Erik Skoglund: An Arctic Wind Blows Down From Vardinge-The Viking Krigare of Nykoping

Was out in Denmark for his win over Luke Blackledge (UD 10) for the WBC & WBO youth LH titles & to say Blackledge took the fight on v.short notice & a weight above his normal S/Mid I wasn't overly impressed.

Granted I am biased towards Blackledge however, I would dare say if the fight was anywhere other than in Skoglund's back yard (I know he's Swedish but Denmark is seen as his 'boxing' home then the decision would of been a lot closer. I'm not for a second saying it was the wrong verdict, it wasn't but it was certainly closer than the scorecards would have you believe.

His fan base is impressive - by far the loudest of the night!

 

He's definitely on my 'Watch List'.
He's a big prospect in the LHW. The LHW division is filled with great young prospects and in my vision one of the hottest divisions at the moment.
Next to Skoglund, there are Koeling/Gevor from Germany and the Russian crew (Mekhontsev/Beterbiev & Gvozdyk). Also keep an eye on Gian-Carlo Liesdek, the Dutch LHW prospect who is being trained by Peter Fury.

He is holding the EBU-title at the moment, but there are a lot of good contenders.

 

Educate them on this man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dsPI-ZSZos

 

I'm sorry CST80 but i don't see any future star in Skoglund. I've been watching most of his fights on live TV here in Denmark and while he showed promising boxing a few years back i think he has stopped developing his skills and instead turned in to more of a slugger who takes one to give one. In his last fight he was much taller and with much longer reach than his Italian opponent but failed to use it to his advantage. Instead he would let him get on the inside where the Italian had some succes with his short hooks and uppercuts. I've seen this in several fights and i suspect he tends to lose his head, because i don't think it's his gameplan coming in to a fight. It was also worrying that the seemed to gas so much in the later rounds where the Italian looked to be the fresher fighter. The punishment he takes throughout his fights at this early in his career is really a bad sign and suggests he won't have a long career without getting damaged. To me he's nothing but a tough, physically strong Viking, nothing impressive about his technic, his defense or his power..

 

Maybe, i certainly hope so!:thumbsup But i fear he will be outsmarted as soon as he steps up against a good technical boxer with movement.

 

I respect your analysis though, you clearly spend time on it! I like that, we need more guys like you on this forum:thumbsup

 

I agree with everything you said. But to his defence (I'm swedish after all ) the italian guy used his head like a bulldozer all night (I think he got a point deduction for that?). It's hard to fight a guy that doesn't want to box, only spoil. And it wasn't exactly like he was close to losing. One card, too wide in my opinion, was 120-106. Juergen Braehmer, Ring mag #4, had a closer fight with Abatangelo than Erik. Lastly, he is nowhere near ready as of right now. He would lose badley against any of the top names. But he is only 23 yars old, he has time. I hope he uses it well. :good

 

I support him too when he fights here in my home country (Denmark):good. My critic isn't just based on that fight, i've seen it in other fights also. But you're right he was a spoiler and he was one of those guys who are hard to hit because he's small and compact. But imo he should have been better at moving around and away when the Italian came forward instead of standing in front of him and using his longer reach by using his jab to keep him away and then land sharp straights when he came in. It's not easy at all, but to be a really top prospect he probably should have done a bit better - especially in the later rounds. He wasn't losing at all but still i think he lost most of the last 4-5 rounds because he looked very tired and got hit too much on the inside. I hope so too, he still has potential and years to develop, and he still is one of the top prospects of Scandinavia after all..:thumbsup

 

Joe Ward would kick his ass!

 

Skoglund is a fighter that I can't get excited about