Jelena Janićijević
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 7 March 1985[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | Lightweight, Light-welterweight, Welterweight | ||||||||||||||
| Boxing career | |||||||||||||||
| Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||||
| Boxing record[2] | |||||||||||||||
| Total fights | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Win by KO | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Losses | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Draws | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| No contests | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Jelena Janićijević (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Јанићијевић, born 7 March 1985) is a Serbian professional boxer. She has held the European female lightweight and WBO European female super-lightweight titles. Janićijević became the first female boxer from Serbia to win a senior medal at an International Boxing Association sanctioned competition when she claimed bronze at the 2022 Women's European Amateur Boxing Championships.
A former kickboxer, Janićijević switched to boxing in 2015.[3] She lost on her professional debut suffering a points decision defeat to Nahed Kharchi in a six-round contest in Drap, France, on 29 September 2018.[4]
Three victories and a no contest followed before, on 24 September 2021, Janićijević fought Oleksandra Sidorenko for the vacant European female lightweight title with the contest in Oborniki, Poland, ending in a draw.[5] A rematch was held on 5 March 2022 in Dzierżoniów, Poland, with Janićijević winning the bout, and the title, by split decision. Two judges scored 96-94 and 97-93 respectively for Janićijević and the third gave the contest 96-94 for Sidorenko.[6]
Taking advantage of a change in rules that allowed professionals to take part in previously amateur-only competitions, Janićijević competed at the 2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2022, going out in the light-welterweight quarter-finals to the eventual gold medalist, Ireland's Amy Broadhurst.[7]
In October 2022, she won the first ever senior medal for a Serbian female boxer at an International Boxing Association sanctioned event when she took bronze at the 2022 Women's European Amateur Boxing Championships in Budva, Montenegro.[3][8] Competing in the welterweight category, she beat Shahla Allahverdiyeva from Azerbaijan by third-round stoppage in the quarter-finals[9] before losing to Germany's Stefanie Von Berge in the final four.[10] Just as had been the case at the world championship, her conqueror went on to win the gold medal.[11]
Janićijević defeated Sarah Weidmann by unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBO European female super-lightweight title in Zlatibor, Serbia, on 5 January 2023.[12][13]
Two months later, at the 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India, she lost in the light-welterweight category round of 16.[3]
Janićijević looked set to get an opportunity to become a professional world champion when the IBF ordered negotiations to take place between her and Brazil's Beatriz Ferreira to fight for the female lightweight title vacated by Katie Taylor.[14] However, she was removed from the IBF's rating for undisclosed reasons after terms for the contest were not agreed before the negotiation period expired.[15][16]
She faced Flora Pili for the vacant IBO female super-lightweight title at L'Agora Champ de Foire in Saint-Avold, France, on 5 December 2025.[12] Janićijević lost via majority decision.[17]