Thread: Rest in peace Lennart Risberg

Rest in peace Lennart Risberg, died at age of 78!


He also fought in the olympics in Melbourne 1958.

I remember an interview they did with him, he was working as a plumber and some journalist asked if they could interview him, he said they could do it but they had to wait till he was of for lunch or had a break.

He fought in the shadows of Ingemar "Ingo" Johansson.

I won't pretend that I knew of him but that was a classy response from someone who obviously did not suffer from having a big ego. I see that he fought Willie Pastrano here is an excerpt from THE RING report

"''The Ring'', November 1961, reported:

" Risberg weighed in at 178, half a pound heavier than Pastrano.

In the opening round, Risberg bored in and often bulled the American against the ropes but Willie slipped out from under and as the Swede hastened after him. Pastrano shot in a hard left to Risberg's liver and followed with a crashing right to the jaw. It happened in a flash and a gasp of alarm went through the crowd. But Risberg kept his head and took a count of " 8 " before resuming the fight and boxed his way clear until the end of the round.

Pastrano kept the upper hand in the second session but in the third Risberg shook the American badly with hefty slams to the midriff.

Risberg was bleeding slightly from a cut on the nose and his left eyebrow was damaged in the third round.

In the sixth, Pastrano kept busily jabbing with his lightning left to win the round and he kept the ex- artilleryman at bay in the seventh to break even. Pastrano tired progressively from this stage.

In the eleventh Willie sagged at the knees as a Risberg right crashed into his jaw but he retained his footing and bobbed and weaved his way out of range. Despite his obvious weariness, Pastrano still had sufficient ringcraft to outsmart the furious attacks of Risberg in the last round. "

A crowd of 19.000 saw the fight at The Olympia Stadium in Stockholm.

*Unofficial UPI scorecard - 6-3-3 Pastrano
*This bout was advertised as an elimination match for a title fight with Archie Moore. Pastrano claimed he already had a commitment from Doc Kearns, Moore's manager, for a title bout in Sweden the following month."


RIP Mr Risberg