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5'6"
junior middleweight Maria Lindberg was born on March 30 1977 in Malmö, Sweden. She has a
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and worked as an engineer for
two years before she decided to give her all to boxing
She
began boxing in 1997 at age 19 and was the 1998 Swedish
amateur 71-kg
champion, making her a part of the Swedish national team. Bert
V
Johansson-Munk has been her trainer since she began boxing.
Lindberg's amateur career ended when
she was
suspended by the Swedish boxing commission
after she sustained a head injury in an RSC-2
loss to the USA's Micki Pryor in the 67-kg final of
the Feenix Box Cup in Turku, Finland on May 16, 1999.
Lindberg was on sick leave for
about
six months but she decided that she wanted to return to
boxing, only to be denied an
amateur
license by the Swedish Boxing Federation.
She eventually turned
to the USA to train at Gleason's Gym in New
York and then to begin fighting professionally.
On July 1, 2003 at the Omni New Daisy Theater in Memphis, Tennessee,
USA,
Maria (151 lbs) made her pro debut with a four-round
unanimous decision over Kitty
Pugh (5′ 7½″, 156
lbs) of Memphis who fell to 4-2 (4 KO's).
On May 30, 2004
at the DC Tunnel Events Center in Washington, DC, Ann Marie Saccurato
(145 lbs) of New York City fought to a four-round majority draw
with Maria (151 lbs). The bout was even and
close throughout: Judge Cooper
saw the bout 39-37 for Saccurato, while judges Scaife and Ellis saw it
as a 38-38 draw. Saccurato, who went on to win the
WBC World Lightweight title in 2006, moved
her record to
6-0-2 with this result.
Lindberg's pro career
continued to be controversial as the Swedish Boxing
Federation got
her suspended
with the American Association of Boxing Commissions and the European
Boxing Union because of the injury she sustained as
an amateur in 1999. She later passed all medical tests
required by the
German EBU member, the BDB, and received a German boxing
license.
On November 28, 2008 at the
Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg, Germany, Maria (154¼ lbs) returned
to the ring and won a six-round majority
decision over Pia Porter (157¾ lbs) of Karlsruhe, Germany who fell to
6-2 (1 KO) with the loss.
Conjestina
Achieng vs Maria Lindberg in May 2009
Photo
by Arne Forsell, Bildbyrån, courtesy of Maria Lindberg
On May 8, 2009 at the Royal Event Center in
Spandau, Berlin,
Germany,
Conjestina Achieng
(157½
lbs) of Nairobi, Kenya fought to a 10-round split draw
(95-95,97-95,96-97)
with
Maria Lindberg (157½
lbs) for the vacant WIBF Middleweight title.
According
to a report
by Per Ake Persson, it was a fast paced, not very clean fight in which
Lindberg pressed the action and Achieng countered,
but
few telling punches were landed.
Lindberg
was 2-0-2 as a pro boxer after this result while Achieng
progressed to
15-6-5 (7 KO's).
On September 19, 2009 at the Dampfnudel
Arena in Ruelzheim, Germany, Maria (154¾ lbs) won a ten-round
unanimous (100-89,98-92,99-91) decision over Sara Davis (5'8",154¾
lbs) of Derby, England for the vacant WIBF Junior Middleweight title.
Davis fell to 3-2 (0 KO's).
Maria Lindberg after her TKO win over Mihaela Dragan, July 2010
Photo by Andreas Koepf courtesy Maria Lindberg
On July 17, 2010 at the
Rheintalhalle
in Kirrlach, Germany, Maria (154 lbs) TKO'd
Mihaela Dragan (154 lbs) of Cluj-Napoca, Romania at 1:50 in the third
round of a scheduled ten-rounder defending the WIBF Junior Middleweight
title. Dragan fell to 3-2 (2 KO's).
On November 20, 2010 in
Aachen, Germany, Maria Lindberg (150¼ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous
(100-91,100-90,100-90) decision over Diane Schwachhofer
(5′9½″,147½ lbs) of Quaregnon, Belgium, for the vacant WIBA Junior
Middleweight
title. Schwachhofer fell to 5-3 (1 KO) with the loss while
Lindberg progressed to 5-0-2 (1 KO).
Christina
Hammer vs Maria Lindberg in May 2011
Photo by Eroll Popova courtesy Maria LindbergOn May 27, 2011
in Zlatopramen Arena in Usti Nad Labem, Czech Republic, Maria (154½
lbs) returned to the middleweight class to challenge
undefeated Christina Hammer (5'11", 157¾ lbs) of Dortmund,
Germany for the WBO and WBF Middleweight
titles. Maria told WBAN that she felt the fight
was much closer than the
official scores of 97-93,97-93,98-92 for Hammer, who improved
to 10-0 (7 KO's) with the win. Lindberg was 5-1-2 (1 KO)
after this, her first pro defeat.
Maria
Lindberg is scheduled to fight Dakota Stone of the USA for the WIBA
Junior Middleweight title in Malta on October 14, 2011.
Other Maria Lindberg links
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: Wednesday, September 7, 2011
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