SKILFUL SCANDINAVIANS

Hardly a boxing hotbed, Scandinavia have produced a small number of world-class fighters

1. BATTLING NELSON

A Dane based in Chicago, Nelson had 105 pro fights and defeated Joe Gans in the 17th round to lift the world lightweight title in 1908. He lost the belt in round 40 of a fight against Ad Wolgast.

2. MIKKEL KESSLER

Kessler, the ‘Viking Warrior’, won the WBA world super-middleweight title in 2004, lost a competitive unification fight against Joe Calzaghe in 2007, and then regained his old belt, as well as the WBC version, before retiring in 2013.

3. INGEMAR JOHANSSON

Johansson’s big moment arrived in 1955 when he knocked out Floyd Patterson in three rounds to become the world heavyweight champion. The Swede then lost the belt a year later as Patterson exacted revenge.

4. CECILIA BRAEKHUS

Undefeated in 33 pro fights, Norwegian Braekhus is the pound-for-pound best female fighter on the planet and currently holds an array of welterweight world titles.

5. BADOU JACK

Born in Sweden but now Vegas-based, Jack has turned his career around following an early firstround stoppage loss to win the WBC world supermiddleweight crown and beat the likes of George Groves, Lucian Bute and Anthony Dirrell.

6. JOHNNY BREDAHL

After losing to Wayne Mccullough in 1995, Bredahl rebounded to win the European bantamweight belt and finally snare the WBA bantamweight title in 2002. He retired in 2006 having won his final 11 fights.

7. MADS LARSEN

A popular boxer in Denmark, Larson was a former European super-middleweight champion who went on to lose a majority decision against Sven Ottke in an IBF and WBA world title fight.

8 OLE KLEMETSEN

Known as The Golden Viking, Norway’s Klemetsen beat Crawford Ashley to win the European light-heavyweight title in 1997, and then a year later unsuccessfully challenged Reggie Johnson for the IBF title.

9 BRIAN NIELSEN

Famous most of all for a 49-fight unbeaten run, and a 2001 battle with Mike Tyson, this Danish heavyweight’s career high point was winning an IBO bauble.

10 PENTTI OLAVI HÄMÄLÄINEN

Arguably Scandinavia’s finest amateur boxer, Finland’s Hämäläinen won gold at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, bronze at the ’56 Olympics in Melbourne, and then turned pro, before retiring with a record of 6-1 to go work as a mechanic and policeman.