Kolbeinn Kristinsson stops the enemy in his position in Finland, ponders what’s next

Icelandic Heavyweight Kolbeinn Kristinsson was supposed to have his first step into the tournament this Saturday, but a cold knocked out Finnish heavyweight Mika Mielonen before the weigh-in.
Luckily for Kristinsson, who had already flown to Finland and didn’t want to waste the trip, another opponent was found four hours before the weigh-in. Pavlo Krolenko (3-15-1, 2 KOs), a 36-year-old from Ukraine, stepped in to take this assignment, but without much preparation time he was able to withstand Kristinsson (15-0, 9 KOs) before surrendering in the back. of the fifth round of the eight round.
“It was a bad situation that the first player got sick, but this guy who came in for a while was good, and a good striker. “I had to hold the fight back and I got the win in the 5th round,” said Kristinsson, 36, the only active male boxer in Iceland, where professional boxing is still banned.
Kristinsson has been fighting since last September, suffering two separate injuries to his right hand in November and February. With his hand lifted now, Kristinsson hopes that next time will be the charm of his battle for promotion.
“There are talks about fighting in the US and there are other offers from other places in Europe, including Finland,” said Kristinsson, who weighed in at 259.5 kilograms for the fight.
“We will have to look at options in the coming weeks.”
US promoter Dmitriy Salita of Salita Promotions says he hopes there will be another fight that will establish the 6’6” heavyweight as a contender in the division, at a time when the division has as much money as it has in a generation. .
“He will be in the news to put himself at the top. That is the battle we are on,” said Salita.