Undefeated Cruiserweight Micki Nielson, Hot Prospect Dina Thorslund Victorious on Big Nordic Card

Danish cruiserweight Micki Nielsen kept his record unblemished with a 12-round unanimous decision over Italy’s Mirko Larghetti in the main event of a Team Sauerland promotions card at the Albertslund Music Theater in suburban Copenhagen on Saturday, March 19. Larghetti came on strong after Nielsen dominated the early rounds but it was too little, too late for the Italian invader. The scores favoring the unbeaten Dane, now 21-0 (14), were 116-112 twice and 117-112. Largetti, who was 24-1 (16) going in, wobbled the victorious Nielsen in the final stanza with a well-placed left hook while making a strong statement for a rematch.  

It was a clean sweep for Copenhagen boxers Dina Thorslund, Abdul Khattab, Landry Kore, and Rashid Kassem on the undercard.

Thorslund, a 22-year-old super bantamweight, improved to 6-0 at the expense of Sopio Putkaradze of the Republic of Georgia who was blown away in the opening round. Putkaradze was 12-5-3 going in, but a more revealing fact about her was that she had won only two of her previous seven fights.

Thorslund is the third female boxer to sign with Team Sauerland, joining Swedish stars Mikaela Lauren and Klara Svensson. All four of Thorslund’s knockouts have come in the opening round, marking her as a woman to watch in the months and years ahead. She is trained by Joey Gamache.

Abdul Khattab, a Copenhagen transplant who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp, improved to 14-1 with a seventh round stoppage of Hungary’s Attila Koros in a middleweight contest. Landry Kore, who came to Denmark at age 11, a refugee from the Ivory Coast, is now 6-0 after a pitching a 6-round shutout over Germany’s Andreas Reimer in another middleweight go. Rashid Kassem, born and raised in Denmark, improved to 11-0 (7) with a unanimous decision over Vincenzo Finiello in an 8-round lightweight bout.

In other bouts, Norwegian cruiserweight Kai Robin Havnaa, the son of the late Magne Havnaa, a former WBO cruiserweight champion, improved to 6-0 with a second round knockout over Hungary’s Miklos Kovacs and Swedish super welterweight Daniel Hartwig advanced to 7-0 with a second round stoppage of Valeri Karelidze from the Republic of Georgia. It was the second straight, second round knockout for the hard-hitting, 31-year-old Hartvig who returned to boxing in December after a 70-month layoff.

The most talented fighter on the card appeared in the lid-lifter. Ghana’s undefeated Richard Commey, who is in line to fight IBF lightweight champion Rances Barthelemy, hoped to get in a few good rounds of sparring against journeyman Anzor Gamgebeli, but Gamgebeli wasn’t up to the task. Commey, now 24-0 (22 KOs), scored three knockdowns before the contest was halted in the second frame.