IMG och Klitschko representerar världsmästaren i boxning CECILIA BRÆKHUS

IMG AND KLITSCHKO TEAM UP TO REPRESENT WORLD CHAMPION BOXER CECILIA BRÆKHUS

OSLO (08 April, 2015) – Norwegian world champion boxer Cecilia Brækhus today announced a new management and representation consortium including IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion and media, and K2 Promotions and Klitschko Management Group (KMG), Wladimir Klitschko’s boxing promotional and management companies. Brækhus’ own promotion and management companies,First Lady Promotions (FLP) and First Lady Sport (FLS), will work alongside IMG and K2 Promotions / KMG.

Brækhus, 33, is currently the undisputed world welterweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO titles simultaneously. The consortium will work together to arrange and promote fights inside and outside of Norway, and optimise her media profile and sponsorship opportunities.

The Norwegian parliament has only recently reinstated boxing as a legal sport in Norway, paving the way for Brækhus to fight in her homeland for the very first time. The sport was banned in January 1982.

Cecilia Brækhus said: “I am proud and honored to be teaming up with Wladimir Klitschko’s management and IMG. This partnership will take my career to an even higher level. Together we will create even more historic boxing moments - both in Norway, for the first time in 33 years, and internationally. Working with the world best within boxing, sport and media was an opportunity I simply could not say no to.”

Wladimir Klitschko, Heavyweight Champion of the World, added: “It is great that Cecilia and I are now partners. She has been, for many years now, the dominant figure in women’s boxing. Cecilia is a great athlete; very dedicated to the sport and she even has one more belt than me – but I promise to her that I will work on that.”

Kristian Hysen, Senior Vice President, IMG said: “Cecilia is recognized as the best female boxer in the world and this is an exciting opportunity to work with her and Klitschko to increase awareness and optimise boxing and sponsorship opportunities while promoting female boxing to a wider audience.”

Bernd Bönte, Managing Director, Klitschko Management Group, commented: “Cecilia is pound-for- pound the best female fighter in the world and Team Klitschko is very proud to now cooperate with her, her team and our long-time partner, IMG. We will definitely try to secure very interesting bouts for Cecilia and it would be great to have her also fight on the undercard of a future Wladimir Klitschko event.”

About IMG

IMG is a global leader in sports, fashion and media operating in more than 25 countries around the world. IMG’s businesses include Events & Media, College, Golf, Tennis, Performance and IMG Academy, Fashion, Models, Clients, Licensing, Joint Ventures, and creative management agency Art + Commerce. In 2014, IMG was acquired by WME, the world’s leading entertainment and media agency. Together, the companies offer an unparalleled client roster; strategic partnerships with sponsors and brands; and marquee assets across sports, entertainment, events, music and fashion.

About KMG Since years the KMG is one of the most important sports event organizer with consistently more than 10 million TV viewers in Germany and more than one million fans at Klitschko Box Events in stadiums and arenas. The company, based in Hamburg, is responsible for the international TV marketing, PR and media coverage as well as the ticketing and organized for example eight fights in sold-out stadiums in Germany, Poland and Switzerland. KMG is World Record holder with the fight W. Klitschko vs. Chagaev with 61.000 spectators in Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen in 2009.

Bernd Bönte, Co-Owner and CEO of KMG since 2007, is manager of Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko since 2000 and formerly long-term sports journalist for TV, print media, radio as well as commentator of hundreds of box fights i.e. with Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis, Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard.