(NOV 29)  WBAN received a statement from Ed Pearson, Chairman, WBC Female Championships, in regards to the Wallberg-Gerula WBC Title fight that just took place in Sweden on November 27th.  Ed Pearson said the following:

"I have had questions from others as well, so I am including these people as well on the response. "

"The Swedish law does not permit more than 8 rounds. But, a bit of background information."

"Professional boxing was outright banned in Sweden in 1970. Through the unbelievably lengthy efforts of Olof Johanssen (Mr. Boxing in Sweden) and Bjorn Rosengren (Member of the Olympic Committee and President of the Swedish Boxing Commission), they were successful in getting the ban lifted in the early 2000s. However, they only allowed 4 round fights (men or women). I was approached a couple years ago to allow a 6 round WBC International Female Championship match, which despite the opposition at the time from some, we allowed it (Sandell vs. Perozzi). That was the 1st 6 round fight since 1970. A couple months ago, I was again approached to all a title fight between either Ann Saccurato or Olivia Gerula and Swedish fighter Frida Wallberg. Again, there was some opposition, but we used the same logic as the first one, and that was if we help the Commission do a high profile match for a WBC title, slowly but surely we will eventually get the authorities to allow 10, and hopefully (for men) 12 round fights. So up till now, with the help and support of the WBC, the Swedish Commission has been allowed by their politicians, to slowly increase from a ban in boxing, to a 6 round fight to now an 8 round fight. My information is that there is great hope and expectations, that the authorities will allow a 10 round female title fight in the new year (a rematch between Olivia Gerula and Frida Wallberg). The media interest in this fight was incredible. The event was sold out (9000+)."

"That is the reason we permitted this fight and the previous one, was to help improve boxing in Sweden (and overall). The Swedish Commission was an excellent one to work with, and their preparations were impressive. They were under great scrutiny from the government officials, press and public, and did a fantastic job in preparing for this event. It was an honor and pleasure working with them, and we certainly look forward to doing so again in the near future."

"The fight was a excellent one, and was hotly contested. It was very close, with several rounds having mixed scores from the judges – it was that close. It was closer than the score indicate because of the closeness of many of the rounds, but in boxing, with the 10 Point Must System In the end, one boxer gets 10 and one gets less than that. Wallberg eked out several close rounds, and got a narrow victory over Gerula, who was obviously distraught over the decision."


JUST FOR THE RECORD – HERE IS THE OFFICIAL RESULT:

Frida Wallberg, Sweden - WIN UD 8 – over Olivia Gerula, Canada
Hovel Arena, Stockholm, Sweden, Sweden Professional Boxing Commission (Bjorn Rosengren, President; Olof Johansson, Secretary); WBC Supervisor Ed Pearson, Canada
Scoring as follows:
Bela Florian, Hungary: 77-75; Daniel Van de Wiele, Belgium: 78-75; Jurgen Langos, Germany: 78-75.


Best Regards,

Ed Pearson
Chairman, WBC Female Championships

WBAN has New Group Facebook  WBAN has just listed a new Group Facebook "Women Boxing Archive Network" exclusively for women's boxing.  We would like to have the Group Facebook for women's boxing worldwide for links to stories, for WBAN readers, and more.   To join WBAN's Facebook