Photos: Cecilia Braekhus, Kali Reis Putting in Work

It’s a night for the record books when HBO Sports presents WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: GENNADY GOLOVKIN VS. VANES MARTIROSYAN AND CECILIA BRAEKHUS VS. KALI REIS, to be seen SATURDAY, MAY 5 at 11:00 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will call the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino. (photos by Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos).

The fights will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners’ streaming services.

Undefeated middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, now living in Los Angeles, takes on Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21 KOs) from Abovyan, Armenia, now living in Glendale, Calif., in a 12-round championship bout. Golovkin, 36, looks to defend his middleweight title successfully for the 20th time, a feat previously accomplished only by surefire Hall-of-Famer Bernard Hopkins. Despite battling Canelo Alvarez to a stirring 12-round draw last September, Golovkin boasts an astonishing 87% knockout-to-win ratio. He’s coming off back-to-back efforts against Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs, perhaps the finest opponents in the 160-pound division.

The opening bout marks the first women’s boxing match on HBO, with Cecilia Braekhus of Cartagena, Colombia (32-0, 9 KOs) meeting Kali Reis (13-6-1, 4 KOs) from Providence, RI, in a ten-round welterweight title bout. Braekhus seeks to extend her nine-year world championship reign in her 22nd consecutive title defense.

www.boxingscene.com/photos-cecilia-braekhus-kali-reis-putting-work–127745?print_friendly=1

Former cruiserweight/heavyweight contender Alexander Petkovic landed a major TV deal in his new role as promoter on the German TV market. His company “Petko’s Boxpromotion” signed a deal with Sky Germany which starts on November 5th. Petkovic will present WBC Youth World Champion Toni Kraft (9-0, 3 KOs) who will take on African knockout artist Abdallah Paziwapazi (13-3, 12 KOs).

In the co-feature, unbeaten WBO Female World Middleweight Champion Christina Hammer (19-0, 9 KOs) hopes to land a unification bout with reigning WBC female titlist Kali Reis (10-5-1, 4 KOs). Hammer and Reis already met in May last year when the German secured a unanimous decision win but was knocked down by powerful Reis in the tenth and last round.

The event which also features Toni’s younger brother James Kraft (9-0, 7 KOs) and former German amateur standout Howik Bebraham (4-0, 1 KO) will take place in Munich, Germany. More details on the show and on the cooperation between Sky and “Petko’s Boxpromotion” will be released shortly.

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Photos: Sandra Krille/SES Boxing –

It was an entertaining afternoon at the Goethe Gallery in downtown Jena, located in the east-central portion of Germany, as the fighters participating in Saturday’s SES boxing event engaged in an open workout.

First Adam Deines, Tom Pahlmann, Moritz Stahl and Tom Schwarz from Team Germany worked the pads with trainer Dirk Dzemski. Then came the featured fighters WBO female middleweight champion Christina Hammer and her challenger Kali Reis from Florida, followed by Nobert Dabrowski and WBO #1 light heavyweight Dominic Boesel, who meet in the main event.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/boesel-hammer-open-workout-288882