Female pugilists on marquee for HBO’s final show

CARSON, CALIF. Although HBO has decided to put boxing in its past, the network is leaving the sport by showcasing a possible vision of its future.

Cecilia Braekhus was in the first women’s boxing match on HBO and the dominant Norwegian champion will be in the main event of HBO’s final boxing show tonight when she defends her welterweight titles against Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes.

On the undercard, two-time Olympic gold-medallist Claressa Shields defends her middleweight belts against Femke Hermans.

Any discussion of the world’s top female fighters must include Braekhus (34-0, nine KOs) and Shields (7-0, two KOs).

With women’s boxing on a distinct rise over the past two years, HBO is closing out its 45-year history as a driving force in boxing with a showcase for two fighters atop the sport’s next wave.

Super-flyweight Juan Francisco Estrada also fights Victor Mendez in a matchup of childhood acquaintances from Mexico, but this show is being carried by women including Australian atomweight champ Louisa Hawton, who fights Lorraine Villalobos on the undercard at the famed outdoor arena at StubHub Center south of downtown Los Angeles.

Several champions of women’s combat sports will also be watching at ringside, including former superstar Laila Ali, UFC featherweight champ Cris “Cyborg ” Justino and current boxing champs Christina Hammer and Jenna Mrdjenovich.

The mere idea of an HBO boxing show dominated by female champions would have been improbable just two years ago. So would the idea of a boxing world without HBO, a dominant financial force behind many of the world’s biggest bouts for nearly a half-century.

The event should be bittersweet for many boxing fans accustomed to HBO’s presence in the sport.

Longtime HBO commentator Jim Lampley will sign off from the network, for which he has worked since 1988, along with Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr.

HBO elected to get out of the sport after being unable or unwilling to compete with a wave of interest in televised boxing.

While Showtime has retained its prominence in the sport, ESPN has dramatically increased its boxing content in recent months.