From the Scandinavian fight scene: Spadafora to slick for Holbaek

By Teddy Stenmark

09.11 - Danish lightweight Dennis Holbaek didn't get past IBF lightweight champion Paul Spadafora in Chester, West Virginia. Holbaek had to settle for a point loss in his first major title fight. Spadafora was to slick for the aggressive Dane and after the full twelve it was obvious that the man from Denmark had failed in his quest for championship glory. Hard nut for us Holbaek-supporters to swallow but that's the way boxing is. The Pittsburgh Kid now 36-0 while Holbaek fell to 43-2-0. Next up for us Scandinavians is of course super middleweight Rudy Markussen´s IBF attempt in Nürnberg on the 16th of November against Sven Ottke of Germany. The hard-hitting undefeated (27-0) Dane has looked very strong in sparring and is, according to sources close to him, in excellent shape. Maybe we are in for a major upset by Rudy. Nothing could be more welcomed!

Danish WBA bantamweight Johnny Bredahl retained his World title in Copenhagen Friday night via a unanimous decision over Leo Gamez of Venezuela. The Scores were as follows: 117-113, 117-112, and 115-114. Swedes Aldo Colliander (heavyweight) and Giovanni Alvarez (light heavyweight) both stayed undefeated. Alvarez knocked out American Chris Holt in the third round to Secure win number 11 in his career while heavyweight Colliander had to struggle with Jeff Ford of the US the full route to rack home win number three. Super middleweight prospect Mikkel Kessler made it a "quick night" as he knocked out Yank Dean Williams already in the first round. Kessler six latest fights has ended before time and he now sports an unblemished record of 29-0-0 22KO. Bright future is definitely awaiting him.

Super middleweight colleague, Mads Larsen had to struggle the full eight with Brazilian, Roberto Coelho in order to secure his Victory. Larsen improved his record to 43-1-0 (36 KO). Featherweight ace Spend Abazi managed to erase that only loss on his record by out pointing Athanas Nzau of Kenya. The stylish former European bantamweight champion, now 24-1-0 (8KO). Danish heavyweight Johny Jensen took his ninth consecutive victory outscoring Robert Marsh of the US over six rounds. Super middleweight Martin Nielsen has yet to go the full distance as a pro, he scored an impressive third round KO over Matt Gockel of the US to secure his third straight KO-victory. Lightweight Martin Kristjansen of Denmark now has two straight first round knockouts under his belt. American Anthony Viorel didn't make it past the opener. Good work from him.

I spoke with former Olympian and heavyweight prospect Kwamena Turkson just recently, just to hear what was up with him. The hard-hitting Swedish amateur should have had his professional debut for the Palle´s in January/February of this year, but something happened that prevented him to "drop his jersey". I contacted him to hear what went wrong. Apparently the Turksons shoulder had snapped while he was sparring in Denmark. Turkson had gone home to check it out and found out that he had a serious "crack " in the shoulder-bone that required surgery. He was operated and was told not to train for about six months. The rehabilitation process was that long and all he had to do was wait! The six months passed and he felt OK in the right shoulder, he started to train again but believe it or not, he then felt pain in his left shoulder as well. After a new visit at the doctor the two-time European bronze medal winner was told that he needed yet another operation. On the good side though, this injury did not need six months to heal up, just 1 month maximum. So that's were he is at now with his career. He awaits surgery on his left shoulder sometime in Mid November.