Arnold Gjergjaj (born 8 October 1984) is a Swiss former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2024.
Early life Gjergjaj was born in Gjakova, Kosovo and he moved to Pratteln, Basel in Switzerland with his family when he was 14 years old. After graduating from school, he trained as a heating engineer.
Amateur career Gjergjaj began as a wrestler from a young age and later moved to kickboxing before taking up boxing, becoming a three-time Swiss amateur champion.
Professional career Gjergjaj 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, 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 and Wladimir Klitschko, Tyson Fury and other top fighters as a sparring partner. He also learned in training sessions under the now deceased legendary German boxing coach Fritz Sdunek. He cites British former undisputed heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis 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 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 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 before the match with Haye, and at no. 8 in Europe by the EBU."EBU Ratings March 2016", European Boxing Union. Retrieved 23 April 2016 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 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
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes41Win38–3Dennis LewandowskiUD1027 Apr 202440Win37–3Bilal Laggoune122 Sep 202339Win36–3Kristaps ZutisKO4 (10), 24 Jun 202338Win35–3Dominic VialTKO2 (10), 25 Mar 202337Win34–3Tomislav SenticTKO1 (6), 10 Jun 202236Win33–3Elvis MoyoUD825 May 201935Loss32–3Umut CamkiranUD1219 Apr 201934Win32–2Mirko TintorKO4 (8), 15 Dec 201833Win31–2Gogita GorgiladzeKO2 (8), 1 Sep 201832Loss30–2Sean TurnerKO8 (8), 9 Dec 201731Win30–1Jasmin HasicTKO5 (8), 17 Dec 201630Loss29–1David HayeTKO2 (10), 21 May 201629Win29–0Marino GolesTKO1 (8), 5 Dec 201528Win28–0Denis BakhtovUD126 Jun 201527Win27–0Zoltan CsalaUD827 Feb 201526Win26–0Adnan RedzovicKO9 (12), 4 Oct 201425Win25–0Tibor BaloghTKO2 (8), 9 Jun 201424Win24–0Emilio ZarateKO7 (8)15 Mar 201423Win23–0Gilberto DomingosTKO1 (8), 26 Dec 201322Win22–0Nelson DominguezKO3 (8), 11 May 201321Win21–0Janne KatajistoKO3 (8), 23 Mar 201320Win20–0Yury BykhautsouTKO3 (8), 26 Dec 201219Win19–0Maksym PedyuraTKO2 (8), 1 Dec 201218Win18–0Mateusz MalujdaTKO1 (8), 20 Oct 201217Win17–0Alexander KahlKO1 (6), 15 Sep 201216Win16–0Adnan BuharalijaTKO3 (8), 14 Apr 201215Win15–0Prince Anthony IkejiKO2 (8), 17 Dec 201114Win14–0Laszlo TothKO3 (8)12 Nov 201113Win13–0Gabor FarkasUD81 Oct 201112Win12–0Ferenc Zsalek6 (8), 20 Aug 201111Win11–0Igoris BoruchaUD628 May 201110Win10–0Liviu UngureanuTKO3 (6), 7 May 20119Win9–0Pavels DolgovsUD65 Feb 20118Win8–0Tomasz ZeprzalkaTKO5 (6), 18 Dec 20107Win7–0Dimitar StoimenovUD618 Jul 20106Win6–0Gabor FarkasTKO3 (6)29 May 20105Win5–0Norbert SallaiTKO4 (6), 17 Apr 20104Win4–0Yavor Marinchev626 Mar 20103Win3–0Sandor BaloghTKO6 (6), 19 Dec 20092Win2–0Zoltan Huffner1 (6), 5 Dec 20091Win1–0Dariusz Balla2 (4), 29 Aug 2009
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