Mike Djonlic is 44 years old.
He’s married with two sons. They all live in a comfortable Coquitlam house, and he works in a downtown Vancouver office for a firm that markets computers and information technology. Hardly the stuff of Rocky. But on June 11, Djonlic is going to climb into a ring at Contenders Training Studio under the Bentall Four tower and realize a life-long dream. He’s going to hit and be hit – hard – for three full-on 90-second rounds. And The Vancouver Sun will be there to watch. For the past five months The Sun has been following Djonlic on his steady, stalwart, sometimes agonizing and, above all, unlikely journey from palooka to contender. Each month a team of reporters has gone to his gym with a camera and microphone to record his progress for a six-part online video series called The White-Collar Contender. Look for it today and for the next five Fridays on this site. We will also be there on June 11 when he climbs into the ring for real. Win, lose or knocked senseless. “I’ve always enjoyed boxing,” Djonlic said in an interview, explaining why he couldn’t just take up golf like other men his age. “It intrigues me it’s fun for me. I’ve done the squash thing it doesn’t do it for me. Why this does, I don’t know. Maybe I’m a little demented.” Demented or not, he’s not alone. This year, up to 14 middle-aged lawyers, accountants and computer specialists like Djonlic – men who should know better, their wives might suggest – will lace up gloves to duke it out in Contenders Studio’s seventh annual White Collar Fight Night. And for people like Djonlic, it helps make (curious) dreams come true.
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