Maria Johansson

Maria Johansson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden on May 24, 1965 and the daughter of Sweden’s first and only heavyweight boxing champion Ingemar Johansson. Johansson was influenced to try the sport primarily by her father, who is a household name in Sweden. However, it was not until the 1990s that she began to pursue the sport aggressively, when the children of former boxing champions such as Jackie Frazier-Lyde and her two brothers, all children of Joe Frazier, as well as Tracy Harris Patterson, Floyd Patterson’s daughter also ventured into the ring. When she decided to pursue boxing she joined the ranks of Laila Ali, Jackie Frazier-Lyde and Freeda Foreman, to name a few who were relatives of famous boxers who also entered the ring professionally. She started training with friend Mats Persson and initially fought as a heavyweight. She wanted to fight others, especially those with more famoyus last names. She fought her first professional boxing match on January 18, 2000 against Karen Frye in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was televised in the US under the coverage of Fox television, primarily because TV execs believed that she had potential to become a big boxing star. Unfortunately, Johansson was defeated by Frye by a four round split decision.
On July 21 of the same year Johansson fought and lost to more experienced boxer Karen Bill who was fresh from six prior fights. The fight was over after Bill took her down with a second round knock-out. She retired from boxing after this with a record of 0 wins and 2 losses.