Gjergjaj began as a
wrestler from a young age and later moved to
kickboxing before taking up
boxing. A three-time Swiss amateur champion, he turned professional at the age of 25 and made his debut in 2009. For the majority of his career he has fought low level opposition in
Switzerland, building up an undefeated record of 29–0 with 21 knockouts. Gjergjaj is trained by Angelo Gallina, who is also his manager. He defended his title against
Denis Bakhtov in June 2015, winning on points despite suffering a broken hand and burst eardrum, and being knocked down in the fifth round for the first time in his career. On 30 March 2016, it was announced that Gjergjaj would be the second opponent of former champion
David Haye since Haye made his return to boxing after a three-year layoff. The fight, which was the biggest of Gjergjaj career to date, took place at
The O2 Arena in London on 21 May 2016. Haye received criticism from some fans for picking a second relatively unknown and moderately ranked opponent. However, Gjergjaj was ranked 24th in the world on the independent platform
Boxrec before the match with Haye, and at no. 8 in Europe by the
EBU. Haye stopped Gjergjaj in the second round via TKO, after having put him on the canvas three times before the referee stopped the fight. == Personal life ==