BoztheMadman Posted December 26, 2024 Share Posted December 26, 2024 The only Slovenian to win a world title, Jan Zaveck was the IBF welterweight champion between 2009 and 2011, making three successful defenses of the belt. He lost it to Andre Berto in an honorable way and later lasted the distance against Keith Thurman, but could never reinvent or reestablish himself after moving up to 154 and was stopped by Erislandy Lara in his last world title fight. Zaveck was fast handed and hit pretty hard, he had good skills and was durable, but turned pro late in life. He was born as Dejan Zavec (Deyaan Zavetz) on 13 March 1976 in Trdobojci, but spent his childhood and youth in Gabrnik and Ptuj. As a teenager, he joined a boxing club in nearby major town of Maribor in northeastern Slovenia. He stands just under 5’8 or 172 cm and fought from orthodox stance. As amateur, he was a seven time Slovenian champion and won several other tournaments, finishing with a record of 171-15-19. He moved to Germany to become a pro and had his first fight on 1 March 2003, trained by Dirk Dzemski and managed by Ulf Steinforth. In his 11th fight, he won the minor NBA Intercontinental belt by beating Viktor Baranov by UD. He also won the BDB International belt by stopping Arthur Nowak by TKO8. Early on, he was signed by Don King for a brief period, but Zaveck left him after he was unable to secure him many fights. In 2005, he also won the somewhat more significant WBO Intercontinental belt by stopping Mikhail Boyarskikh by TKO8. Next year he also won the IBF Intercontinental belt by technical decision in 6 rounds against Joel Mayo. After going 25-0, he experienced his first loss in a controversial split decision in Katowice, Poland, against the home favorite Rafal Jackiewicz, 29 November 2008. Only a year later, he would experience his greatest triumph when he was suddenly chosen as the opponent of Isaac Hlatshwayo for the IBF belt he held, 11 December 2009. The fight was in the champion’s hometown Johannesburg but Zaveck made short work of him and dropped him three times in round 3 before the fight ended with five seconds left of the round. His first defense was held in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana (Lyooblyana) on 9 April 2010 and his opponent was the tough Argentinian Rodolfo Ezequiel Martinez who hadn’t been stopped before and was 36-3-1. Mr Sympatikus (the professional alias of Zaveck) dominated the Argentinian and scored a TKO in round 12. He then chose to fight Rafal Jackiewicz again in order to avenge the unfair loss. He defeated Jackiewicz in a tough fight by majority decision, once again in Ljubljana, on 4 September ‘10. Only the Polish judge had it a draw while the other two judges had it 117-111 for the champion. His third defense came on 18 February 2011 against Paul Delgado, a Cape Verde-born fighter based in US. As Delgado was inferior to Zaveck, he knocked him out in 5 rounds, making it his easiest defense. He then finally went to The States to defend for the fourth time against former WBC champion Andre Berto, who was making his comeback after losing that belt to Victor Ortiz. The fight took place in Biloxi, Mississippi, on 3 September and was a true slugfest, very fast paced. Zaveck did better than expected, but Berto’s hard punches closed his left eye and the fight sadly had to be stopped after five rounds. Compubox stats showed Zaveck outlanding Berto but it didn’t help since Berto landed more big punches. The way back would be hard. In his comeback fight in 2012, he faced the solid Bethel Ushona and beat him by UD in Maribor to win the vacant WBO Intercontinental title once again. This gave him a WBO eliminator fight against Keith Thurman and they fought on 9 March 2013 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Thurman was a major star on the rise and 12 years younger and after the fight went the 12 rounds, all three judges gave him all the rounds, fair or not. Zaveck bounced back in October next year to win his final title, WBO European super welterweight one, by stopping Ferenc Hafner by TKO7 in Maribor. On 11 April 2015, he beat Sasha Yengoyan in a hard fight where both were cut, by UD to win the WBF title, in Maribor once again. That would be his final title and victory. He was now 39 when he faced the 33-yearold Erislandy Lara for the WBA belt plus the IBO one as well, 25 November in Hilaeah, Florida. Lara exposed him as over the hill when he stopped him by TKO in round 3. Zaveck opened aggressively and Lara was defensive at first, but midway thru the first round he hurt the Slovenian with a left hand and then hit him with a combination. Zaveck came back but had trouble landing against the defensively sound Cuban and at the end of round 2 he was hurt and staggered by a straight left. In round 3, after getting hurt by a left-right, he turned his back and refused to continue. It turned out he had dislocated his shoulder. Thus, the once promising career of the first (and so far only) Slovenian world champion ended on a bad note, but against a world class boxer. He announced his retirement on 13 March 2016, his 40th birthday. His record is 35 wins and 4 losses, with 19 knockouts to his credit. In 2006 he graduated from the faculty for physical education in Novi Sad, Serbia and was for a while a member of the Slovenian National Assembly. He was voted the 2010 Sportsperson of the Year in Slovenia and now runs his own gym. Dejan “Jan” Zavec(k) was a fine boxer but turned pro at a ripe age of 27 and it took him a while to win a world title, so his time at the elite stage could never be too long. The emergence of new major talents also was a factor in shortening his championship reign and success at world level. He will however always have a special place in boxing history as the first ever Slovene boxing champ and he will be remembered as a hardy and talented fighter. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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