Kali Reis Says ‘She Took One’ For Women’s Boxing To Save HBO’s Fight With Cecilia Braekhus

Former World Champion Kali Reis Joined The Pay Me No Mind Podcast And Said Her Historic HBO Bout With Cecilia Braekhus Almost Never Happened

Earlier this week former WBA Middleweight champion Kali “KO Mequinonoag” Reis appeared on the Pay Me No Mind sports and entertainment podcast to discuss her historic May 5 (or Cinco de Mayo) title fight with “The First Lady of Boxing” – undisputed Welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus. Reis was also invited to share some insight on Showtime Boxing’s forthcoming Special Edition: It’s Our Time To Shine event featuring Middleweight title fights Claressa Shields vs. Hanna Gabriels and Christina Hammer vs. Tori Nelson. Reis has fought all of the women, with the exception of facing Shields.

Reis (13-7-1, 4 KOs) appeared in the opener of HBO Championship Boxing’s Gennady Golovkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan telecast, challenging Braekhus (33-0, 9 KOs) for all five of her Welterweight belts in the reigning champion’s U.S. television debut. Per LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, the first-ever HBO-televised women’s bout fought at StubHub Center,  averaged just over 900,000 viewers with the audience surpassing 1 million for the fight’s peak.

Reis entered the fight as an underdog, and she rallied back from an early slow start to abruptly drop Braekhus in round seven, but ultimately loss the bout via unanimous decision.

During the telecast the commentators discussed Braekhus’ 11th hour switch from her trainer Lucia Rijker in favor of Jonathon Banks, and they also made some remarks concerning Braekhus’ vehement objection to fighting Reis in the contracted glove size of 8 ounces.

During Reis’ interview on the podcast, she expounded on Braekhus’ issue with the glove size, and revealed that from the weigh-in on the Rhode Island native and her team was uncertain that the fight would even happen. She went on to say that eventually she conceded to Braekhus’ glove size demands, making it possible for the fight to move forward. As a result of the conflict, Reis says she only had roughly an hour to warm up for the biggest fight of her career.

Reis’ interview starts at the 1:37:16-mark of the podcast. She spoke about the monumental fight’s outcome being somewhat bittersweet, gave a status on her upcoming June 30 fight at the Mohegan Sun, and provided a brief analysis of the Shields-Gabriels and Hammer-Nelson matchups.

Listen to Reis the latest Pay Me No Mind episode:

The episode also includes features guest Super Middleweight Franchon Crews-Dezun (starting at 2:06:22) who is scheduled to face Crystal Byers on the un-televised portion of the Shields-Gabriels undercard.

In addition to the link above, the Pay Me No Mind podcast is available for download on multiple platforms including iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and can be found by searching for TalkLoudRadio.