Paolo Roberto

Paolo Roberto (born 3 February 1969) is a Swedish actor, television presenter, restauranteur and ex-boxer of partial Italian descent. During his boxing career, he held several titles. He has starred in several movies and hosted several television programs, including as host of the cooking show Primo Paolo. His acting debut was in Stockholmsnatt, where he starred himself in a dramatization of his early life.

Boxing career

Roberto was born in Upplands Väsby, Stockholms län. He started to compete professionally at the age of 24, but had earlier competed in kickboxing where he became Swedish champion, and before that Taekwondo where he became Nordic champion and repeated Swedish champion. He was known for fighting a lot in the street.

He started off his career with four consecutive victories before running into trouble. After fighting a six-round draw against Roy Dehara, he came back to the ring to be stopped in the second round against John Duckworth. His coach said in a post fight interview that Paolo refused to give up and that's probably why the referee stopped the fight. When asked about the incident, Paolo simply said if he would give up in a street fight he would die. After his first loss, he won 15 straight fights before taking on the WBC light middleweight champion Javier Castillejo to whom he lost in the fifth round by referee stoppage. Roberto was behind on all scorecards at the time the fight was stopped.

Roberto then moved up in weight to challenge fellow countryman Armand Krajnc for his WBO middle weight title. In between those fights, he had four wins. In the fight against Krajnc, Roberto had the champion rocking on his feet in the opening round. A right hook stunned his opponent and he had to cover up against the ropes. Then later on in the fight, Krajnc finally figured out his opponent and outboxed the smaller challenger.