Luan Krasniqi (born 10 May 1971) is a German actor and former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He held the European

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the W ...

title and also challenged for the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

world heavyweight title.

Background

Krasniqi is the youngest of eight children to

Kosovar Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...

parents. He has often said that he had a happy and active childhood, growing up in

Junik Junik ( sq, Junik, sq-definite, Juniku; sr, Јуник, Junik) is a town located in Junik Municipality in the Gjakova District in western Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Junik has 6,053 inhabitants, while the municipality ha ...

, a small town in the District of

Deçan Deçan, or Dečani sr-cyr, Дечани ; also in use Dečane sr-cyr, Дечане is a town and municipality in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of has 3,803 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,019 inhabitants. Geog ...

, where in 1987 he finished his primary and secondary school, before his family moved to

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,00 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. 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.

Amateur

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 Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

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 Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from t ...

and

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол� ...

– losing only to the one of the best amateur boxers of all times, the Cuban great Félix Savón. Krasniqi ended the year on a roll, taking the Heavyweight Gold in the International Chemie Cup Tournament,

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

. 1996 he added the European Championships with a win over

Christophe Mendy Christophe Mendy (born 4 August 1971, in Rouen) is a retired French boxer who represented France in the heavyweight division (– 91 kg) during the 1990s. He won the bronze medal at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin, ...

1996 Summer Olympics

At the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

in Atlanta he beat future amateur and professional champion

Ruslan Chagaev Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev ( tt-Cyrl, Руслан Шамил улы Чагаев; uz, Ruslan Shamilovich Chagayev; russian: Руслан Шамилович Чагаев); born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who c ...

and reached a semi-final bout with Félix Savón. The semi-final bout against Félix Savón was short-lived. During the bout, Krasniqi was cut under the eye. The cut would be examined by the ringside doctor & result in a medical stoppage. This left him unable to fight for an Olympic Gold Medal. Krasniqi returned to Germany with the Bronze medal, Germany's first heavyweight medal since 1976. ''"I felt that I could have beaten him. He had out-pointed me the previous year but I had grown stronger and developed further since then. I am sure that the fight would have been close but I think that this time, I would have celebrated."'' However, Krasniqi had many memories to savour from Atlanta - one of which was a meeting with his idol,

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

. ''"Muhammad Ali was and still is an idol. Nobody can ever achieve what he achieved. Such a thing is a once in a lifetime phenomenon."'' ''"To shine so long and so brightly, to define eras in history with the sheer force of his ability and personality and to be so well remembered is unique. Meeting him was an honour I shall never forget."'' Krasniqi took his first steps to his own fame as he decided to become famous and to get in at Panix Promotions, where

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hol ...

has his contract. 1996 Olympic Results Boxed as a Heavyweight (– 91 kg) *Round 1 - Defeated

(Uzbekistan) 12:4 *Round of 16 - Defeated Igor Kshinin (Russia) 10:2 *Quarterfinals - Defeated Serguei Dychkov (Belarus) 10:5 *Semifinals - Lost by Félix Savón (Cuba) WO

Professional career

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 Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the Undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion at cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight in the late 1 ...

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.

First loss

A half year later Krasniqi lost his belt in a fight against

Przemysław Saleta Przemysław Saleta (born 7 March 1968) is a Polish professional boxer, as well as a former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Achievements Kickboxing: *1990 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Madrid, Spain -91 kg (Full-Contact) *1990 W.A ...

. The man from Rottweil was prepared for eight rounds. But after an injury of

Vitali Klitschko Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko (; uk, Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ ; born 19 July 1971) is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer who serves as mayor of Kyiv Sinan Samil Sam Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from t ...

and became European Champion once again.

Later career

2005 brought Krasniqi to the top of the heavyweight competition after he knocked out highly regarded

Lance Whitaker Lance Whitaker (born May 29, 1971) is an American former professional boxer. As an amateur in the super heavyweight division, he won a bronze medal at the 1995 Pan American Games. Nicknamed "Mount", or more recently "Goofi", Whitaker was known fo ...

and became a

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champ ...

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 Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling (, ; 28 September 1905 – 2 February 2005) was a German boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cultural ev ...

's 100th birthday. Luan's next fight took place on 29 April 2006 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

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 Brian Matthew Minto (born January 27, 1975) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2016. He challenged once for the WBO cruiserweight title in 2010. Professional career Minto turned pro in 2002 and won his first 8 ...

for the title of

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 Alexander Viktorovych "Sascha" Dimitrenko ( uk, Олександр Вікторович Димитренко; born 5 July 1982) is a Ukrainian-born German former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019, and held the European heavyweight ...

Personal life

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

and

Accomplishments

German Heavyweight Champion 2001-2002 EBU Heavyweight Champion 2002, 2004–2005

Intercontinental Champion 2007.

Professional boxing record

, - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 30 Wins (14 knockouts, 16 decisions), 4 Losses (4 knockouts, 0 decisions), 1 Draw , - style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Result , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Round , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - align=center , Loss , , align=left,

, KO , 3 , 15/11/2008 , align=left,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

, Germany , align=left, , - , Loss , , align=left, Tony Thompson , TKO , 5 , 14/07/2007 , align=left,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...