Linn Sandström has been on a remarkable journey since she was born in the slums of Brazil back in 1991. She was adopted by a Swedish family and raised in Växjö, a small city that lies amid pristine pine forests and picturesque lakes.

During her childhood, Linn developed a love of table tennis. She eventually became Sweden’s national champion, touring the world to represent her adopted country.

She then completely reinvented herself after moving from Växjö to Sydney in 2016. Linn swapped her table tennis paddles for boxing gloves and emerged as one of Australia’s most famous fighters. She currently holds an 8-3-3 professional record, and she has fought all over the world, from Thailand and the Philippines to Costa Rica and the UK.

It has been a wild ride, but gratitude helps her stay grounded. “I never take anything for granted,” she said in a recent interview. “Realistically, I could have grown up living on the streets of Brazil. I’m very blessed with the opportunities that I get.”

PROVING THE DOUBTERS WRONG

Linn has spent her life proving her doubters wrong. She was told that she would never make it in table tennis, but she became an international star who represented Sweden at major tournaments in China.

After earning a degree in marketing, she decided to move to Sydney. “Because I come from a small town, everyone knew me as the girl who played table tennis,” she told the No Limit Boxing podcast. “That was my identity, so when I stopped, I lost that. I wasn’t satisfied with not being an athlete.

“I found a gym in Sydney and started doing boxing for fitness. I walked into the gym, and one of the boys looks at me from top to bottom and says, ‘you wanna be a boxer? There’s no way you’re going to make it as a boxer.’ I was determined to prove him wrong.

“I’ve been an athlete my whole life. Table tennis was my life for 10-plus years. I did it really seriously, so I knew I could do it again in boxing, but I wanted to incorporate some of my marketing skills into it.

“I said from day one that I’m going to document this journey, because I never even watched boxing before and didn’t know what the shots were called.” That proved to be an inspired decision, as she now has 100,000 followers on Instagram. That has led to major sponsorship deals with brands like Adidas, and it helped to propel her to superstardom. However, it initially stirred up jealousy among fellow fighters.

TAKING SOCIAL MEDIA BY STORM

Professional boxer Linn Sandström is sitting on a wall with boxing gloves hanging from her neck.

Linn made her pro debut in August 2020, fighting on the undercard of an eagerly anticipated bout between Jeff Horn and Tim Tszyu in Townsville. The country had just gone into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and some boxers felt that Linn did not deserve the opportunity.

“There was a lot of jealousy back then. Girls were saying that they should have been picked instead. I wasn’t prepared for being hated and people being mean. Coming from Sweden, we’re all nice. That really shook me, and I remember going into that fight and just completely blacked out.”

She ended up losing to Jessica Cashman via a unanimous decision. However, it proved to be a valuable experience. Linn quickly bounced back, as she beat Felicity Loiterton in Newcastle five months later. That remains the best experience of her career.

“I trained so hard and went back and got that win, after so many people wanted me to fail. I remember screaming into the camera that I’m here to stay. I’m here to prove a point, and that’s what I’ve been doing since.”

In the early days, she was still met with a great deal of scepticism. “Female boxing wasn’t a big thing then. It wasn’t as accepted. People said, ‘is she just a social media boxer? This is silly.’

“I just wanted to see if I could go from sucking at boxing to good and document that. I have been able now to get heaps of sponsorship and work with major brands because I’ve done social media, and that’s awesome.

“But then when Adidas started to come on board and people were flying me all over the world to do major shoots, people actually started to take notice and take advice, rather than asking ‘what is she doing?’”

A LEADING CONTENDER IN HER DIVISION

Linn made an inauspicious start to her pro career, and her record stood a 1-2-1 after four fights, but something clicked into place in 2022. She picked up seven wins and a draw in her next eight bouts, and she became one of the leading lights in the super flyweight division.

That earned her a world title shot in April 2024. She fought unbeaten WBA world super flyweight champion Clara Lescurat at Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, but she was outpointed. Linn then drew with another unbeaten fighter, Prakayrat Wongsuta, in Bangkok two months later, leaving her with eight wins, three draws and three defeats from 14 fights. However, she is still improving, and she remains determined to become a world champion.

“I’ve worked so damn hard to be where I am. I love this sport. I’ve made sacrifices. I’ve camped overseas 15 times – the Philippines, the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Sweden, London, I’ve been all over the world with boxing, and I deserve to be here.” When asked to build the perfect boxer, she went for the power of Chantelle Cameron, the speed and heart of Katie Taylor, the boxing IQ of Skye Nicholson, the chin of Amanda Serrano and the defence of Clarissa Shields. As for the jab? “Myself, I have a great jab,” she says.