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5'6" Frida Wallberg from G�teborg, Sweden (born April 28 1983) had a very successful amateur
boxing career,
compiling a 48-5 record at the national and international levels before turning pro as a lightweight in February 2004.
 Frida
was a two time winner of the Nordic Women's Championship and a six-time (1998 to
2003) Swedish National Champion, boxing out of the �tvidaberg Boxing Club. She
won the Swedish 63.5-kg title in December 1998 with a 5-2 victory over Annika
Weman, and in December 1999 with a RSC-2 victory over F. Gj�rstrup.
She fought Canadian national champion and current pro boxer
Jaime Clampitt in the first leg of the
Canada-Sweden Dual in Sudbury/Azilda, Ontario on March 24, 1999, losing
by an 11-5 decision, but went on to defeat Canada's Tanya Robertson by a
15-9 score three days later in Toronto. On May 15, 1999 at the
international Feenix Cup tournament in Turku, Finland, she avenged her
loss to Jaime Clampitt by defeating her 10-6 in the tournament semifinal. She
then went on to defeat Anna Gutierrez
of the USA by a 12-6 score to win the tournament title.
She lost to Myriam Lamare of France in the
63.5 kg (139-lb) semifinal of the Feenix Box Cup in October 2001 but
she avenged this loss in December by winning the 63.5-kg world title at the
inaugural AIBA world championship in Scranton, Pennsylvania, edging out Lamare by a 12-10 score. Wallberg
had defeated Terhi Luka of Finland (16-1), Joy Liu of the USA (15-3) and
Cristina Cerpi of Italy (12-8) to reach the world title bout with Lamare.
Frida Wallberg in her pro debut vs. Maribel Santana
Photo courtesy Team Palle
Frida made her pro debut on February 6, 2004 at Falconer Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Weighing in at 131 lbs, she scored a second-round TKO over Maribel Santana (130� lbs) of the
Dominican Republic when Santana retired after the first round, owing to blurred vision in her
left eye. Santana fell to 1-1-1 with the loss.
On March 13, 2004 at Br�ndby Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark,
Frida (133 lbs) won a four-round unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-36) decision over
Viktoria Olenik (130 lbs) of Kiev, Ukraine.
Wallberg said she wasn't fully satisfied with her victory,
�I was too tense and nervous and I put too much effort into landing a single knockout punch�,
she told Aftonbladet, adding that she had a minor cold and could not come up to her usual
standard of performance. Olenik also had an awkward style that gave Wallberg some problems and
she got more into the fight as Wallberg appeared to tire. Olenik fell to 0-4-1 with the loss.
On April 3, 2004 at SAS Radisson Hotel in Aarhus, Denmark,
Frida (128� lbs) won a four-round unanimous (40-36) decision over
Sharon Gaines (126� lbs) of Kansas City, Missouri, USA, who fell to 2-1-0 (0 KO). WBAN's European
Correspondent Torben L. reported that Wallberg won by
using her extra height and reach very well.
Frida Wallberg vs. Stoyanka Krasteva
Photo courtesy Team Palle
On November 12, 2004 at Br�ndby Hallen in Copenhagen, Denmark
Frida (130 lbs) easily won a six-round unanimous (60-52,60-52,60-50) decision
over Stoyanka Krasteva (132 lbs) of Bulgaria. Frida's original opponent,
Ilona Papp, had to call off the fight and Krasteva substituted for her at short
notice. Krasteva, who took an eight count
in both the second and the sixth rounds, fell to 1-2 with the loss. The
fight was shown on PPV.
Frida Wallberg vs. Angela Cannizzaro
Photo courtesy Team Palle
On April 15, 2005 at KB Hallen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Frida
(132� lbs) won a hard-fought six-round unanimous (59-55,59-55,59-55) decision
over Angela Cannizzaro (133� lbs) of Reggio Calabria, Italy. Wallberg
improved to 5-0 (1 KO) while Cannizzaro fell to 2-1 (1 KO) with the loss.
 On June 17, 2005 at the SAS Radisson in Aarhus, Denmark, Frida
(130 lbs) won the vacant WIBF Intercontinental Junior Lightweight title with a
unanimous (99-92,99-91,99-91) decision over Zarika Njeri (5'5�",
125� lbs) of Kenya.
According to a local report, it was reported that the fight was a "tough" fight,
where Wallberg got the upper hand by using her left jab and right hook well, but
Njeri remained dangerous and countered well. Njeri also bit Wallberg on the
collarbone twice during the fight, leaving a red welt and inevitable comparisons
with Mike Tyson! Wallberg improved to 6-0-0 (1 KO) as a professional while
Njeri fell to 5-1-1 (2 KOs).
In July 2007 WBAN
reported that Frida was back in training after giving birth to a baby girl
on March 30, 2007 and was hoping to return to boxing.
Frida Wallberg the winner!
Photo courtesy Team Palle
Since 1969, Sweden is one of five countries that have banned professional boxing
(the others are Cuba, North Korea, Iceland and Norway).
Paradoxically, the late-20th century revival of women's amateur boxing was
pioneered by the Swedish Amateur Boxing Association, which first
sanctioned women's events in 1988 and held its first women's national amateur
championship in 1994. Frida Wallberg had the benefits of an
extensive and highly competitive amateur career
to prepare her to face the best in her weight
class ... but she is likely to have to spend her entire pro career fighting
on foreign soil.
Frida is trained by
Tobias Askl�f and promoted by
Bettina Palle.
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated:
Tuesday March 10, 2009 |
