“Arnold Gjergjaj, our ambassador for the good cause, will be boxing in an exhibition fight on August 31, 2013 as part of the Youth Culture Festival (JKF) on Münsterplatz.” This message was originally intended to introduce this news item. Unfortunately, this is not quite true. Due to an injury, Arnold will only be attending the JKF as a spectator.
The annual Youth Culture Festival (JKF) begins in Basel on Friday. 1700 participating young people will showcase their creative potential on 11 stages. As in 2011, the organizers are expecting around 60,000 visitors. One visitor to this festival is of particular interest to terre des hommes schweiz: Arnold “The Cobra” Gjergjaj.
The cobra on his back injured
The heavyweight professional boxer and ambassador for terre des hommes schweiz, Arnold Gjergjaj, will also be at the JKF. The original plan was for him to draw attention to his message “Sport not violence” with a show fight at the JKF. Unfortunately, this will not be possible. The back injury he suffered while sparring against Tyson Fury has turned out to be worse than expected. For this reason, Gjergjaj will not be in the ring, but at the ring, keeping his fingers crossed for the fighters.
The terre des hommes schweiz team wishes Arnold Gjergjaj a speedy recovery!
A replacement has been found. Michael Sprott, a fellow heavyweight boxer with 57 fights and 30 wins, will take on Erkan Teper, 10 fights and 10 wins. In addition to this fight, there will be several other amateur and professional fights over the course of three hours.
