By Caoilte de Barra
Sweden’s Josefine Modig is one of the top prospects in the IMMAF ranks at the minute. Competing in the strawweight division, she entered this competition on the back of a silver medal-winning performance at the 2021 World Championships.
Josefine was supposed to go pro in August, but after some injuries opted against it and decided to remain amateur for one more IMMAF competition and plans to jump to pro in December.
“I was supposed to go pro in August and I think her shoulder popped out, and then I broke my nose in the same week. I couldn’t do any sparring. So, I decided I’m going pro in December. And then I might as well, you know, do this competition in between. So I get some fights and have some fun.”
Her opening bout of the European Championships is against Poland’s Magdalena Czaban. Czaban is a two-time European champion at atomweight and is hoping to make it a hat-trick of gold medals in Italy. Josefine is well aware of the task at hand and sees this as a final already ahead of their bout.
“Well, the thing is, it’s like my last fight, the final. This girl, she’s training just like me as a professional. Like as if we were professionals, this is what we do all day. So, it’s the ultimate test, and I think even though I have fights after her, I kind of only see this fight. I see it as the final now because we’re so even, and yeah, it’s gonna be a lot of fun. A lot of fun.”
Modig was the breakout star at the 2021 World Cup, her first appearance in IMMAF. Since her first bout at that tournament, she has progressed at a rapid pace and has become one of the top amateur athletes around.
Modig believes IMMAF has helped her progress, something that is very important to her.
“You know, what’s most important for me is progress. I never like to stand still, and I always have things that I work on. So I do think that I’m evolving all the time, and I do work very hard. I don’t go into the gym every day to do the same thing.
“I always have something that I’m working on. So, hopefully, I’m evolving, and that’s what I wanna see in my fights. Always progress.”
“This is what I wanna do with my life. This is my career that I’m working on.”
Watch the 2022 IMMAF European Championships live and exclusively from Bella Italia Efa Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro (Italy) from 27 September and 1 October 2022 at immaf.tv, with the tournament draw taking place on 26 September.
