# 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.

## 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 (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. 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 !?". 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 youngsters. He's also competed in the tv-series Mästarnas mästare (Champion of Champions), which he also won.

## Professional boxing record

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