Eva Ulrika Birgitta Räsänen ( Wahlström; born 30 October 1980) is a Finnish former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2010 to 2020. She held the WBC female

super-featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...

title from 2015 to 2020 and at regional level the European female super-featherweight title from 2012 to 2015. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

she won a silver medal in the

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

division at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and 2005 Women's European Championships, and represented Finland at the 2006 Women's World Championships. She is the most successful professional boxer from Finland to date, being the first and only Finn to have won a world title from one of the four major boxing sanctioning bodies."Eva Wahlstrom the first Finn WBC Champion"
. WBC. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2016.

Amateur career

Wahlström began boxing from around the age of 15–16, representing

Loviisa Loviisa (; ; formerly Degerby) is a town in Finland, located on the southern coast of the country. Loviisa is situated in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Loviisa is approximately , while the Loviisa sub-region, sub-regi ...

n Riento sports club. She went on to have a highly successful amateur career, winning ten consecutive gold medals at the Finnish national championships (1999–2008), gold four times at the Nordic Championships (2003–05, 2007) and silver twice at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

(

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Professional career

After her lengthy amateur career, Wahlström made her professional debut on 26 March 2010, scoring a third-round stoppage over Irina Boldea. On 21 May 2011, Wahlström fought Milena Koleva to a six-round

split draw A split draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts, and other sports involving striking. In a split draw, one of the three judges scores the contest in favor of one fighter, another judge scores i ...

. Wahlström won her first major regional championship—the vacant European female

title—on 31 March 2012, defeating Agota Ilko via a ten-round

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(UD). During the summer of 2012, Wahlström was struck with a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

, which required career-threatening medication. Having spent most of 2013 recovering, she returned to the ring on 7 December to face decorated former

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

and

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

medallist Anna Sikora, whom she defeated with ease in a six-round UD. Wahlström made one defence of her European title on 16 August 2014, winning a ten-round UD over Djemilla Gontaruk. On 25 April 2015, Wahlström defeated Natalia Vanesa del Valle Aguirre in a ten-round UD. In doing so, she won the vacant WBC female super-featherweight title and became the first Finnish boxer in history to win a major world title. Her first defence of the title was a successful one, as she won a ten-round UD over Dahiana Santana on 18 March 2016. In September 2018, it was announced that Walhström would face Firuza Sharipova in defence of her WBC title, as well as Sharipova's IBO title. However, due to Sharipova's injury, the fight was pushed back until eventually canceled. Instead, Wahlström faced Irish

Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She was the undisputed and undefeated lineal world lightweight champion from 2019 to 2024, and has held the undisputed and lineal world super lightweight ...

on 15 December 2018 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Taylor defended her WBA and IBF female lightweight titles against Wahlström, who had to change her weight class for the match and thus did not have her WBC super-featherweight title on the line. Taylor won all ten rounds. In August 2019, Wahlström retained her WBC super-featherweight title in a close match with Ronica Jeffrey. Wahlström lost her title to Terri Harper in February 2020. In March 2020, Wahlström confirmed media reports that she had retired. Out of 27 professional fights, she had won 23, lost two and two were draws.

Personal life

Wahlström is a Finland-Swede. She has two older brothers. Wahlström married Finnish professional boxer, Niklas Räsänen, in September 2016. They have a son (born 2021) and both have a child from their previous relationships. Eva's older son, Leon (born 2009), won a bronze medal at the national junior boxing championships. The family resides in

Porvoo Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...

. Outside of boxing, Wahlström made an appearance as a personal trainer to contestants in the Finnish

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series ''Suurin pudottaja'' (in the spring 2006 and autumn 2007 seasons), a Finnish version of ''

The Biggest Loser ''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show ''The Biggest Loser (American TV series), The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and Obesity, obese contestants attempting to lose ...

'', with swimmer

Jani Sievinen Jani Nikanor Sievinen (; born 31 March 1974) is a former medley swimming, medley swimmer from Finland, who won the silver medal in the Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre individual medley, 200 m individual medley at th ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wahlstrom, Eva 1980 births Living people People from Loviisa Finnish women boxers Reality television participants Swedish-speaking Finns World Boxing Council champions Super-featherweight boxers Lightweight boxers European Boxing Union champions World super-featherweight boxing champions Light-welterweight boxers Sportspeople from Uusimaa 21st-century Finnish sportswomen