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Armand Krajnc

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

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.

Early life

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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

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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 (sissy) 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 choose 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

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Krajnc nowadays lives in Ystad, also in Scania where he teaches boxing to youngsters. He's also competed in the tv-series Mästarnas mästare (Champion of Champions), which he also won.[3]

Professional boxing record

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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 Germany Sven Ottke UD 12 27 Mar 2004 Germany Bordelandhalle, Magdeburg, Germany For WBA (Unified) and IBF super-middleweight titles
31 Win 29–2 Germany Andy Liebing TKO 4 (8) 13 Dec 2003 Germany Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany
30 Win 28–2 Hungary Peter Zsilak TKO 2 (8), 1:30 4 Oct 2003 Germany Stadthalle, Zwickau, Germany
29 Win 27–2 Portugal Eliseo Nogueira PTS 8 25 Apr 2003 Germany Maritim Hotel, Magdeburg, Germany
28 Loss 26–2 Russia Sergey Tatevosyan TKO 7 (10), 2:28 14 Sep 2002 Germany Volkswagen Halle, Braunschweig, Germany
27 Loss 26–1 Namibia Harry Simon UD 12 6 Apr 2002 Denmark Cirkusbygningen, Copenhagen, Denmark Lost WBO middleweight title
26 Win 26–0 Sweden Paolo Roberto UD 12 3 Nov 2001 Germany Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany Retained WBO middleweight title
25 Win 25–0 Albania Artur Drinaj KO 3 (8), 1:37 28 Jul 2001 Germany Estrel Convention Center, Neukölln, Germany
24 Win 24–0 Germany Bert Schenk TKO 6 (12), 2:51 7 Oct 2000 Germany Estrel Convention Center, Neukölln, Germany Retained WBO middleweight title
23 Win 23–0 United States Jonathan Corn KO 2 (12), 1:29 11 Mar 2000 Germany Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany Retained WBO middleweight title
22 Win 22–0 United Kingdom Jason Matthews TKO 8 (12), 1:45 27 Nov 1999 Germany Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany Won WBO middleweight title
21 Win 21–0 Germany Peter Kluge TKO 5 (8) 18 Sep 1999 Germany Maritim Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany
20 Win 20–0 Belgium Michel Simeon KO 3 (8) 10 Jul 1999 Germany Sporthalle, Augsburg, Germany
19 Win 19–0 Romania Christian Velea TKO 3 (10), 1:25 24 Apr 1999 Germany Circus Krone, Munich, Germany Retained German International BDB middleweight title
18 Win 18–0 Hungary Csaba Olah PTS 6 13 Mar 1999 Germany Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
17 Win 17–0 United States James McCray TKO 3 (8) 13 Feb 1999 Germany Maritim Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany
16 Win 16–0 United States Anthony Ivory PTS 8 28 Nov 1998 Germany Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
15 Win 15–0 United States Leroy Owens PTS 8 14 Nov 1998 Germany Circus Krone, Munich, Germany
14 Win 14–0 France Jean Paul D'Alessandro TKO 5 (6), 1:55 24 Oct 1998 Germany Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany
13 Win 13–0 Belgium Danny Defevere TKO 2 (8) 2 May 1998 Germany Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
12 Win 12–0 Albania Bahre Ahmeti SD 8 14 Mar 1998 Germany Sporthalle, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
11 Win 11–0 Croatia Vedran Akrap PTS 10 14 Feb 1998 Germany Maritim Hotel, Stuttgart, Germany Won vacant German International BDB middleweight title
10 Win 10–0 France Mimoun Khadda KO 2 (8) 20 Dec 1997 Germany Oberrheinhalle, Offenburg, Germany
9 Win 9–0 Algeria Djaafar Filali KO 3 (6) 11 Oct 1997 Germany Stadthalle, Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany
8 Win 8–0 Hungary Gyorgy Mizsei PTS 6 7 Sep 1997 Germany Universum Gym, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
7 Win 7–0 Algeria Youssef Bakhouche TKO 2 14 Jun 1997 Germany Saaltheater Geulen, Aachen, Germany
6 Win 6–0 Hungary Stefan Magyar TKO 2 26 Apr 1997 Switzerland Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland
5 Win 5–0 Hungary Lajos Patko KO 1 (6), 1:34 8 Mar 1997 Germany Sartory-Saal, Cologne, Germany
4 Win 4–0 Slovakia Gejza Stipak TKO 1 11 Jan 1997 Germany Sport und Erholungszentrum, Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
3 Win 3–0 Slovakia Anton Lascek TKO 1 16 Dec 1996 Germany Universum Gym, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany
2 Win 2–0 Belgium Francesco Fiorentino TKO 2 13 Dec 1996 Germany Stadionsporthalle, Hanover, Germany
1 Win 1–0 Democratic Republic of the Congo Ferousi Ilunga KO 3 5 Oct 1996 Germany Sartory-Saal, Cologne, Germany

References

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  1. ^ "Armand Krajnc vs. Paolo Roberto - BoxRec".
  2. ^ Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet 4 November 2001, the pink sport pages
  3. ^ "Mästarnas mästare | SVT.se". Archived from the original on 29 January 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
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Preceded by WBO Middleweight boxing champion
27 Nov 1999–4 Apr 2002
Succeeded by