Лукаш Конечны: Чехияның сәтті боксшысы

Czech boxer

Lukáš Konečný (born 19 July 1978) is a Czech former professional boxer. He held the WBO interim, European and European Union light middleweight titles, and challenged for a middleweight world title in his final fight. Konečný is widely considered to be the most successful boxer from the Czech Republic.

He fought his first match when he was 14 years old, following this with numerous wins in several foreign tournaments and the Ústí nad Labem Grand Prix. He took part in the Czech Republic Championship four times as a junior and five times as a senior. He was second in the European Juniors Championship in Sifoku in 1995 but one year later he lost in Havana where he came sixth. He won the bronze medal in the World Championship in Budapest in 1997 and repeated the feat in Texas in 1999. He achieved second place in the Córdoba Cardin tournament in Cuba and the Olympic Games in Sydney (in 2000) crowned his amateur career. However he lost his first bout there.

He signed a contract with German stable "SES" (Sport Events Steinforth) on May 1, 2001, drilling in Magdeburg but spending much time at home in Ústí nad Labem. Nowadays he works under the German manager Ulf Steinforth. During his career, Konečný won multiple belts, winning his first title in 2002 against Artur Drinaj for the German International light middleweight title. He defended this title several times, until its vacation. In 2004 and 2006 he got two title shots for the EBU EU (European Union) light middleweight title, but in these fights he suffered two of his three career losses, but managed to win the vacant WBO Inter Continental light middleweight title against Anderson Clayton in Prague. In 2006 he added the IBF Inter Continental light middleweight title after victory against Ante Bilic, but Konečný then vacated the title. Lukáš managed to retain his WBO belt twice.

In 2008 the biggest match of his career up to then came with Konečný facing Sergiy Dzinziruk for the WBO light middleweight title. He eventually lost on a majority decision after 12 rounds. In 2009 he won the Czech middleweight championship. In 2010 Konečný faced Matthew Hall for the EBU EU (European Union) light middleweight title again. He prevailed after a TKO in round 6. In 2011 in Prague he defeated Hussein Bayram to become WBO Inter Continental light middleweight champion for the second time in his career. It was his 11th straight victory and he became one of the top prospects in light middleweight.

He then finally got his another major title shot with fight scheduled on 30 September. However his opponent Sergiy Dzinziruk cancelled the match according to his alleged injury. A lot of people started to speculate that Dzindiruk was trying to avoid his opponent. Dzindiruk was later stripped of the WBO Light Middleweight belt, which was subsequently won by Zaurbek Baysangurov. After long discussions it was revealed that he would fight Baysangurov on 10 March for the IBO and WBO Light Middleweight Championship. Unfortunately, Baysangurov had to cancel the fight because of his injury. This was already the second title match for Konečný, which was then cancelled. On 9 March, Konečný's stable SES introduced his next opponent. In this match he defeated French boxer Salim Larbi and became the interim WBO Light Middleweight champion.

Konečný finally clashed with Zaurbek Baysangurov in a match in October 2012. Unfortunately for him, Baysangurov successfully retained his title belt after 12 rounds of boxing via a unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 119 109, 117 111 and 118 110, all for Baysangurov. Baysangurov used a high work rate to pound out the decision over the heavy handed Konecny. In the last found, Konecny was cut over his left eye, but it hardly mattered because he was hopelessly behind by that point in the fight and was just looking for a knockout. Shortly after this fight Konečný was thinking about retirement, but ultimately returned in a match against Karim Achour. This match was scheduled for vacant WBO European middleweight title and saw Konečný′s debut in middleweight division. Konečný prevailed over his opponent via unanimous decision.

After the successful title defense, Konečný moved up to second position in the WBO middleweight rankings. In the March 2014 it was revealed via the web site boxrec. com, that Konečný will face WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin on March 19 in Washington, D. C. for the world title. Prior to the fight Konečný announced that he will retire after the fight regardless of the result. The fight was placed on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins vs. Beibut Shumenov; it was Konečný's debut on American soil, having fought previously only in Europe. Although being very much the underdog, Konečný stayed the distance of 12 rounds. Despite the fact that he lost via unanimous decision (119 109, 119 109, 120 108), he proved to be a tough opponent gaining positive reactions from some critics.

Lukáš Konečný currently lives in Ústí nad Labem with his wife Jarka and three daughters. He is son of Milan Konečný, the first Czech professional boxer.

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes57Win52–5 Pavel Albrecht 56Win51–5 Matúš Babiak 55Loss50–5 Peter Quillin 54Win50–4 Moez Fhima 53Win49–4 Karim Achour 52Loss48–4 Zaurbek Baysangurov 51Win48–3 Salim Larbi 50Win47–3 Hussein Bayram 49Win46–3 Hamlet Petrosyan 48Win45–3 Matthew Hall 47Win44–3 Konstantin Makhankov 46Win43–2 Ionut Trandafir Ilie 45Win42–3 Attila Kiss 44Win41–3 Sergey Khomitsky 43Win40–3 Christophe Karagoz 42Win39–3 Jimmy Colas 41Win38–3 Janos Petrovics 40Win37–3 Luiz Augusto Dos Santos 39Loss36–3 Serhiy Dzyndzyruk 38Win36–2 Kimfuta Makussu 37Win35–2 Roman Dzhuman 36Win34–2 Serge Vigne 35Win33–2 Gyula Zabo 34Win32–2 Mehdi Azri 33Win31–2 Ante Bilic 32Win30–2 Sandris Tomsons 31Loss29–2 Michele Piccirillo 30Win29–1 Andrzej Butowicz 29Win28–1 Anderson Clayton 28Win27–1 Dmitri Protkunas 27Win26–1 Adrian Sauca 26Win25–1 Felix Vargas 25Win24–1 Csaba Balatoni 24Win23–1 Gabor Balogh 23Loss22–1 Ruben Varon 22Win22–0 Murad Makhmudov 21Win21–0 Dzmitri Kashkan 20Win20–0 Peter Resour 19Win19–0 Raimundas Petrauskas 18Win18–0 Aziz Daari 17Win17–0 Miroslav Kvocka 16Win16–0 Sylvestre Marianini 15Win15–0 Pylyp Bystrykov 14Win14–0 Khoren Gevor 13Win13–0 Khoren Gevor 12Win12–0 Marius Petre Sorin 11Win11–0 Patrik Hruška 10Win10–0 Gabor Balogh 9Win9–0 Artur Drinaj 8Win8–0 Patrik Hruška 7Win7–0 Ashley Whiteboy 6Win6–0 Paul Lee Sebowa 5Win5–0 Krzysztof Cierniak 4Win4–0 Robert Sathy 3Win3–0 Gabriel Botos 2Win2–0 Patrik Hruška 1Win1–0 Ramdane Kaouane