Луан Краснићи: Еуропа чемпионы және бокс мансабы

Albanian boxer

Luan Krasniqi (born 10 May 1971) is a German Albanian actor and former professional boxer. He held the European heavyweight title and also challenged for the WBO world heavyweight title.

Krasniqi is the youngest of eight children to Kosovar Albanian parents. He has often said that he had a happy and active childhood, growing up in Junik, a small town in the District of Deçan, where in 1987 he finished his primary and secondary school, before his family moved to Rottweil in Germany. Krasniqi stated "my childhood was good, but when I learned that we would be rejoining my father who had moved to Rottweil in 1970 I was overjoyed. I had dreamt about a move to the city and now it was coming true!". Krasniqi graduated in Germany his A Level and an education as a wholesaler.

Krasniqi started boxing at the age of 16. His boxing career began at the local BSV Rottweil, where he met Theo Kerekesch, a boxing trainer of high regard. Spotting talent and kinship within each other, hard work developed Krasniqi into a solid, well schooled, heavyweight. Once Krasniqi had been granted German citizenship, he entered the Multi Nations Tournament in Liverpool, England and won the gold medal. He consolidated the success with a gold medal later that year at the German Championships, Berlin. Krasniqi stormed the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships, by taking the silver medal beating Sinan Samil Sam and Wladimir Klitschko – losing only to one of the best amateur boxers of all times, the Cuban Félix Savón. Krasniqi ended the year on a roll, taking the Heavyweight Gold in the International Chemie Cup Tournament, Halle. 1996 he added the European Championships with a win over Christophe Mendy.

Krasniqi won his first fight (with Harry Senior). In order to improve his training he was invited to train with Lennox Lewis in Big Bear Lake, where he was in preparation for the fight against Andrzej Gołota. Luan showed that he could resist the pressure of sparring with Lewis. Since then, he has been to Big Bear Lake three times. During Lewis' training for the fights against Shannon Briggs, Željko Mavrović and Evander Holyfield he was one of his sparring partners. Luan overcame with success the first hurdles of his career as a "newcomer" in professional boxing. He boxed extremely successfully for Panix Promotion 15 times and in 2000 after Lennox Lewis had terminated his contract, Luan decided to look for a new alternative. In February and April 2000 he built his connections with Universum Box Promotion and fought a number of matches for them. In January 2001 he signed a three years long contract with Universum Box Promotion. The highlight of his career was the fight against Rene Monse, when he became European Champion. He was the first German European Champion after 29 years.

A half year later Krasniqi lost his belt in a fight against Przemysław Saleta. The man from Rottweil was prepared for eight rounds. But after an injury of Vitali Klitschko, his fight was pushed to the main event. Mainly due to this lack of preparation, although leading by points, Krasniqi apparently feared a loss and elected to quit. After this defeat Krasniqi struggled to get back to the top of the European rankings. Finally on 14 February 2004 he won against the "Bull from Bosphorus" Sinan Samil Sam and became European Champion once again.

2005 brought Krasniqi to the top of the heavyweight competition after he knocked out highly regarded Lance Whitaker and became a mandatory challenger for the WBO crown. He lost against Lamon Brewster. Brewster managed to efficiently attack Krasniqi's body. This resulted in Krasniqi fatiguing in the latter rounds and finally being forced into a punch exchange and getting knocked down in round 9. It was a disappointing loss to a lot of German and Albanian fans, since the resurrection of a new German heavyweight champion was highly anticipated to occur on Max Schmeling's 100th birthday. Luan's next fight took place on 29 April 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany, where he won against David Bostice. Luan Krasniqi was scheduled to fight against Top 10 contender, Tony Thompson, in September 2006, but no contract was made. Krasniqi has stated that the money offered by his promoter Klaus Peter Kohl was insufficient. On 17 March 2007, Krasniqi fought Brian Minto for the title of WBO Intercontinental Champion. Despite having a height disadvantage of 4 inches (10 cm), Minto was able to hold his own against Krasniqi. However, in the 12th round Krasniqi was able to knock Minto down and win the match. It was later stated that it was Krasniqi's tactic to tire his adversary. This won Luan Krasniqi the title of Intercontinental Champion and has given him the possibility of a fight against Shannon Briggs. Kransiqi lost to Tony Thompson, putting a serious dent in his hopes at a future title shot. On 11 November 2008, he lost by a third round knockout to unbeaten Alexander Dimitrenko.

He is currently an actor. Prior to his boxing success, Krasniqi worked in wholesale and foreign trade. Luan Krasniqi's two boxing idols are Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis.

Date Fight Viewership (avg. (average)) Network SourceLuan Krasniqi vs. Przemyslaw Saleta3,390,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. Sinan Samil Sam4,330,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. Timo Hoffmann5,180,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. Lance Whitaker3,540,000ZDFLamon Brewster vs. Luan Krasniqi7,620,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. David Bostice6,200,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. Brian Minto6,390,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. Tony Thompson4,640,000ZDFLuan Krasniqi vs. Alexander Dimitrenko4,770,000ZDF Total viewership 46,080,000