Cecilia Braekhus (12-0, 2 KOs) made a successful first defence of her WBA/WBC female welterweight titles as she clinched a unanimous points victory over Amy Yuratovac (6-3, 6 KOs) in Helsinki. The “First Lady” was ahead 98-92 on all three scorecards. “I am pleased with my performance,” she said. “Amy was an unorthodox fighter, she tried to fight and I tried to box, but I am happy I defeated her clearly.”
Braekhus made good use of her size advantage, cleverly keeping the American challenger at bay with her long left jab. In almost every round she connected with hard left-right combinations to the head, while Yuratovac tried to threaten with series of hooks to the body.. However, most of them were absorbed by Braekhus´ solid defence. “Cecilia did very well tonight,” coach Ulli Wegner lauded. “Her development is tremendous. Today was a good test for her because her opponent was a true fighter
and put on a strong performance. But Cecilia found the right solutions.”
Braekhus outboxed her opponent throughout the entire distance of the fight, showing her trademark speed, anticipation and movement. “I was great to fight in Scandinavia,” she added. “I hope the fans enjoyed it.”
Also on the undercard of Pekka Maki´s show at the Hartwall Arena, Robert Helenius (8-0, 4 KOs) clinched a big victory over Scott Gammer (18-4, 9 KOs), knocking out “The Hammer” in the sixth round. In what was just his eighth fight, the “Nordic Nightmare” dusted the experienced Welshman three times. Gammer took a knee after a hard right to the body in the
opening round before Helenius kept firing in his left jab as well as strong shots to body and head in the following. An uppercut wobbled Gammer in the fourth. In the sixth, Helenius landed another right to the body to send his opponent down. A brutal right hook to the chin then ended the encounter. “It was great to fight in Finland,” Helenius said.
“Gammer is an experienced opponent but I clearly defeated him today.” Coach Ulli Wegner was also full of praise. “Robert keeps learning very fast,” he said. “To beat someone like Gammer at such an early stage of your career really shows how much talent you have. I will make one promise tonight: We will be back in this wonderful arena in Helsinki for Robert to fight for the world title. It might take a while and Robert needs to keep working hard in practice, but he got what it takes to be a champion.”