Karlsson bringing her fight to the racetrack at Arlington

Inez Karlsson will never forget her first boxing match in Gutenberg, Sweden.

After two months of training, she went into the ring as a 19-year-old rookie in the light flyweight division.

"I didn't really know what to do, and this girl just came right out after me, and I was like 'Oh My God,'Ȧ" Karlsson said. "I had been only training for two months. This girl beat the heck out of me. I was knocked out in the second round, bleeding nose and all. I mean, she killed me. I don't know why I kept doing it."

Why?

Because Karlsson has a competitive edge that makes her want to succeed in whatever she does. She went on to win 14 of 20 career fights, eventually moving up to face women in higher weight divisions because none of the lightweights wanted any part of her.

Now her spirit and drive have been taken over by another sport, and this time she will be going against the men.

But she will have a partner -- a thoroughbred racehorse.

Karlsson wants to be a jockey, and she wants to ride her first race at Arlington Park.

"It could be any minute now when a trainer puts me on his or her horse to ride in a race," said Karlsson, who is still rated second in Sweden's light flyweight women's boxing division. "I want to ride soon, but I won't accept a mount until I know that I'm ready. It's so much more than just sitting on a horse and being strong and physical. Riding is so much mental. I watch every race, study every jockey. I try to learn everything I can."

Karlsson doesn't have to go far to find a fellow female rider who has gone through the process. Zoe Cadman, who works on the air as part of Arlington's in-house television system, is the all-time leading female rider in the track's history.

"She has been so helpful to me," Karlsson said. "When I first started breezing (working out horses) here, she told me she'd help me with anything."

It's hardly a surprise that Karlsson would be as good as she is in the athletic arena. Her father, Leif, was a boxer. Her mother, Annika, played for the Swedish national women's basketball team.

Karlsson, who went to riding school at age 6, never intended to follow in her father's footsteps. But while pumping gas, changing windshield wipers and fixing flat tires at a local gas station, she met a former pro boxer who suggested she try it.

"He got me to my first practice session and I loved it," said Inez, who also played European handball and soccer, and ran track and field in Sweden. "You get so much adrenaline going . Once I had my first fight, then I knew what I had to do and knew how to prepare and practice for it. I'm sure that's how it will be after the first race I ride. I will learn from it and then practice what I learned."

Trainers on the Arlington backstretch are learning that Karlsson means business. She has been breezing an average of five horses per morning for such veterans as Tom Amoss, Mike Stidham, Greg Geier, Paul Darjean, Rebecca Maker and Tony Mitchell.

"She wants to be successful," Mitchell said. "But she doesn't want anything given to her. She wants to earn it and she wants to learn new things all the time. As long as she keeps up that attitude, she will do very well."

Karlsson grew up in Goteborg, the same hometown as Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson, who stunned the world with a knockout of the reigning heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in 1959.

Karlsson had her share of knockouts before boxing at the higher weights.

"I was knocked out in my last fight," said Karlsson, who studied psychology at the university in Sweden. "That's why I stopped."

Now she hopes it's "all go" for her new career.

"Horses have always followed me in my life," said Karlsson, who also has worked with the pacers in harness racing. "The girls in Sweden are very independent. When we're little girls, we build tree houses. I never even had a doll. My sister (twin Karin) and I were tomboys. I lived through the horses. When my friends were out dancing, I was in the barn.

"I just want to prove myself here (at Arlington) and show people I can ride. I've got to stay positive and listen to what people tell me. If you can ride, it shouldn't matter if you're male or female."