Armand Krajnc

Armand Krajnc (born 7 August 1973) is a former Swedish professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2004. He held the WBO middleweight title from 1999 to 2002, and challenged once for the unified WBA (Super) and IBF super-middleweight titles in his final fight in 2004.

Armand Krajnc
Armand Krajnc
Statistics
Nickname(s)Lion
Weight(s)
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Reach191 cm (75 in)
NationalitySwedish
Born(1973-08-07)7 August 1973
Landskrona, Scania,
Sweden
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights32
Wins29
Wins by KO21
Losses3

Early life

Krajnc's parents emigrated from Slovenia in the former Yugoslavia to southernmost Sweden, Scania before he was born. Before his professional career, he obtained first Dan, represented by the Black Belt, within the Karate style of Shotokan. This prepared him to become a hard-hitting boxer. When he began his professional career he moved to Malmö and commuted on a weekly basis to his new German boxing club and promoter in Lübeck in northern Germany.

Professional career

Known as "Lion", Krajnc turned pro in 1996, moving to Lübeck and signing up for a German promoter to avoid the Swedish ban on professional boxing. Three years later, in 1999, he won the WBO Middleweight Title by technical knock out (TKO) against Jason Matthews. Krajnc defended the title three times, before losing it to Harry Simon in 2002.

One of Krajnc's title defenses was against the Stockholm celebrity and fellow Swede Paolo Roberto. Krajnc had a low personal opinion of the latter and there was considerably controversy preceding the fight. For instance, Krajnc once compared Roberto to a fjolla (foolish female) and stated that Roberto had better talents in painting female toes, referencing an appearance by Roberto in a Swedish commercial TV-program. It was primarily Roberto's entertainment appearances in television, which Krajnc obviously found unfitting a professional boxer.

Based strictly on his boxing record, Roberto was unlikely to receive a title shot, and the personal animosity contributed to the fight being made. 3 November 2001, the match was held in Kranjc home arena in Germany.[1] The distance between Lübeck and Scania is fairly short, and between 1500 and 2000 Scanian fans had met up in Lübeck, in order to, together with his German supporters, give their best possible support for Krajnc. Roberto, who was well-known from Swedish television, not only for boxing, would rather have met Krajnc in Mariehamn, Åland. But the challenger couldn't chose location of this event. Which in Sweden became a very media covered event (though the ban on professional boxing made it impossible to televise it live).

Against a combination of joined Germans and Scanias supporters, Roberto's worst assumptions regarding the crowd, proved to be true. He was "the crook" - and Krajnc "the hero", only a few Swedish journalists from Stockholm presumably held on Roberto. Surprisingly the challenger, who before this fight had put on a great deal of muscles, took the fight to the cards. Here, however, Kranjc won easily and unanimously, while Aftonbladet columnist Lars Angrell wrote "Why wasn't the assaulting beatings of Paolo Roberto stopped !?".[2] After the match Kranjc was magnanimous towards Roberto at the press conference, and claimed Paolo Roberto as a great boxer. Their enmity ended with the match, and so did the ban on limited professional boxing after a total prohibition over a period of more than 30 years.

In June 2001 Krajnc vacated his WBO title after a dispute with promotional group Universum Box-Promotion, but was later reinstated as champion by the WBO. In 2004 he challenged WBA and IBF Super Middleweight Title holder Sven Ottke but lost a decision.

Life after boxing

Krajnc nowadays lives in Ystad, also in Scania where he teaches boxing to young. He's also starring in the up-and-coming series "Mästarnas mästare"(Champ of champions), which he also won.[3]

Professional boxing record

Professional record summary
32 fights 29 wins 3 losses
By knockout 21 1
By decision 8 2
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
32 Loss 29–3 Sven Ottke UD 12 2004-03-27 Bordelandhalle, Magdeburg, Germany For IBF and WBA (Super) super-middleweight titles.
31 Win 29–2 Andy Liebing TKO 4 (8) 2003-12-13 Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany
30 Win 28–2 Peter Zsilak TKO 2 (8), 1:30 2003-10-04 Stadthalle, Zwickau, Germany
29 Win 27–2 Eliseo Nogueira PTS 8 2003-04-25 Maritim Hotel, Magdeburg, Germany
28 Loss 26–2 Sergey Tatevosyan TKO 7 (10), 2:28 2002-09-14 Volkswagen Halle, Braunschweig, Germany
27 Loss 26–1 Harry Simon UD 12 2002-04-06 Cirkusbygningen, Copenhagen, Denmark Lost WBO Middleweight title.
26 Win 26–0 Paolo Roberto UD 12 2001-11-03 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany Retained WBO Middleweight title.
25 Win 25–0 Artur Drinaj KO 3 (8), 1:37 2001-07-28 Estrel Convention Center, Neukölln, Germany
24 Win 24–0 Bert Schenk TKO 6 (12), 2:51 2000-10-07 Estrel Convention Center, Neukölln, Germany Retained WBO Middleweight title.
23 Win 23–0 Jonathan Corn KO 2 (12), 1:29 2000-03-11 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany Retained WBO Middleweight title.
22 Win 22–0 Jason Matthews TKO 8 (12), 1:45 1999-11-27 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany Won WBO Middleweight title.
21 Win 21–0 Peter Kluge TKO 5 (8) 1999-09-18 Maritim Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany
20 Win 20–0 Michel Simeon KO 3 (8) 1999-07-10 Sporthalle, Augsburg, Germany
19 Win 19–0 Christian Velea TKO 3 (10), 1:25 1999-04-24 Circus Krone, Munich, Germany Retained German International BDB Middleweight title.
18 Win 18–0 Csaba Olah PTS 6 1999-03-13 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
17 Win 17–0 James McCray TKO 3 (8) 1999-02-13 Maritim Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany
16 Win 16–0 Anthony Ivory PTS 8 1998-11-28 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
15 Win 15–0 Leroy Owens PTS 8 1998-11-14 Circus Krone, Munich, Germany
14 Win 14–0 Jean Paul D'Alessandro TKO 5 (6), 1:55 1998-10-24 Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany
13 Win 13–0 Danny Defevere TKO 2 (8) 1998-05-02 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
12 Win 12–0 Bahre Ahmeti SD 8 1998-03-14 Sporthalle, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
11 Win 11–0 Vedran Akrap PTS 10 1998-02-14 Maritim Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany Won vacant German International BDB Middleweight title.
10 Win 10–0 Mimoun Khadda KO 2 (8) 1997-12-20 Oberrheinhalle, Offenburg, Germany
9 Win 9–0 Djaafar Filali KO 3 (6) 1997-10-11 Stadthalle, Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany
8 Win 8–0 Gyorgy Mizsei PTS 6 1997-09-07 Universum Gym, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
7 Win 7–0 Youssef Bakhouche TKO 2 (?) 1997-06-14 Saaltheater Geulen, Aachen, Germany
6 Win 6–0 Stefan Magyar TKO 2 (?) 1997-04-26 Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland
5 Win 5–0 Lajos Patko KO 1 (6), 1:34 1997-03-08 Sartory-Saal, Cologne, Germany
4 Win 4–0 Gejza Stipak TKO 1 (?) 1997-01-11 Sport und Erholungszentrum, Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
3 Win 3–0 Anton Lascek TKO 1 (?) 1996-12-16 Universum Gym, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
2 Win 2–0 Francesco Fiorentino TKO 2 (?) 1996-12-13 Stadionsporthalle, Hanover, Germany
1 Win 1–0 Ferousi Ilunga KO 3 (?) 1996-10-05 Sartory-Saal, Cologne, Germany Professional debut.

References

  1. http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Armand_Krajnc_vs._Paolo_Roberto
  2. Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet 4 November 2001, the pink sport pages
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Preceded by
Jason Matthews
WBO Middleweight boxing champion
27 Nov 19994 Apr 2002
Succeeded by
Harry Simon
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.