Arnold Gjergjaj (born 8 October 1984) is a Swiss professional boxer. In 2014 he won the EBU-EE version of the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

title, becoming the first boxer fighting under a Swiss license to do so.

Boxing career

Gjergjaj began as a wrestler from a young age and later moved to

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

before taking up

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. A three-time Swiss amateur champion, he turned professional at the age of 25 and made his debut in 2009. For the majority of his career he has fought low level opposition in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, building up an undefeated record of 29-0 with 21 knockouts. Gjergjaj is trained by Angelo Gallina, who is also his manager. He has trained with world champions such as

Vitali Vitali, Vitalii, Vitaly, Vitaliy and may refer to: People Given name * Vitaly Borker (born 1975 or 1976), Ukrainian American Internet fraudster and cyberbully * Vitaly Churkin (1952–2017), Russian politician * Vitaly Ginzburg (1916–2009), Russ ...

and

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол� ...

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council, WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' ...

and other top fighters as a sparring partner. He also learned in training sessions under the now deceased legendary German boxing coach

Fritz Sdunek Fritz Sdunek (; 18 April 1947 – 22 December 2014) was a German professional boxing trainer and previously an amateur boxer. Regarded as one of the most successful and famous boxing trainers, he trained, among others, such world champions as Wl ...

. He cites British former undisputed heavyweight world champion

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hold ...

as his boxing idol. Gjergjaj won the EBU-EE European heavyweight title in October 2014, beating Adnan Redzovic by a knockout in the 9th round. He defended his title against

Denis Bakhtov Denis Bakhtov (born December 7, 1979 in Kazakhstan) is a Russian professional boxer. Professional career On October 11 2014 Bakhtov fought future world champion Anthony Joshua, losing by technical knockout in the second round. In 2015 Bakh ...

in June 2015, winning on points despite suffering a broken hand and burst eardrum, and being knocked down in the fifth round for the first time in his career. On 30 March 2016, it was announced that Gjergjaj would be the second opponent of former champion David Haye since Haye made his return to boxing after a three-year layoff. The fight, which was the biggest of Gjergjaj career to date, took place at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

in London on 21 May 2016. Haye received criticism from some fans for picking a second relatively unknown and moderately ranked opponent. However, Gjergjaj was ranked 24th in the world on the independent platform

Boxrec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

before the match with Haye, and at no. 8 in Europe by the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

. Haye stopped Gjergjaj in the second round via TKO, after having put him on the canvas three times before the referee stopped the fight.

Personal life

Gjergjaj was born in

Gjakova Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants. Geographicall ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

and he moved to

Pratteln Pratteln (Swiss German: ''Brattele'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, located in the district of Liestal (district), Liestal. History Pratteln is first me ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

with his family when he was 14 years old. After graduating from school he trained as a heating engineer. Gjergjaj married his wife Marta in August 2014 in Pratteln. He has been involved in fields such as developmental aid organization ''Terre des Hommes Switzerland'' and has shown commitment to helping the youth in his hometown, where he opened his own boxing club "Arnold Boxfit" on 23 January 2016.

Professional boxing record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="9", 33 fights, 31 wins (23 knockouts), 2 losses"Arnold Gjergjaj - Boxer"

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

. , -style="text-align:center;background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Result , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Round, time , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid;", Notes , -align=center , 33 , Win , 31-2 , align=left, Gogita Gorgiladze , KO , 2 (8), 1:12 , 1 Sep 2018 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 32 , Loss , 30-2 , align=left, Sean Turner , KO , 8 (8), 1:45 , 9 Dec 2017 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 31 , Win , 30-1 , align=left, Jasmin Hasic , TKO , 5 (8), 1:00 , 17 Dec 2016 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 30 , Loss , 29-1 , align=left, David Haye , TKO , 2 (10), 1:35 , 21 May 2016 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 29 , Win , 29-0 , align=left, Marino Goles , TKO , 1 (8), 0:45 , 5 Dec 2015 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 28 , Win , 28-0 , align=left,

, UD , 12 , 6 Jun 2015 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 27 , Win , 27-0 , align=left, Zoltan Csala , UD , 8 , 27 Feb 2015 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 26 , Win , 26-0 , align=left, Adnan Redzovic , KO , 9 (12), 2:50 , 4 Oct 2014 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 25 , Win , 25-0 , align=left, Tibor Balogh , TKO , 2 (8), 2:20 , 9 Jun 2014 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 24 , Win , 24-0 , align=left, Emilio Zarate , KO , 7 (8) , 15 Mar 2014 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 23 , Win , 23-0 , align=left, Gilberto Domingos , TKO , 1 (8), 2:15 , 26 Dec 2013 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 22 , Win , 22-0 , align=left, Nelson Dominguez , KO , 3 (8), 2:19 , 11 May 2013 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 21 , Win , 21-0 , align=left, Janne Katajisto , KO , 3 (8), 0:20 , 23 Mar 2013 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 20 , Win , 20-0 , align=left, Yury Bykhautsou , TKO , 3 (8), 2:10 , 26 Dec 2012 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 19 , Win , 19-0 , align=left, Maksym Pedyura , TKO , 2 (8), 2:50 , 1 Dec 2012 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 18 , Win , 18-0 , align=left, Mateusz Malujda , TKO , 1 (8), 2:03 , 20 Oct 2012 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 17 , Win , 17-0 , align=left, Alexander Kahl , KO , 1 (6), 1:18 , 15 Sep 2012 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 16 , Win , 16-0 , align=left, Adnan Buharalija , TKO , 3 (8), 1:50 , 14 Apr 2012 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 15 , Win , 15-0 , align=left, Prince Anthony Ikeji , KO , 2 (8), 1:38 , 17 Dec 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 14 , Win , 14-0 , align=left, Laszlo Toth , KO , 3 (8) , 12 Nov 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 13 , Win , 13-0 , align=left, Gabor Farkas , UD , 8 , 1 Oct 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 12 , Win , 12-0 , align=left, Ferenc Zsalek , DQ , 6 (8), 1:50 , 20 Aug 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 11 , Win , 11-0 , align=left, Igoris Borucha , UD , 6 , 28 May 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 10 , Win , 10-0 , align=left, Liviu Ungureanu , TKO , 3 (6), 2:57 , 7 May 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 9 , Win , 9-0 , align=left, Pavels Dolgovs , UD , 6 , 5 Feb 2011 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 8 , Win , 8-0 , align=left, Tomasz Zeprzalka , TKO , 5 (6), 2:40 , 18 Dec 2010 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 7 , Win , 7-0 , align=left, Dimitar Stoimenov , UD , 6 , 18 Jul 2010 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 6 , Win , 6-0 , align=left, Gabor Farkas , TKO , 3 (6) , 29 May 2010 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 5 , Win , 5-0 , align=left, Norbert Sallai , TKO , 4 (6), 2:25 , 17 Apr 2010 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 4 , Win , 4-0 , align=left, Yavor Marinchev , UD , 6 , 26 Mar 2010 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 3 , Win , 3-0 , align=left, Sandor Balogh , TKO , 6 (6), 2:30 , 19 Dec 2009 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 2 , Win , 2-0 , align=left, Zoltan Huffner , KO , 1 (6), 2:30 , 5 Dec 2009 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , 1 , Win , 1-0 , align=left, Dariusz Balla , TKO , 2 (4), 1:01 , 29 Aug 2009 , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjergjaj, Arnold Swiss male boxers Heavyweight boxers 1984 births Living people