Luan Krasniqi

28.09.05 - Luan Krasniqi entered the ring to deafening applause from the over 10,000 German partisans on hand at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg on Wednesday night on the anniversary of Max Schmeling's 100th birthday. They were assembled to see him challenge World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion "Relentless" Lamon Brewster, from Los Angeles, who was making his third title defense. Brewster started were he left off after evaporating Andrew Golota in just 53 seconds in Chicago on May 21: he threw heavy punches with bad intentions. Krasniqi withstood the challenge and took command of the fight by establishing a penetrating jab. At the end of the opening stanza, Krasniqi motioned that he had been struck by a low blow, and referee Jose Rivera, from Puerto Rico, admonished Brewster for the beltline punch and gave Krasniqi time to recover.. Krasniqi's confidence grew in the second round as he began to throw combinations off his lead jab that landed effectively but without knockout power. Brewster continued to stalk the challenger looking to turn the tide with his vaunted left hook. While Krasniqi developed a harmless cut on the left side of his lip, Brewster revealed a much more dangerous cut near his left eyebrow in round three. Krasniqi felt Brewster hit him with a low blow again with less than 10 seconds left in the fourth, turned his back on the champion, and walked away. Rivera was unfazed and watched Brewster follow Krasniqi to land a left hook as he turned back at the champion just before the bell ending the round. The pro-Krasniqi crowd whistled their disapproval. Both fighters exchanged effectively in the fifth round while the cut over Brewster's eye worsened and the accumulation of jabs and stiff, short combinations appeared to be slowing the champion. Krasniqi and the admiring crowd reached the pinnacle of their confidence in round six. The crowd cheered in unison, "Luan, Luan" as Krasniqi decided to stand toe to toe with Brewster until the champion caught Krasniqi with a solid left hook in a corner. Krasniqi dodged out of the corner and immediately turned on Brewster and landed his best punch of the fight--also a left hook. The decision to punch with a puncher turned out to be Krasniqi's undoing. Rather than stay with the jab and following with swift combinations when the opportunity was present, he appeared to want to prove to Brewster, the crowd and himself that he could defeat the champion in all facets of the match. Krasniqi's strategy finally betrayed him in the eight round when Brewster landed a devastating left hook and Krasniqi crumpled against the ropes and to the mat with less than 30 seconds remaining in the round. Rivera appeared to provide a very long count that allowed Krasniqi to get to his feet just before the bell sounded ending the round. Reports from American television trucks estimated the count to be between 13 and 17 seconds. Brewster stormed out of his corner at the beginning of the ninth round in an attempt to finish his opponent. It appeared as though Rivera might step in to end the assault, but Krasniqi weathered the storm and found a second wind just at the point it appeared Brewster was reaching exhaustion. Brewster dug deep to muster yet another power-punch assault that ended with a right hand to Krasniqi's jaw with just seconds remaining in the round. This time Rivera waved off the action and declared Brewster the winner by technical knockout. Brewster commented after the fight, "Luan is a good fighter who landed many good shots against me. I want to be thee world champion, not just a United States champion and I proved it tonight by coming to Germany and defeating a game challenger. I always fight from will, not always from skill.""I want to give applause to Hamburg and the German people for being so wonderful to me during my visit. I will never forget my time here." Brewster's promoter Don King echoed his champion's sentiments." Luan used his jab and his right but this champion doesn't quit," King said. "Lamon Brewster is a true world champion now that he came to Germany and won here." [source DKP Press]

European Heavyweight Champion Luan Krasniqi steps up to the highest level of the sport tonight when he challenges the very tough Lamon Brewster for the WBO Heavyweight title at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany. We were fortunate enough to speak with Luan as he was counting down the hours to fight time and are proud to present what the highly skilled heavyweight had to say about the biggest opportunity of his career...
[courtesy of www.saddoboxing.com]

14.09.05 - By Per Ake Persson: German heavy Luan Krasniqi, 28-1-1, challenges WBO champ Lamont Brewster September 28 in Hamburg. He is currently in full training but still found time for an interview. Special thanks to Christoph Rybarczyk, head of Universum press department, for making this possible..

Q: How is the training going? Can you give a little info on how much sparring you plan to have, how your training schedule looks, etc ...

A: I have had a wonderful preparation so far. First you work on condition, then body power, and then three weeks of sparring. I have had good sparring partners like Michael Sprott and Sherman Williams who can imitate Lamon Brewster’s style. I am training at my hometown in Rottweil near the Black Forest, so I do feel at home.

Q: Do you rate the Whitaker fight as your best perfomance yet?

A: A knockout win is always the most impressive, but for me personally the rematch with Przemyslaw Saleta (TKO 1) was the most important fight for my career, because I have avenged my loss. Whitaker was a strong opponent, but not very clever and not as fast as me.

Q: If the Saleta II fight was your best yet your fight against Hoffmann was maybe not that great - how do you see the fight now and what went wrong? How do you feel about the scoring?

A: I made some mistakes in the early rounds of the Hoffman fight, because I wanted to punish him for all the offending words and insults he had delivered through the week prior to the fight. He insulted all the boxing fans. His trash talk was unfair not only to me. I wanted to punish him and show him he can punch me but that will have no effect. Is that all you have? I asked him during the fight. I won’t do that again, but I was so upset because his words had insulted me. In the final rounds I dominated him and I think I destroyed his career, because he ate many big shots and never really recovered from that fight.

Q: When I first interviewed you you were still with Panix - I asked you if you didn´t feel over shadowed by all the fighters signed up by Eliades. You said no. Shortly thereafter you left for Universum so what happend?

A: Lennox Lewis has left Panix, and so have I. I had a wonderful time with wonderful people, including Lennox Lewis. After some years it was time to go.

Q: What has Torsten Schmitz meant for you? Which is the biggest changes he´s made in your style?

A: Please ask him. We respect each other and treat each other like grown-ups do.

Q: How do you see Lamont Brewster? Can you give a hint on the tactics you plan to use?

A: Tactics are one thing. The other is: can you follow them? Every challenger has to do more than the champion, right? Please draw your own conclusions.

Q: Does the fact that you are fighting on what is the 100th birthday of Max Schmeling makes the fight even more special?

A: Of course, it does. I have met Schmeling, and he is the most important public figure of sports in Germany. In comparison to Schmeling I am nothing. I have so much respect for him, he was so fully aware of what’s going on when we talked at his house. He asked me about if I earned enough money to put it on the side for the time after my career. I will never forget the moment he waved me good-bye from his entrance. I promised him to get the world title at heavyweight back to Germany. I do not know if I will, but if I do, I will do it for Max and for me.

Q: In case of a win a showdown with one of the Klitschko brothers must be almost a natural. I know you sparred with both - how do you see them now?

A: Please follow the Klitschko’s careers closely and make your own judgement. Vitali and Wladimir are different from each other. I have a lot of respect for their skills. They owe Universum a lot for promoting them to the top. I think Wladimir should have looked for rematches of the fights he lost: Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster. I wish them well – unless we meet in the ring, of course. It is not a dream, because the dream is to fight for the world title no matter who the opponent is. Lamon Brewster beat Wladimir, right?

Q: There´s a number of heavyweights signed up by Universum and Spotlight Boxing now - who do you see as the most promising?

A: That’s hard to say. They still have a long way to go. Only the most enduring will prevail, the ones who can mentally and physically survive