Canadian’s Jelena Mrdjenovich in Thailand at the 51st WBC Convention! by Sue TL Fox –  November 7, 2013

(NOV 7) This week I had an opportunity to talk with WBC World champion Jelena Mrdjenovich to get the latest scoop on her traveling to Thailand for the 51st WBC Convention.  I asked Mrdjenovich about the convention and how it came about that she decided to attend the event.

Courtesy photo:  Mrdjenovich

Mrdjenovich said, “I  was invited to the 51 annual WBC convention in Thailand by Jose and Mauricio Sulaiman.”

“Today the WBC cares program visited an orphanage in Thailand, where we donated some money and items, like clothing and shoes.”

“The conference is attended and represented well among the web family, some of the champions who are here and that I have met are, Jeff fenech, Nigel benn, vitali klitschko, Manuel charr, Ricky hatton, Scott welch, Humberto Gonzales. And I may have missed some.”

“On Friday I am being presented by the WBC the comeback fighter go the year award. ”

“While I have been here I have been working out and prepping for my December 6th bout that will take place in Edmonton Alberta.”

“I have been fortunate enough to have three-time world champion Jeff Fenech holding some pads and getting some work in with me here.”

Mrdjenovich added, “It has been such an honour and a great experience to have been welcomed and accepted back into the WBC family once again.”

A Special thanks to Mrdjenovich for taking the time to give the latest on what she doing!

As her boxing career progressed, she accrued a haul of medals at national, European and World Championship levels. But Nicola struggled to find funding to continue boxing and had to find work where she could get it – renovating houses and working as a TV extra.

“I knew that it wasn’t an Olympic sport or whether I’d even get any funding from it, I just had this feeling inside that I was gonna make it as a boxer and I’d be able to give my family a good life. It was really hard, couldn’t get funding, couldn’t get sponsors, barely got any help from the government body, so it was tough, it was really tough. I was doing extra work for Coronation Street and Emmerdale, working behind the scenes, being one of the whisperers in the background.”

In 2009, at the same time as her sport was announced as a 2012 Olympic event, she fell down the stairs at her house and had to sit out boxing for several months. Her mother explains how demoralised she became: “She wanted to give up when she hurt her back. I then had to say to her, ‘Nicci – you’ve got to get up and get on with it. It’s now in the Olympics, it’s an Olympic sport, and you just can’t throw it away, give it a go.”

Yet she fought back and lost to her main rival, Ren Cancan, in the final of the World Championships in 2010 and then in May 2012. She explains how this drove her on to Olympic gold in London:

“The ten weeks leading up to the games I was like… I really wanted to get the gold medal, I really wanted to beat Ren Cancan – I actually made that my sole goal. In training I wasn’t even thinking about any of my other opponents, I was just thinking about beating Cancan. And then there was the knockdown in the second round, I wasn’t expecting her to go down, I was shocked myself – I was like, ‘Bloody hell I’m doing really well here.’