Linn Sandström: “I’m giving boxing everything, and it is starting to pay off. My team and I are travelling worldwide to improve in this sport.”

Linn Sandström: “I’m giving boxing everything, and it is starting to pay off. My team and I are travelling worldwide to improve in this sport.”

“It’s no secret, just hard work. I’m giving boxing everything, and it is starting to pay off. My team and I are travelling worldwide to improve in this sport.”

Linn Sandström only won one fight in her first year as a professional boxer. Four fights, just the one solitary win, an isolated draw, and two defeats offered very little in the way of hope for the former international table tennis star.

But the Brazilian-born super-flyweight hasn’t lost since 2021, and Sandström extended her unbeaten streak courtesy of a hard-fought majority points victory over
Arisara Wisetwongsa in Bangkok, Singapore last week. Ten good solid rounds that dusted off the cobwebs after being out of action since May as a result of a ruptured Achilles tendon that slowed down her march towards what is seemingly an inevitable shot at a world title.

There was relief and joy after the fight for Sandström.

“It was an awesome feeling being back in the ring again, especially as it’s only been six months after rupturing my Achilles,” Sandström told FightPost just a few days after her comeback win. “So it was a big test to see if my foot would hold up so soon after the accident. And it did. We went 10 rounds, and I would actually say I’m a better fighter now than I was before I got injured.”

Sandström (8-2-2) has turned around her career in some style since that underwhelming start to her boxing life. After those early few fights, where even winning any fight looked beyond her at times, any thoughts of a world title fight seemed fanciful at best. But that is where Sandström is now at. The WBA currently ranks her as the number six super-flyweight in the world. 2024 will almost certainly bring Sandström a world title opportunity. Something that would have seemed highly unlikely in 2021 after those initial four fights. But even in the depths of that inauspicious start, Sandström still held dreams of fighting for and winning a world title. Now, those dreams are desperately close to becoming a reality.

Since her last career defeat, a disputed points reversal against Natalie Hills in Sydney, Sandström has recorded seven wins in eight fights since that defeat to Hills. A technical draw against Johana Zuniga is the only minor blemish on her resume since her last defeat in December 2021. Sandström has gone from near career oblivion to being on the edge of fighting for a world title.

Sandström has just completed one fight camp and is heading straight into another one. That dream of fighting for a world could be about to happen.

“My goal is and has always been to be fighting for a world title one day. I have said that since day one. I’m coming back home from Thailand to Sydney on Thursday this week, and next week, we fly out to LA for another training camp. Hopefully, we will have some fight news soon! I have a good feeling that 2024 will be my year. We are just taking it one step at a time.”

Photo Credit: Alexander Hall