Ringside Report: Harper & Braekhus Can’t Be Split In A Disappointing Ten-Round Majority Draw

Ringside Report: Harper & Braekhus Can’t Be Split In A Disappointing Ten-Round Majority Draw

The trouble when people keep shouting robbery is that when there is a genuine one, nobody listens.

Terri Harper and Cecilia Braekhus couldn’t be separated after ten incredibly dull rounds that failed to ignite any kind of crowd interest on Saturday night in Sheffield. Even the vocal Harper faithful seemed to lose interest rather quickly, and the fight never caught fire. And in truth, it never looked likely to.

There was no robbery, and opinion was divided as to who deserved to leave Sheffield a unified world super-welterweight champion of the world. A scorecard of 97-93 for Harper was cancelled out by two scores of 95-95, which left Harper retaining her WBA title and the WBO bauble remaining vacant. The fact that we may have to see it again will not excite many. From ringside, I had no issues with the draw, but equally, and there was certainly no intense venom from the crowd who seemed to lose interest very quickly. I wouldn’t have argued if one fighter had edged it on the cards. But it was not in any way, shape, or form a robbery. It was a close fight. Nothing more. If anything, it could be argued that Braekhus was the one who could consider herself more unfortunate not to wake up a world champion once again. Braekhus was considered over the hill prior, but the draw and the better-than-expected performance give her career a little more life.

Eddie Hearn threw words like outrageous and incompetence at the judge’s scorecards. Loyalty and reality are often hard to separate.

I had extremely low expectations for the fight, simply because I thought Harper would be too fast and too sharp for the ageing Norwegian who you sense that this golden era of women’s boxing has sadly passed her by. But Braekhus served up a gentle reminder of her glory days, while Harper seemed to struggle all night long, getting to grips with her far more experienced opponent. It was a fight where they both seemed to cancel each other out at times. The former undisputed world welterweight champion didn’t quite turn the clock back, but it was enough to earn a draw against Harper, who must know despite her promoter’s words that she needs to improve greatly on last night’s performance if the big fights that she craves with the likes of Chantelle Cameron, Katie Taylor, Mikaela Mayer and the other elite fighters in and around her weight come to fruition. On this form, they all beat her. The former unified world super-featherweight champion will probably be thankful that the much-talked-about undisputed fight with her old rival Natasha Jonas didn’t get made. Since their first meeting that ended in a highly controversial draw in 2020, Harper appears to have regressed, while Jonas is the fighter who has got better.

Harper seems to have lost her way after the Jonas fight and that stunning stoppage defeat to Alycia Baumgardner a year later. But Harper, despite moving up multiple weights and winning another world title, you still feel is a fighter still searching for her old confidence and form. It was a poor performance in an extremely poor fight. Harper can do better. Next time out, she needs to.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing