It is borderline unthinkable that boxing was banned in a major European country from 1970 all the way up until 2007. In Sweden, this is exactly what happened.

In neighbouring Norway, a boxing ban was in place from 1982 to 2016, meaning citizens of the sport faced a 33-year ban compared to 36 in Sweden.

A bronze statue of Sweden’s only heavyweight world champion, Ingemar Johansson, cuts an imposing figure in Gothenburg, clearly showing the pride in the greatest fighter in the nation’s history.

I feel confused as to why boxing was banned in the first place and why for so long?

Especially when there is clear recognition for those who fought under the blue and yellow flag.

To learn more about boxing’s 36-year exile from Sweden, proboxing-fans.com spoke exclusively with former professional fighter and current promoter, Robert Nordman.

The Gothenburg-based promoter was the first to host a boxing event in his country since the ban was lifted 14 years ago.

“The ban on boxing in Sweden was introduced by the government in 1969 on November 28, and came into effect on January 1, 1970, when all professional boxing was banned.”

Robert, born in 1972, wouldn’t know any different. But how could he love boxing in a country that banned the sport?

“My father was a boxer, he was an amateur, and he actually got an offer (to turn pro) from Cus D’Amato. He was supposed to go to America, but I don’t know why he didn’t go. My father was born in 1936, so he stopped boxing before the ban.”

What happened to the gyms and the athletes who used them?

“You were not allowed to start [as a professional boxer] In Sweden it was not allowed to have any exhibitions, it was not even allowed to organize sparring matches.

“Back in 1983 when I started boxing everyone was sparring secretly, I’m not sure what it was like at the beginning of the ban.

“Of course, at that time there were still professional fighters in Sweden who had to spar to prepare for their fights. Many people would have had to travel outside Sweden to spar.

I needed to know how they would carry out this process in secret?

“The doors would be closed, covering all the windows so people couldn’t see in.

“This would happen in all the normal boxing clubs. So every boxer would have an amateur gym where he started, he would train there and he would have to spar undercover.

“It was like alcohol! If you couldn’t see it, you couldn’t do anything about it.”

Despite the boxing suspension, Sweden continued to produce good fighters competing at a high level.

“When I was boxing, we had; Ander Eklund, the former European champion, who got knocked out by Frank Bruno. We also had George Scott, who won a silver medal at the Olympics and then went to America.

“We had a professional team in Stockholm, Paulo Roberto trained there. Fredrik Alvarez also fought mainly in Denmark.

“All these guys would often go to countries like Finland, and the guys from Stockholm would often go to Hungary to train and spar.”

Many of the aforementioned fighters have fought at the highest level. Type any of these names into Boxrec and world title challenges and regional titles are littered throughout many of the fighters’ records.

What was the general feeling among the boxing community?

“There was a politician in the south of Sweden who wanted to ban all boxing, even amateur boxing!

“You have to understand that in Sweden you will never see a fight outside the ring. It is almost unthinkable to see a fight in Sweden outside the ring.

“The nations were very divided in their opinions on this matter. I remember noticing that many boxing trainers did not like professional boxing because of the hysterical money involved.

“There was a general feeling among coaches that boxing was about more than money. Personally, I think many amateur gyms and coaches were worried that pushing for the ban to be lifted would effectively force the government to ban boxing altogether, even among amateurs.

“There was also a brain professor in Sweden who was always publishing reports about how perilous it was.”

Robert himself entered the professional world in 2001 as a fighter, ending his professional career in 2004. This started the process that resulted in the first professional boxing event in Sweden in over 30 years.

“When I was fighting in America, I wanted to learn more about the business, manage fighters and learn more about the industry.

“The first fighter I managed was Mikaela Lauren in 2009. In 2003, the MMA business started in Sweden, and many people thought it was just primitive cage fighting, which was also unregulated.

“Then they [Swedish Government] he created a recent law to ban martial arts. This law was passed in 2006, but it contradicted the ban on boxing. This led to the lifting of the ban in January 2007.

“In August of that same year [2006,] I decided to promote the first professional boxing gala in Sweden [in 36 years].

“Aasa Sandell was the main event of the show, she was in America before this performance.

“I had two months to promote the show, but there was a lot of news. I think they wrote over 700 articles about the show.

“It didn’t go so well, there were only about 4,000 people in the arena that night. I actually lost about a million Swedish kronor. But the good thing was that we had over 200,000 spectators.”

Swedish boxing is officially back! Robert had a show in his hometown of Gothenburg, but problems and restrictions still made it complex to practice combat sports in his homeland.

“Some people liked it, some people didn’t. At first, we could only have 12 minutes of fight time. So we could only do four rounds.

“The media didn’t want to give us any credit, they called it the ‘airy of professional boxing.’ Now, if we want to have more than four rounds, you have to appeal to get more rounds. Basically, you need very skilled fighters to be able to survive the appeal for extra rounds.

We have moved our conversation to the role of the Swedish boxing authorities in all of the above cases.

“They have a lot of experience in boxing, but the problem is that the relationship between the Swedish Boxing Federation and the Swedish Boxing Federation is constantly regulated by law and the government.

“The problem is that there are many people working in the government who have no idea about boxing. The matter becomes complicated, there is a conflict between the two bodies.

“The humorous thing about these laws is that they have neglected one of the most essential things, the referee. The recent law doesn’t even mention the role of the referee. I was shocked when I read about it. It has nothing to do with the number of rounds, it all depends on the referee.

When I spoke to Robert, I got the impression that there was a solemn miseducation about boxing in Sweden. It was a substantial surprise to me, I had no idea what kind of hoops you had to jump through to have a 6-round fight.

But what do Swedes think about boxing today?

With a life-size bronze statue of the greatest warrior, Ingemar Johansson, raising his arms over Gothenburg, it at least seemed that the nation held great respect and pride in its finest warriors.

“If I talk to people on the streets, most of them think that boxing is very perilous. But when I explain what the sport is and have a conversation, most people change their minds. It all depends on knowledge and education.

“I can agree that two guys fighting each other looks very brutal. But there is so much more to it.

“I have a concept in my gym called ‘Boxing for All.’ I don’t just build boxers, I build people. I operate the boxing method to build confidence and a sense of security. You know I have 15 mothers training in my gym right now.”

Robert Nordman’s message was very clear indeed. Keep an open mind and value additional knowledge.

However, the recurring theme of the state’s lack of contact with its citizens was clearly evident in Sweden. Boxing is returning to Sweden, but bureaucrats still stand in the way.

Author: Adam Noble-Forcey

Follow Adam on Twitter @Adam4cSports