.
Braekhus stands just over 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 67-inch reach which gives her a two-inch edge in reach even though she’s an inch shorter than Harper. As far as power goes, her current knockout sits at a ratio of 24.3 per cent. She’s gone the distance in her last seven bouts with her last win by stoppage coming back in 2017 halted Mikaela Lauren in the sixth round. She won her first world titles in 2009 when she beat Vinni Skovgaard for the vacant WBA and WBC Welterweight Titles. The next belt added was the vacant WBO Welterweight version with a unanimous decision over Victoria Cisneros in 2010.
Braekhus defended those titles numerous times and then captured the IBF version with a unanimous decision over Ivana Habazin in 2014. The IBO belt was next via a unanimous decision over Chris Namus in 2016. She made several more defences but then lost all five welterweight belts when she dropped a majority decision to Jessica McCaskill in August, 2020. Braekhus attempted to regain the titles in a rematch seven months later but this time lost by unanimous decision. In total, Braekhus was the undisputed women’s Welterweight Boss from 2014 to 2020.
Prediction…
There’s no doubt, Braekhus is one of the best female boxers with McCaskill being the only person to beat her. However, she’s now 42 years old and lacks power. With Harper being almost 16 years younger it’s understandable why she’s the favourite here. Braekhus will have to rely on her boxing skills but I think she’ll fall just short in her attempt to win another world title. I’m going with Harper here in a bit of a chess match.
