By Per Ake Persson
Rosvalla Stora Isstadion - Light heavyweight Erik Skoglund (23-0) won a unanimous decision over Ukrainan Oleksey Cherviak (15-5-1) after twelve and retained the IBF I/C title in a well fought no knockdown affair. Skoglund, taller and more stylish, boxed on the outside with strong but somewhat flabby Cherviak content to fight in spurts looking to score with his heavy hooks. He was able to connect with some but overall the local hero was too sharp and won clearly cheered on by a crowd of over 5000. It was scored 120-108 twice and 119-109.
As for the next move, Skoglund beat the EBU mandatory challenger so a fight against the winner of Igor Michalkin vs Hugo Kaspersky could be next but the Swede is also highly ranked by the IBF but it appears that the big boys at 175 might be a few fights away for Skoglund. In Cherviak he fought a tough, capable opponent but also one who is not world class.
Super lightweight Anthony "Can You Dig It" Yigit (15-0-1) outscored Frenchman Chaquib Fadli (13-5) over eight action-packed rounds. It was scored 80-72, 80-71 and 80-73. Yigit took it easy to begin with but the upped the pace punching at times non stop. The tall and rangy Fadli showed an awkward style but countered well and there were numerous exciting exchanges especially in the later rounds when Yigit went all out with Fadli firing back. Fadli took a standing eight count in the final round in what easily was the best fight on the undercard.
Heavyweight Otto Wallin (13-0) outscored Russian Vladislav Goncharov (5-2) over six. Wallin, a southpaw, jabbed well and smothered his shorter opponent on the inside. Goncharov was never able to break free and punch in a fight with a lot of wresting and holding. Wallin was effective and knew what to do but it didn´t look pretty. It was scored 60-54 twice and 60-55.
Swedish light heavyweight Sven Fornling (8-0) outscored Norwegian Simen Smaadal (10-2) in a hardfought six-rounder. Fornling was on to a somewhat slow start but wore down Smaadal and had him on the verge of a stoppage in the final round. The Swede was just too strong for his opponent. It was scored 60-55 twice and 60-54 - numbers that looked a bit too wide. Smaadal´s conditioning left something to be desired and the future for the "North Sea Defender" doesn´t look too bright, at least not within Team Sauerland.
Super middleweight Hampus Henriksson made his debut by knocking out Ivan Sakic (1-6) at 2.59 of the first round. Henriksson, a southpaw, floored his opponent late in the first but Sakic got up and looked ready to continue but the referee counted nine-ten-out, which seemed wrong to most but especially to Sakic, who cried robbery. Ivan was on his way to lose the round by a wide margin and was outboxed - at the same time he was ready to go on after the knockdown.
Veteran judge Ove Ovesen, who just turned 78, was awarded with a special Making History award from the Swedish Boxing Commission. Ovesen, from Denmark but now with a Swedish license, has been the judge for thousands of fights working all over the world representing the WBA.
Norwegian - the sole non-Swedish Sauerland fighter on the bill - light heavyweight Alexander Hagen (8-1) stopped Italian Alessandro Buriola (4-3) at 1.20 of the third. Buriola was down in each of the rounds and appeared to fell apart under pressure. It was scheduled for four - but Sauerland had applied for six but it was turned down by the Martial Arts Delegation.
Super welterweight Simon Henriksson (4-0) outscored tough and willing Czech Jakub Horvath (1-2). Horvath was down late in the first from a right to the head but came back in the second scoring with wild hooks. Henriksson kept his cool, stuck to his boxing and took control in the last two for a clear win. It was scored 40-36 and 40-35 twice.
Sauerland Promotion´s Making History at the Rosvalla Stora Isstadion kicked off with Johanna Rydberg (4-0) outscoring Russian Evgeniya Zablotskaya (8-12) over six two minute rounds. The was a visible size difference with Zablotskaya having most of her fights at light flyweight while Rydberg is a big flyweight (if you get what I mean). Rydberg was too strong and won on scores of 60-54 on all cards.