In the evening's first bout, a light welterweight contest over four rounds, Adrian Parlogea from Romania showed some determination against Spanish-based Argentinean Emiliano Casal. But, he was too limited skill-wise, and was out-boxed by the tall South American (now 7-0-1, 2 KOs), who got the verdict from the referee, 40-36.

At light heavyweight, hard-punching Kim Jenssen from Norway improved to 8-0 with a 39-37 decision over tough journeyman Octavian Stoica, a man who has also gone the distance with the likes of Evans Ashira, Markus Beyer and Byron Mitchell. Stoica won the first round, but then tired quickly, and tried to catch his breath by repeatedly spitting out his mouthpiece. Jenssen showed good punching ability, but failed to finish off the Romanian.

Middleweight Fawaz Nasir (10-0) returned after an eleven-month lay-off and looked good in the first four rounds, even scoring a dubious knockdown of Andrzej Butowicz from Poland. But the Dane then tired, and surrendered the last two rounds to Butowicz, proving that more gym-time is crucial if he wants to go further. Edging the first four was however enough for Nasir, who won 58-54 on the lone official scorecard. 

2004 Olympian quarter-finalist Sam “Rocky” Rukundo (now 8-0, 4 KOs) had an easy night when former Romanian champion Georghe Ghiompiricia was knocked down in the second round, and then shook his head, prompting referee Joachim Jacobsen to wave it off. The fight was scheduled for eight rounds, but from the start it was apparent that the much bigger Ugandan had it in him to finish things inside the limit.

Local debutant featherweight Kim “Golden Boy” Poulsen got a great start to his professional career, as he dominated former Romanian junior amateur champion Florin Andrei to register a wide 40-35 decision with Joachim Jacobsen. Poulsen started wisely, boxing slick from a distance, before opening up more in the second round, swaying away from all attempts from Andrei and then countering nicely with the right hand. In round three, the 19-year-old knocked his foe down, but didn’t manage to finish him off in the last stanza. 

Only about 300 spectators showed up for what could be labelled “one of those nights” for Risum Boxing. The boxing could definitely have been worse, but as the planned ring announcer called in sick on the day, and the ring-card girls never showed up, Vejle is probably not the first choice for future promotions. “We took a big chance with this show, and the gamble didn’t pay off! That’s the way it is, and that’s boxing. A lot of people put in a lot of effort, and I want to thank everybody so much for everything, but Vejle is definitely not a town you can promote non-televised (no TV backing) boxing in. I blame nobody but myself, and now its time to move on”, says promoter Henrik Risum, who added, “I am really, really proud of Kim (Poulsen), because he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders, and he handled it so well. Also, he boxed very well, in my opinion, and I think he has a great future ahead of him”.

“Fawaz (Nasir) did well for four rounds, but now its time for him to realise that looking good in four rounds is not enough if you want to go somewhere. He has the talent, but now its time for him to show the right attitude and desire, or go concentrate on his modelling jobs instead (Nasir is also a part-time model). I have a soft spot in my heart for Fawaz, and care for him a lot, but he must shape up now, or stop wasting his own time, his trainers’ time, and his managers’ time. Doing things half-heartedly is not doing anything at all. And I think he knows that too…”