Cecilia Braekhus ended her Hall-of-Fame career exactly the way she had hoped Saturday night.
The 44-year-old former undisputed welterweight champion unanimously outpointed
Ema Kozin to take the WBC and WBO 154-pound titles from the Slovenian southpaw in Braekhus' final fight.
Braekhus beat Kozin by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 at NOVA Spektrum in Lillestrom, Norway, the country where the Colombian-born Braekhus has resided since she was adopted as a young child.
Braekhus won the WBC interim junior middleweight title in her previous bout, but beating Kozin legitimized her as a two-weight world champion. A pioneer known as “First Lady,” Braekhus will retire with a record of 39-2-1 (9 KOs).
Kozin (24-2-1, 12 KOs) has lost only a pair of unanimous decisions to Braekhus and five-division champion
Claressa Shields (17-0, 3 KOs), who is commonly considered the most accomplished woman in boxing history.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.