By Per Ake Persson

Erik Skoglund Promotion - the company - have reported Erik Skoglund´s injury to the Swedish Work Environment Authority. Skoglund was injured in sparring December 8 of last year and had to have surgery due to bleeding on the brain. He is now back home and in rehab.

This report might have consequences for professional boxing in Sweden - already under strict supervision through the Martial Arts Law - and in theory and in a worst case scenario the SWEA could prohibit professional boxing if they reach the conclusion that pro boxing is too dangerous for its participants.

Erik Skoglund trained long and hard for a fight against then WBA light heavyweight champ Nathan Cleverly - and how close that fight was to be made is an open question (Cleverly eventually fought Badou Jack), then came the offer to participate in World Boxing Super Series but at super middleweight.

Skoglund made the weight but lost to Callum Smith. He was soon - too soon perhaps - back in training and was lined up to fight Rocky Fielding on December 17 on the uncdercard to Bellew-Haye II.

The main event was postponed and Skoglund vs Fielding with it, but the Swede remained in training and sparring - and was seriously injured. SWEA will now investigate the matter.

Former IBF super bantamweight champ Kiko Martinez is the new official challenger for EBU 126 lb champ Marco Vidal. Martinez gets the chance after the sudden re-retirement of Sergio Blanco. The EBU have set February 5 as deadline for purse bids or contracts.

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Lightweights Howik Bebraham and Fedor Papazov clash March 10 in Braunlage (Germany) a final eliminator for a shot at the IBO title held by Emmanuel Tagoe. The fight is promoted by Petko´s Box Promotion headed by ex-pro Alexander Petkovic and Nadine Rasche.

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Former WBA super middleweight champ Giovanni De Carolis returned to action last night in Rome after back to back losses first to Vincent Feigenbutz and Viktor Polyakov with a second round TKO over Bojan Radovic.

Both super middleweight Stefan Haertel (15-0) and light heavyweight Enrico Koelling (23-2) have announced that they are parting ways with Sauerland Event reports boxen1.com. Haertel was last seen winning a close, majority decision over Victor Polyakov, while Koelling lost to Artur Beterbiev in a fight for the vacant IBF title.

Both fighters, known for their excellent conditioning as well as their lack of punch, state that the door is open for further collaboration with Team Sauerland but for now no agreement could be reached

When and where Haertel and Koelling will be back is up in the air. It´s pretty obvious though that the big money and the lucrative TV deals at least for now aren´t available in the German market.