Success in the Master of Masters.
Four world championship titles during boxing career.
Armand Krajnc is a real Swedish icon – who still works to protect the status of boxing in Sweden.
It was in karate that Armand Krajnc initially had his breakthrough. But it was in boxing that he became a Swedish sports celebrity, and that is where he has credentials that few other blue-and-yellow boxers in history can match.
Incredible career
Krajnc was the WBO middleweight world champion from 1999 to 2002. During those years, he won the belt no less than four times, and with that he became a real favorite of many Swedish sports fans. An unforgettable Swedish sporting moment also came when he won a highly publicized match against Paolo Roberto in 2001.
Krajnc ended his successful career in 2004, but he has not immediately left the celebrity life. In 2010, he was in the second season of Mästarnas mästeren, and it was a smash hit. He won the entire season, ahead of icons such as Tomas Brolin, Stefan Holm, Catrin Nilsmark and Patrik Sjöberg. Krajnc has been on several TV shows over the years, and he’s appearing because he loves to prove people wrong.
– There are different trigger points. For example, when SVT called and asked: “Do you want to be part of a bird programme?”. Then I thought it was something different and new that I can’t do. My brain is like that I want to develop all the time, he tells Expressen.
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He does that today
But Armand Krajnc has not left boxing behind either. He turned 50 earlier in August, and is still a coach. He was also involved in setting up Ystad Sportklubb. Nine times since 2014, he has also arranged professional boxing galas in Sweden.
– The gala is for the professional boxers to be able to box on home ground and at the same time be role models for young people. I myself grew up in Landskrona and watched Mike Tyson and when I played football I looked up to (Diego) Maradona, he tells Expressen.
The lack of professional boxing at home in Sweden was something he had to experience during his career, and that’s why he decided to do something about it.
– I couldn’t box pro boxing in Sweden so I had to box in Germany. It didn’t always feel fun, you wanted to box at home in your country. Boxing has been a bit tough to really open up here.
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