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Steve KimESPN
In the final bout of HBO’s storied history in boxing, Cecilia Braekhus (35-0, 9 KO) retained her undisputed welterweight championship by easily outboxing Aleksandra Lopes (18-5-3, 1 KO) over 10 rounds in front of a sparse crowd at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, on Saturday night.
Two judges had it a shutout at 100-90, while the other had it 99-91.
Braekhaus, 37, relied mostly on her jab for much of the fight and then was able to land right hands regularly throughout the middle and late rounds. Lopes never seriously challenged Braekhus but did prove durable in going the full 10 rounds.
“I was trying very hard for the knockout, but Lopes was a tough girl,” Braekhus said. “I’m confident I won every round. I was honored to fight on the last HBO telecast and I’m very thankful for their support.”
Braekhus has all major belts at welterweight and is looking for new challenges. There has been talk of her facing noted mixed martial artist Cris Cyborg in a boxing match in 2019.
“I would love to fight Cyborg,” Braekhus said Saturday.
In the co-feature, former unified flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (38-3, 25 KO) broke down Victor Mendez (28-4-2, 20 KO) over seven rounds.
Estrada, a late replacement for the injured Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, got off to a relatively slow start against Mendez, who had fought as high as featherweight in recent bouts. But as Estrada got going on the inside and weaving accurate combinations, he took full control of the bout. Soon, he was mixing his attack to the body and head, and Mendez was unable to hold off the methodical, two-fisted attack of Estrada.
After Round 7, Mendez’s corner waved off the fight. In the previous rounds the amount of punishment being doled out by the former unified flyweight champion had increased noticeably.
Now, Estrada will focus on going back down to 115 pounds and a rematch with WBC junior bantamweight titlist Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, who defeated him this past February in what was a closely contested majority decision.
In the opening bout on HBO, two-time U.S Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields (8-0, 2 KO), 23, handily defeated Femke Hermans (9-2, 3 KO), 28, over 10 rounds. Shields was in control throughout as she was the constant aggressor and landed the large majority of clean punches.
Hermans, of Belgium, was mostly evasive as she switched from the orthodox stance to southpaw and moved liberally around the ring. Unfortunately for Hermans, she never mounted much of an offensive attack and rarely troubled Shields.
All three judges had Shields up by scores of 100-90 after 10 rounds as she retained IBF, WBA and WBC women’s middleweight titles.