BoxRec

Luans chance of his lifetime. The Brewster-fight is already planned for Max Schmelings 100th Birthday in Germany. Luan has to take care in the first rounds and then he can outbox him for a comfortable win on points.

From what I have seen of Krasniqi it should be Lance easily on points but this is in Germany and it all depends on how he travels over there......but even then he probably will get robbed

hmm, both of them blow a bit hot and cold so it will all depend on who turns up on the night.....

If Luan boxes, sticks and moves he could get a points decision, Goofi at 6 8 and 265/120kg isnt the greatest mover obviously.....

i am sitting on the fence till the weigh in i think

knockout wrote:hmm, both of them blow a bit hot and cold so it will all depend on who turns up on the night.....

If Luan boxes, sticks and moves he could get a points decision, Goofi at 6 8 and 265/120kg isnt the greatest mover obviously.....

i am sitting on the fence till the weigh in i think

Luan is in the condition of his life and made a olt of speed training. he knows that he must be brilliant on his feet to win.

knockout wrote:hmm, both of them blow a bit

You got that right.

I fancy whitaker to take this, but no betting on this one.

BubiScholz wrote:

knockout wrote:hmm, both of them blow a bit hot and cold so it will all depend on who turns up on the night.....

If Luan boxes, sticks and moves he could get a points decision, Goofi at 6 8 and 265/120kg isnt the greatest mover obviously.....

i am sitting on the fence till the weigh in i think

Luan is in the condition of his life and made a olt of speed training. he knows that he must be brilliant on his feet to win.

luan UD.

Lance Whitaker has Steve 'Crocodile' Fitch with his camp. Remember him from the Tyson fights ? Is this a way of intimidating the opponent or motivating Lance. Seems to just be annoying

Neri1983 wrote:Lance Whitaker has Steve 'Crocodile' Fitch with his camp. Remember him from the Tyson fights ? Is this a way of intimidating the opponent or motivating Lance. Seems to just be annoying

This guy already made a lot of noise in the media. No Problem Luan is in top condition, he is ready for the title.

That Fitch guy is an idiot, didn't Herbie Hide "hire" him when he returned to the ring? I go for Kraniqi via a comfortable unanimous points win.

I give the edge to Whittaker, the guy is enormous and from what I've seen of Krasniqi I dont think he's good enough to overcome that.

Should be an interesting fight, but Whittaker wins later or on points I think.

I am going for Laun here, I hope he wins anway. Whittikar is a lazy fat boy who doesn't deserve this chance.

steve689 wrote:That Fitch guy is an idiot, didn't Herbie Hide "hire" him when he returned to the ring? I go for Kraniqi via a comfortable unanimous points win.

You are right, that Fitch guy was wearing an Army outfit at the first Press Conference and standing behind Whitaker and his Promoter and talking fornicating war bullshit. The Promoter says that it will be a "Guerilla War". What a fornicating bullshit!!! But Luan kept cool First round goes to Luan

BubiScholz wrote:

steve689 wrote:That Fitch guy is an idiot, didn't Herbie Hide "hire" him when he returned to the ring? I go for Kraniqi via a comfortable unanimous points win.

You are right, that Fitch guy was wearing an Army outfit at the first Press Conference and standing behind Whitaker and his Promoter and talking fornicating war bullshit. The Promoter says that it will be a "Guerilla War". What a fornicating bullshit!!! But Luan kept cool First round goes to Luan

God you really are getting desperate just kidding
Is the fight getting much publicity over there?

dve3333 wrote:

BubiScholz wrote:

steve689 wrote:That Fitch guy is an idiot, didn't Herbie Hide "hire" him when he returned to the ring? I go for Kraniqi via a comfortable unanimous points win.

You are right, that Fitch guy was wearing an Army outfit at the first Press Conference and standing behind Whitaker and his Promoter and talking fornicating war bullshit. The Promoter says that it will be a "Guerilla War". What a fornicating bullshit!!! But Luan kept cool First round goes to Luan

God you really are getting desperate just kidding
Is the fight getting much publicity over there?

It was a surprise that they already showed on Monday and Tuesday at the News on ZDF something about the fight. Same publicity like the last DM-fight I think. I think Germany will finally recognize the historical moment when Luan wins. The WBO fight vs Brewster is already planned for the 100th Birthday of Max Schmeling.

I'd like to see Luan win this, and you'd think the only way to do so is to outbox the giant American.
But that's going to be difficult, because the guy is about 7 foot I think.

What happened to Luan when he was stopped by the Pole Bubi? Was it a cut or what? Quit in his corner it says...

MightyWarrior wrote:I'd like to see Luan win this, and you'd think the only way to do so is to outbox the giant American.
But that's going to be difficult, because the guy is about 7 foot I think.

What happened to Luan when he was stopped by the Pole Bubi? Was it a cut or what? Quit in his corner it says...

i think he was under prepared and was knackered come the 9th round and rather than suffer a Wladimir style beating (v Brewster) chose to sit it out.......

knockout wrote:

MightyWarrior wrote:I'd like to see Luan win this, and you'd think the only way to do so is to outbox the giant American.
But that's going to be difficult, because the guy is about 7 foot I think.

What happened to Luan when he was stopped by the Pole Bubi? Was it a cut or what? Quit in his corner it says...

i think he was under prepared and was knackered come the 9th round and rather than suffer a Wladimir style beating (v Brewster) chose to sit it out.......

Thanks knockout. Still hard to pick this one - I'll go Luan to edge out a points win in a very close disputed fight.

MightyWarrior wrote:I'd like to see Luan win this, and you'd think the only way to do so is to outbox the giant American.
But that's going to be difficult, because the guy is about 7 foot I think.

What happened to Luan when he was stopped by the Pole Bubi? Was it a cut or what? Quit in his corner it says...

He was a last minute replacement this evening. One of the Klitschkos got injured and UBP put Luan in instead though he wasn´t prepared. he just run out of gas.

Nice interview with Luan for those who understand German:

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/27/0,187 ... 23,00.html

Interview is now available in English:

Interview with Luan Krasniqi

By Fabian Weber

On May 28 European heavyweight champion Luan Krasniqi will face US giant Lance Whitaker in a WBO world title eliminator. The winner of this explosive heavyweight clash at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle of Stuttgart will get a shot at WBO champion Lamon Brewster.

Boxing.de: Luan, your big fight against Lance Whitaker is only few days away. Do you feel nervous or rather anticipated?

Luan Krasniqi: Quite surprisingly I don’t feel nervous. This is perhaps just because I know exactly how important this fight is to me. On the one hand I’m somebody who improves with challenges. On the other hand I know exactly what is in store for me. I met Whitaker on the press conferece and of course I start to get more excited. But I’m still relatively calm and relaxed.

How did you prepare for this impotant fight?

I had an excellent training period. Really, my preparation ran perfectly. I had three very good sparring partners with who I had strong battles in the gym: David Bostice [former opponent of Wladimir Klitschko], Julius Long [2,10 m] and a tall Polish boxer who is also quite skillful. Basically I’m in training for four months. But in February I suffered a cold and we postponed the fight from April to May. Afterwards I trained twelve weeks continuously with my coach Torsten Schmitz. We worked out a few weeks in Berlin but most of the time I trained in my hometown Rottweil. I know that I can go twelve rounds. This makes me happy. Yesterday I heard that team Whitaker wants to destroy and kill me. The usual prefight gossip talk. There is one thing that I know exactly: It will be very hard for Whitaker to keep up with my pace for twelve rounds. I don’t think an American heavyweight can keep up with my pace for twelve rounds.

"There is one thing that I know exactly: It will be very hard for Whitaker to keep up with my pace for twelve rounds."
Luan KrasniqiWhitaker is 2,03m tall and weighs 120 kg which gives him a decisive size advantage over you. Against Timo Hoffmann, a man almost as heavy and as tall as Whitaker, you experienced some trouble last year. How do you want to handle Whitaker?

I imagine that Whitaker doesn’t have the same ring authority that Hoffmann displayed. But on the other side Whitaker is more dangerous. He punches harder and he is a better boxer. That’s why he will suit me. Skilful boxers suit me because on them I can show my own strengths to advantage, first of all my great speed. Against Hoffman I didn’t feel free, I felt tensed up. Something was missing. I couldn’t launch my game plan well. I think there were several reasons for this. I missed the first three rounds and I made him stronger than he was. By doing a bit of nonsense in the ring, something I usualy never do, I probably also negatively influenced the judges. But nevertheless, in my mind I won this fight, even though they scored it a draw. However, the fight against Whitaker will be completely different. Needless to say that Hoffmann and Whitaker have completely different strengths. Whitaker is a very different calibre.

Whitaker scored 24 knockouts, 19 of them inside of three rounds or less. Do you expect a quick start from him?

Yes, I believe he will start fast. This sounds likely after listeing to their statements, like they want to destroy me and so on. In case he makes a wild start I will go out of his way and fight back, depending on the situation.

"If he makes a mistake I will take advantage of it. I don’t intend to expand the fight with no need. I will try to stop him."
Luan KrasniqiYou have a strong stamina. But Whitaker appears to have endurance as well as he went twelve rounds three times and ten rounds twice. Do you think your fight will last long?

Yes, I believe our fight will go over many rounds. But in the heavyweight division there is also the chance that one punch can end things quickly. If he makes a mistake I will take advantage of it. I don’t intend to expand the fight with no need. I will try to stop him. But I’m prepared for twelve rounds. This is a long distance and it’s a hard effort to last it.

Whitaker hired motivator Steve „Crocodile“ Fitch who shows up on the press conferences in military dress and calls out offenses. Among other statements he predicted that Whitaker would kill you. Do you think he carried things too far?

I would call it differently. In my mind this is just completely ridiculous. I listened to his shoutings and I must admid that Fitch is quite good informed about me - in contrast to Whitaker who allegedly has never seen me fight. Fitch knows about the early stage of my professional career and about my sparring with Lennox Lewis. He knows about my title fights and so on. If this man is a help for Whitaker I will not grudge it. Fitch by the way is a very friendly person. He just tries to motivate. If someone is in need of that he may feel free to use such services. I don’t take it all that serious. I spoke to Fitch and found out he also knew about my sparring in the US with Maurice Harris, who by the way is a pretty skilful fighter. But in the end I could always handle him. And in case Fitch has contact to Harris, then he will know the score.

In case you beat Whitaker you will be in line for a title fight against Lamon Brewster who just knocked out Andrew Golota in round one. What is your opinion about Brewster?

Basically I didn’t think Brewster is all that strong. I was very surprised that he knocked out Golota so quickly. But this is heavyweight. One punch can change everything. Brewster is also another example for somebody who improves with challenges.

What is Luan Krasniqi doing in the remaining days before the fight in Stuttgart?

I will try to rest and to calm down before the storm. I want to recharge my powers that I spent during that hard preparation period. I’ll only work out once every day now and I won’t do too much. I will try to climb through the ropes on Saturday in top shape.

Bubi will be happy Luan wins via 6th round stoppage

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and predict L-Kras will win this fight by a KO in the 6th round.

HeavyHitters wrote:I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and predict L-Kras will win this fight by a KO in the 6th round.

Cracking call there heavyhitters. It's a shame that there's obviously been some malfinction in the forum posting system which delayed your post, making some cynical doubters believe you had potentially withdrawn your prediction until after the fight, which I for one know is not true.

Fair on Krasniqi. Not exactly ardn't follower of Krasniqi and doesn't seem to me to have been exactly coasting through the division. But maybe a KO suggests he's looking better? Think he would lose to Brewster though, if he repeats what he showed against Golota

I really don't know what to make of Krasniqi based on his recent results, and not having seen any of those fights. First I thought he was about domestic level, then he sort of inched into European class, but then he had a very worrying loss to the uninspiring Saleta who apparently forced him to quit. Then he comes back and KO's Saleta in a round, squeezes past old Biffa Bacon Samil Sam, but then draws with robot Timo Hoffman. Now he dominates and knocks out Whitaker who was a bit of an avoided guy. So what conclusions can we form from that? Well Krasniqi must blow a bit hot and cold, and Whitaker might not have been as formidable as we thought? I guess a copy of the Whitaker fight is required. Whatever way you look at it the guy must now be "in the mix" regards the heavyweight top 10.

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