Career
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. 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.
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. He then vacated his belt to fight for the WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title against Wayne Martell. Roberto dominated the fight and was winning when in the tenth round Martell"s cut above his eye had gotten so bad the ring doctor decided he had had enough.
In his first defense of his WBO title Roberto got knocked out in the second round against Sebastian Andres Lujan.
He never fought professionally again. All of Roberto"s boxing matches took place outside of Sweden, including his championship fights, which were held in the Åland Islands, because pro boxing has been banned in Sweden since 1969.
He was a participant in the first season of Let’s Dance, the Swedish version of Dancing with the Stars. His early life is dramatized in the 1987 Swedish movie Stockholmsnatt.
He is featured in some chapters of Stieg Larsson"s The Girl Who Played with Fire and played himself in the film based on the book
Roberto has also talked openly of his conversion experience, which happened on a visit to Saint Peter"s in Rome. Wishing to approach the image of Saint Michael the Archangel (the great "fighter" of the Heavenly Host), he was told he was not allowed in that roped off area. He asked, "Well, why can those people go in?" "They are going to confession," the guard replied.
He thought of the empty life he had lived to his present, and told the guard, "Well, I"m going to confession, too." After over an hour with the priest, he said he felt renewed.
Roberto recounted this episode of his life to Marcus Grodi on the "Journey Home" show of EWTN.
