Roberto Welin

Roberto Welin is a former Swedish boxer, born on April 9, 1966, in São Paulo, Brazil. During his amateur career, Welin represented clubs in Västerås such as BK Rapid, Stockholm's IF Linnéa, and Malmö's GAK Enighet.

Biography

Background Roberto Welin was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He grew up in Carazinho in the southern part of the country (the state of Rio Grande do Sul), where his Swedish-born father, Gunnar Welin, managed a large agricultural business. As a teenager, Roberto Welin moved to Sweden.

1980s Welin made his Swedish Championship debut in 1987 but was defeated by Lars Myrberg in the second round. His international debut, however, occurred a year earlier when Welin lost to Yugoslavia's Djorde Petronievic by technical knockout in Malmö (Yugoslavia won the match 8–3). His first major championship came in 1989 when he won the South Swedish Championship. That same year, Welin also became the Swedish champion after knocking out Säffle boxer Conny Olausson in the final on February 27 in Stockholm. Welin made his European Championship debut in May and won his first match against a Polish boxer but was then knocked out by Mujo Bajrovic from Yugoslavia. His World Championship debut occurred in September in Moscow, Soviet Union. While in the then-turbulent Moscow, Welin defeated a boxer from Japan and a Ghanaian but lost a close quarter-final match to American Raul Marquez. Nothing could stop the home boxer, as Welin overwhelmed Yereshchenko with punches and won by clear judge scores (24–15).

Soon after the European triumph, Welin announced he would leave amateur boxing to seek success as a professional boxer. His last amateur match was on January 27, 1992, in a team match against United States in Stockholm. Welin won his match by technical knockout, but the team match ended in a draw. After the match, Welin announced his retirement.

Overall, Roberto Welin won 23 of his 27 professional matches.

Welin's son Kevin has followed in his father's footsteps and trained in boxing with GAK Enighet in Malmö.