By Teddy Stenmark

11.10 - The hard reality of not being able to fight in their own homeland, takes the toll of quite a few talented Swedish Boxers. The ban of professional boxing in Sweden has nothing but negative effects for the many talented youngsters that try their luck abroad. They have that obvious disadvantage already from the start, lacking the well needed support from the crowd that every other boxer normally has from time to time. The control of our boxers is also more or less nonexistent. Today a Swedish fighter with a strong will to turn professional can do so! He doesn't need to display any sort of amateur background what so ever, that is if he is smart enough to apply for a license in a country that demands only a physical. Is that right? Of course not!

We need to protect our fighters and we want them to compete on equal terms with their opponents. No one Should be able to turn professional who hasn't got the talents for it. It's common sense! Even though boxing isn't allowed in Sweden, we have had So many top-boxers who managed to reach high standard anyway. The likes of Attila Levin, Paolo Roberto and Armand Krajnc for instance. The latter really a type example of starting from scratch to reach the top through enormous will and hard work. He was handed a tough start of his pro-career, lived in a small cell-like room in the training facilities of German stable Universum, trained hard and when his big chance (The WBO-title shot against Jason Matthews) came in November of 1999, He took it and performed excellent (TKO 8). Krajnc had in a way sort of defied the odds and made it on his own. That, of course makes a boxing-person like my self very glad, not glad enough though to compensate the frustration I feel when talent is wasted in so much higher extent. It's rare that a Swedish pro-boxer reaches the success of the kind Armand have enjoyed. We are more used to experience boxers like for instance Zoltan Sarossy to mention

A good example of a fighter that the ban of pro-boxing in my opinion, ruined. Sarossy was/is a hugely talented Junior middleweight who I sincerely hope will return to the ring. As of right now the
Stockholm-fighter has a record of 12-3-1 (8KO). The defeats came to the hands of journeyman Koba Kulu (21/11-1998, TKO 4) Mark Ramsey and Alvaro Moreno both disappointing eight round point losses in the year 2000. He hasn't boxed since. I am not saying that if we would have had Pro-boxing in Sweden, that Sarossy could have beaten those guys, probably not! But at least he would have had a fair chance of rebuilding his career. As the situation is now, what's the point?

Teddy Stenmark