Steve Franjic earns super middleweight title

February 7, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
Since his early teens, Steve Franjic has been honing his craft in boxing.
The 26-year-old hit a career mark when he was victorious in his bid for the Canadian super middleweight championship in Edmonton in December.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for a Canadian title fight for quite a while now.”
“There was lots of talk about it working up to it and we were just waiting for the opportunity, so when it came I was excited and then to win it the way I did was just awesome,” he added.
Franjic was awarded the championship belt by unanimous decision after a 10-round battle with Gary Kopas of Saskatoon.
“The guy came to fight, he was there to win and he really made me earn it,” Franjic said. “After a tough fight like that, it was really rewarding.”
Franjic is from Orangeville, but he and his family have found themselves spending a lot of time in Schomberg since opening up their restaurant just a few weeks ago.
In This Corner Bar and Grill is in the Brownsville Junction Plaza on Highway 27 in Schomberg and has been keeping Franjic and his family busy.
When he’s not boxing, he’s there working hard alongside his brother and dad.
“My brother and I were born into it,” he said of the restaurant business. “My parents owned restaurants while we were growing up — in Mississauga and then in Orangeville when we moved there, so we’ve always been involved with it. For a while there we got out of it, but then this opportunity came up and we took it.”
The restaurant will feature all day breakfast, pub-style food, friendly service, is fully licensed and is the perfect place to stop in for the game or the big fight.
“The opportunity became available and we jumped on it,” he said. “We’re just getting to know the community now, we didn’t know much about it, but we’re trying to learn and we’re all excited about it.”
Franjic admitted they are still getting to know the community, but said everyone is already showing great support.
“We’re actually really surprised so far,” he said. “There’s a lot of nice people coming in and checking us out and we’re getting to meet them. We’re really happy with how it’s going.”
The restaurant is no doubt keeping him busy, but Franjic knows he has his work cut out for him in defending his title as well as working hard to fight his way to the next step in his career.
“I’ll be looking at defending my title within the next six months. We’re looking at that and then maybe a North American title shot or a Commonwealth title shot would be the next step,” he said.
“The ultimate goal would be to become a world champion, that’s every boxer’s dream, but right now we’re just taking it one fight at a time.”