By Per Ake Persson

Dejan a/k/a Jan Zaveck, nicknamed "Mr Simpatico," is a rarity. He´s the sole professional boxer from Slovenia. Others, such as Dejan´s good friend former WBO middleweight champ Armand Krajnc, have their roots there but Jan actually lives in Slovenia although the bulk of his boxing training is done in Magdeburg, Germany, where is signed Ulf Steinforth's SES and have Dirk Dzemski as trainer. I can do some training here but for sparring I always go to Magdeburg, I normally go there four to six weeks before a fight.

 

Jan also heads the Slovenian Federation, which is a member of the EBU. We have a couple of guys now that are ready to turn pro but they need more experience, says Zaveck, who never took part in the unlicensed semi-legal game that went ahead a few years back and somehow have landed in the recordbooks.

 

Zaveck, # 4 EBU, # 10 IBF, # 39 WBC, not ranked by the WBA, and # 10 WBO, is 27-1-1 in the pros, have held the WBO I/C and IBF I/C titles, even at the same time, but lost a controversial split decision to EBU champ Rafael Jackieiwcz last year and since then he´s been waiting for a second chance, one that probably won´t come - even though there´s been talks of an IBF eliminator between Zaveck and Jackiewiez. Fact is, he doesn´t even know when his next fight is and part of the problem is that his contract with SES expires later this fall. It might be renewed, it might be not and thus Jan have to wait and see how it works out.

 

As an amateur he fought in the 95 world championships, 96 European, 97 and 99 World championships and won 174 out of 107 fights winning the national title seven times.

"I think I won it more than seven times, says Jan, but let´s stick with seven. I started boxing by accident, I was 16, I went to train football but there were no training that day, instead I went to a gym that had boxing and I liked it and stayed. I represented Slovenia in a number of big tournaments throughout the 90´s."

 

Turning pro seemed like a natural for a short, stocky, aggressive fighter with a style not suited for the points machine in the amateurs but it didn´t come easy.

"There´s very little pro boxing where I am, and I had no connections with the pros. However, a friend who was active in K1 put me in touch with Top Ten, the manufacturer of boxing/martial arts equipment, and they were in touch with SES and all of a sudden the doors opened."

 

Zaveck made his pro debut in Aschersleben in 2003, winning nine fights straight as a pro. In 2004 he fought at home in Maribor and beat very experienced and still tough Russian Viktor Baranov to win the obscure NBA intercontinental title at welter. In the following years he added the International German, IBF I/C and WBO I/C titles to his collection scoring several good wins.

"My toughest fight came against Andrey Yeskin in 06, I stopped him in the tenth but injured my hand and he was very tough and with my injury it became even tougher."

 

Dejan then departed for the US and a stint with Don King Productions but got no fights there and was back with SES a few months later after having lost valuable time and had to regroup to get his career in gear again. He won the EU title, and then regained the Int´l German title and was named official challenger for the EBU title. Champion at the time was hard punching Belgian Jackson Osei Bonsu and the fight was set for the summer of 08 in Slovenia but Zaveck injured his back and the fight had to be postponed. Meanwhile Jackson fought and lost to Rafael Jackiewicz in Poland.

 

Zaveck finally got his chance November 29 in Katowice but lost a controversial split decision to Jackiewicz.

"My take of it that is that I won seven rounds, he won three and two were even. I have no respect for this guy anymore as he won´t give me a rematch."

 

Jan returned to action May with a points win over spoiler Arek Malek and then knocked out tough Argentinian Jorge Daniel Miranda in Maribor in his last fight. The two had previously fought to a technical draw. It was a good win and believed to have cleared the path to bigger fights but Zaveck is still waiting - and so is in fact Jackiewicz.

 

Such is boxing in 2009 and the biggest fights are quite often fought outside of the ropes.