. SWEDENS NEW FAVORITE SPORT
BY DAVID BERLIN
POSTED ON SECONDSOUT.COM
On this night, young Swedes who were not born when professional boxing was banned experienced their first live fights. One new fan told me, “I just found my favorite sport.” The sport may still have a long way to travel, but the enthusiasm with which boxing was received in Karlstad, and the success of the promotion, bode well for the future of boxing in Sweden.
Professional boxing is back in Sweden. After a 37-year ban, parliament voted last November to once again allow
Professional boxing is back in Sweden. After a 37-year ban, parliament voted last November to once again allow professional boxing, or at least the new Swedish version with its twelve-minute fights. The law became effective on January 1, 2007, and already this year the country has hosted three professional cards. The most recent was in the Lofbergs Lili Arena in Karlstad, the state-of-the-art 8,000-seat home of Sweden’s premier hockey team, the Farjestad Wolfs. Pugnus Boxing Promotions, headed by former Swedish amateur star Anders Holmberg (who looks to make his professional debut at the Blue Horizon in December), presented the town’s first boxing card in 44 years.
Karlstad may not look like a fight town; its wide, stone streets, low buildings and 1 a.m. closing time give it a very different feel from New York or Philadelphia or Las Vegas. But the Swedes who gathered in this peaceful little town for Saturday’s nine-bout card possessed an encouraging wealth of knowledge and a passion for the sweet science. In the days leading up to the fights, they soaked in the stories of the legendary promoter and matchmaker Don Elbaum, who brought in American heavyweights Ray Mercer, Robert Daniels and Joey Abell for the card, and who lent his know-how to the Swedish promotion. And they shared their own boxing memories, which of course included stories about Ingemar Johannson, the Swede who captured the world heavyweight championship by knocking out Floyd Patterson in 1959, and whose daughter Maria was ringside Saturday night to take part in a ceremony honoring the former champion. Johannson will turn 75 this week and is reportedly homebound because of his Alzheimer’s disease.
Although this was Pugnus Boxing’s debut show, it ran a first-class promotion. In the week before the fight, an outdoor ring was set up in the center of town, where the card’s headliners engaged in open workouts and signed autographs for an enthusiastic public. A press conference held on Thursday in the local theater allowed reporters to question the featured fighters, as well as Anders Holmberg, Don Elbaum and referee Steve Smoger, veteran of 126 world title fights and accurately described by Don Elbaum as “the best referee in boxing.” And Friday’s weigh-in was conducted at the local mall, where each featured fighter was introduced and weighed in front of a large crowd of spectators. Fight posters plastered the town, and the local press filled its pages with news of the promotion. In particular, Per Martensson, feature writer for the Wermlands-Tidningen and a boxing aficionado, devoted two pages a day to the upcoming card. These promotional efforts, along with the competitive match-ups slated for Saturday’s show and the historical significance of the town having its first fight card in more than four decades, contributed to the sale of over 4,000 tickets in a town of only 80,000 residents. Ticket sales, sponsorship and TV money made the promotion a financial success.
Pugnus Boxing not only sold its show, but took care of the boxers and their teams in a way that other promoters would do well to emulate. The Scandic Karlstad City in town center provided clean accommodations and good food (including three types of herring as part of its breakfast spread). And a staff of young men hired by the promoter stood at the ready to accommodate the fighters and their teams. They shuttled fighters to the only boxing gym in town – a functional affair with a ring, three heavy bags and space to shadow box and skip rope – and to the running paths that wend their way through the woods alongside Lake Vanern, Sweden’s largest lake. Promoter Anders Holmberg and I watched the sun spread its first light over the lake and breathed in the clean, crisp air as we joined Robert Daniels for an early morning run. In a business where promoters too often cut corners at the expense of fighters, this rookie promotional outfit deserves credit for doing it right.
But a successful future for boxing in Sweden depends on more than a well-run promotion. While parliament did well to legalize professional boxing, it did so in a bastardized form. According to Swedish law, a bout can last no more than twelve minutes. That means four three-minute rounds, the standard for boxers beginning their professional careers, or six two-minute rounds. Parliament is playing it safe, literally. Other than allowing professional boxers to fight without headgear, it is staying close to the amateur model, assertedly because of its concern for fighter safety. The obvious consequence is that Sweden will be out of step with the rest of the boxing world, and will not be able to stage title bouts or other significant bouts. In fact, the single women’s bout on Saturday’s card, between popular Swede Asa Sandell, who trains out of Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, New York, and Teresa Perozzi, from Bermuda, might have been sanctioned by the WBC as a world title bout if not for the parliamentary restriction.
Sweden must do away with the twelve-minute rule, and, though less crucial, it would do well to change some of its other regulations. Boxing is wisely moving away from the three-knockdown rule and the standing eight count, but they are the standard in Sweden. And the Swedish rule of ten-ounce gloves for all fights regardless of weight class replaces the more popular custom of lighter gloves for lighter fighters.
Part of the problem is that the three government officials who presently oversee boxing do not have a background in the sport. They ought to heed the advice of the four-member boxing board, and in particular of board member Olof Johansson, a veteran of the boxing world who knows the sport on both the amateur and professional levels. Aptly introduced at the press conference as “Mr. Boxing in Sweden,” Mr. Johannson understands that professional bouts must be fought over eight or ten or twelve rounds. But he also realizes, less than a year into this experiment, that the evolution of boxing in Sweden will take time. He is satisfied, for now, that professional boxing in his country at least looks professional, as there is no headgear. And he is hopeful that the other changes will come with time.
The changes must come, as the natural excitement that has accompanied the reemergence of boxing in Sweden after 37 years will just as naturally fade. At that point the fights themselves will have to attract the fans.
Despite the twelve-minute restriction, Pugnus Boxing succeeded in presenting an exciting and competitive card on Saturday night. But the drama started even before the first fight. At the 7 p.m. starting time, the arena went dark, and Mr. Boxing Olof Johannson, now dressed in a tuxedo as he played the role of ring announcer, bounded into the large black ring to blaring fight music. This natural showman, illuminated by a spotlight, stood in the center of the canvas, and with his booming voice and dramatic intonations, introduced (in Swedish) Karlstad’s first professional boxing card in 44 years.
Although there was no main event, the nine-bout card, billed “Night of the Champions,” included four featured attractions. The principals in these fights, followed by their corners, walked down a ramp through manufactured smoke as they made their way to the ring. The first of these features, coming right before the intermission, was the women’s bout, fought for a minor title over six two-minute rounds. In what may have been the best fight of the night, 6’1" Asa Sandell 6-3-2(2) abandoned her height advantage as she traded blows at close range with her stronger opponent, Teresa Perozzi 6-2-1 (1). Perozzi scored the cleaner and harder blows, but hometown scoring gave the Swede the close rounds as she survived with a draw.
After the break came the three American heavyweights. First came Ray Mercer 35-6-1 (26), fighting out of the opponent’s red corner. He faced Swedish hero Michael Lindblad 24-6 (15), who was born in 1970, the same year that boxing was banned in Sweden. Mercer, a gold medalist in the 1988 Olympics and former WBO heavyweight champion, proved to be in a different class than his opponent. He used his left hand to make short work of Lindblad, scoring a knockout at 1:50 of the first round.
Next up was former WBA cruiserweight champion Robert Daniels 49-9-1 (41), who won over the crowd when he entered the ring carrying a Swedish flag. But it was downhill after that, as he lost on points, for a second time, to Aldo Colliander 13-2 (5). Over six two-minute rounds, Colliander potshotted Daniels from the outside and tied him up on the inside. Daniels finally let his hands go in the sixth and final round, but it was too late. Daniels announced his retirement after the fight.
In the final fight of the night, prospect Joey Abell 17-1 (17) continued his string of knockouts as he deposited the normally durable Russian Daniel Peret 8-9 (3) on the canvas twice in the first round. Peret chose not to come out for the second, giving Abell a technical knockout victory.
In other action, lightweight Tarik Charafi 1-0 survived a second round knockdown to win his pro debut over tough Jegise Tovmaszjan 0-1. Super bantams Reidar Walstad 16-2-1 (10) and Karl Larsson Jones 4-1-1 (1) fought to a draw. Light heavyweight Julian Ilie 12-2-1 (3) looked impressive in beating Kim Jenssen 9-1 (6) over four rounds. Former title challenger Allan Vester 26-6-1 (5) beat Gotthard Hinteregger 29-13-1 (15) in welterweight action. And welter Benjamin Kalinovic 5-0 (2) outpointed Thomas Hengstberger 12-8-2 (3).
There were some minor absences – no stools were provided, forcing cornermen to hand chairs with backs over the top rope, and no inspectors visited the dressing rooms to make certain that the boxers had wrapped their hands in accordance with the rules. But these small glitches did not detract from the show, and will surely be corrected in time for the next fight card in Karlstad.
On this night, young Swedes who were not born when professional boxing was banned, experienced their first live fights. One new fan told me, “I just found my favorite sport.” The sport may still have a long way to travel, but the enthusiasm with which boxing was received in Karlstad, and the success of the promotion, bode well for the future of boxing in Sweden.