PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

SCANDANAVIAN FIGHTERS PREPARING FOR NEW BOXING SEASONS

The Boxing industry faced serious challenges in the last few months. While some sports communities have found alternative ways to cope with the impact of the pandemic, that didn’t turn out to be the solution with boxing. Although fans had been waiting impatiently for the boxing season to arrive back in March, this sport couldn’t escape from the impact of Covid-19, and from the time since the lockdown started, boxing associations had no other choice but to shut down and postpone the upcoming season for an indefinite time. 

That’s what happened to the boxing community in the whole world and the same applied to Scandinavian fighters. The shutdown wasn’t really a surprise because everybody acknowledges that competitive boxing is a sport where person to person contact can’t be avoided. Therefore, even though this sport has tons of benefits on physical health and mental wellbeing, which is so important especially in the middle of the pandemic, nothing could be done in order to avoid delaying the season. 

However, as the situation is slowly improving and Covid-19 cases are reducing in number, Scandinavian fighters continue to get ready for the new season. In many European countries, the government has already introduced some guidelines for boxing activities, which include limiting hand-to-hand contact and minimizing unnecessary interactions with others. Therefore, while sports-lovers are waiting impatiently for the new boxing season to arrive, Scandinavian fighters don’t stop practicing to remain in shape when it finally comes time to continue fighting with their fists. And this time is probably on its way to come to Nordic countries. 

Before boxing season starts

Now the boxing community in Nordic countries can be hopeful about the upcoming season because the overall situation slowly improves. While most of the European countries are still facing lockdowns, many of them are slowly getting free from restrictions. Since the examination of the COVID-19 vaccines turned out to be successful, as the Scandinavian boxing-related organizations believe, they will be able to finally revive the sport in early-spring. This is why famous fighters already started to get in shape so that they won’t disappoint their fans. 

However, since there is still a long time before the fans will be able to finally enjoy their desired games, some betting sites try to entertain them with alternative ways. In fact, that’s what most of the Norwegian boxing fans are doing at the moment. Although nobody knows for sure who will participate in the new season and what it will be like, the Norwegian odds websites or oddssider as they are called in the Norwegian language, give fans the chances to find out which betting sites allow the fans to place bets on their favorite Scandinavian fighters. It seems that not only fans are enjoying doing this, but it also motivates boxers to prepare for new boxing seasons and show the spectators their best. But still, for now, we can’t be certain what the new sessions will look like because there are many months before spring and many things can change before that.

Boxing in Nordic countries 

Boxing has not always been such a popular type of sport in Nordic countries. In fact, these countries have been ambivalent towards boxing and other violent forms of sport. This is why it has been illegal for so long in Sweden and Norway. During the decades boxing was considered an illegal activity in both these countries and only in 2006 did Sweden finally lifted the ban. Now boxing is no longer illegal but it’s strictly regulated by the government. However, it doesn’t mean that most of the professional boxers are not from this country but today the public view about boxing has completely changed in Sweden. 

Unlike Sweden, Norway only lifted its 33-year ban in 2015. Although professional boxing had been banned for three decades, there have been many people who achieved great success in this sport and most of them are women. Specifically, Norwegian boxers like Cecilia Brækhus fought against other countries and made history in the sport even before boxing finally became legal in Norway. But before that, by the right of the old “knockout law”, the “First Lady” wasn’t able to legally fight in her own country. 

Although some legislators and even some citizens still believe that professional boxing should be banned in their country, obviously boxing is one of the most important things that make the country stand out in the whole sports industry in Europe. The main reason why they want to ban the sport is it's unsafe nature and the fact that taxpayers unethically pay for the healthcare of fighters. However, Nordic countries are direct descendants of Vikings - people who were known for their strength and determination. This indeed had a great impact on the development of professional boxing in the country. Today one thing is for sure - Scandinavian countries produced many greatest boxers in the world and just banning the sport wouldn’t be right for them. 

But now when the jurisdiction finally supports professional Nordic boxers, the new problem appeared and it’s pandemic. Most of the shows had been canceled because the interaction between the fighters was already too risky for their health, not to say anything about the cheering crowd. Despite the fact that boxers usually fight with their faces and hands covered, health officials thought that it was still dangerous for their health which is why the boxing industry in Scandinavian countries faced serious challenges. But now the situation is changing and the industry is already in the process of recovering. Hopefully, the new season will successfully start in spring.

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet