– Anything other than victory is not good enough – VG

RISØR (VG) It is two years and four months since Kai Robin Havnaa (33) was last in the boxing ring. Tonight he gets the answer to whether it is possible to speed up his career again.

– I am much less nervous than before games earlier in my career, and it’s probably about routine and age. What I’m really excited about is how I’ll deliver. There is a reason why “ring rust” is a concept, says Havnaa to VG.

Tonight’s opponent is Ervin Dzinic from Bosnia-Herzegovina, who has ten wins and four losses. He has won three matches at smaller competitions in his home country in the same period Havnaa has not had the opportunity to box.

The boxing competition in Berlin is broadcast live on VG + Sport. Havnaa is expected to enter the ring sometime after kl. 21:

– Of course I want a top match as soon as possible, but there is no point in talking about it until I have won against Dzinic. Anything but victory is not good enough.

– Does that mean you quit if you were to lose?

– Yes, I have come to a point and an age where there is no point in putting so much work and training into this without it becoming something out of it.

Havnaa took their 16th victory out of as many as possible in their professional careers when Argentine Mariano Gudino was narrowly beaten on points in Ekeberghallen in November 2019. Since then, there has been a downturn on a downturn, primarily due to the corona situation.

World Cup match smoke

The agreed World Cup match in IBO against South African Kevin Lerena had to be canceled, and several times competitions have been planned at home in Arendal, without it being possible to complete.

In August, VG met Havnaa in his home area in Risør, where he disconnected from swimming in “Jettegryten på Sild”, a local natural gem and a popular destination since childhood for Kai Robin and the family.

Patience has been thin due to the long break away from the boxing ring. Nevertheless, Havnaa has managed to keep things going in the boxing premises in Arendal all the way, with good help from the coaching duo Thorbjørn Gyberg and uncle Erling Havnå.

– If you had been told early in 2020 that it would take so long before you could box again – would you have quit right away?

– It is a very good question … I would probably have tried, but what has saved me during this period is probably that I have had hope all the way that things would work out.

Got corona in January

The last major downturn came when the planned convention in Arendal on March 12 this year had to be canceled because the 33-year-old himself received the corona.

– I became ill at the end of January and lay straight out for a week. Typically – the day before I got symptoms I set records on a series of physical tests. When I finally got back to training I was set back a lot, and struggled for a long time with a very high heart rate, explains Havnaa who now thinks he is back in “very good shape”.

Now the hope is that there will be something of the Arendal convention in the early summer.

– I am extremely motivated, and the hope is that I get it out in the ring in this match. Then it can be a lot of fun and exciting that happens in the future, says Havnaa happy.

Watch the documentary about Magne Havnaa, who became world champion in professional boxing in 1990:

–