Title shot looms for Krasniqi!

April 25, 2006

By Fabian Weber

http://www.fightnews.com/universum67.htm

Photo: Fabian Weber
Heavyweight Luan Krasniqi has his boxing future clearly in view. With a win on Saturday at the Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart, Germany, the 34-year-old contender will be very close to another world championship fight.

However, standing in the way of the former European champion is "The Boss" David Bostice. Krasniqi knows the seriousness of this challenge. "I know how dangerous he is and I know what it is up to me to do," said Krasniqi (28-2-1, 14 KOs). "In his last fight, Bostice delivered a tremendous fight against Brock. I know what I'm risking and I'm appropriately motivated."

Currently rated number two in the WBO world rankings, the man from Rottweil hopes a fight against WBO champion Sergei Liakovich will follow. "My goal is to get a world championship fight against Liakovich as fast as possible. The best would be this year. I hope my promoter can make this happen."

The Los Angeles-based Bostice, also 34, will do everything he can to put an "L" on his German opponent's record. "I know Luan from previous sparring," stated Bostice (35-10-1, 15 KOs). "I know that he is one of the best heavyweights in the world. He had nearly outclassed Brewster until he could land one lucky punch."

Bostice's manager Steve Munisteri commented, "Sure David has ten defeats on his record, but five were more than controversial. That also goes for his last fight that he lost on points against the undefeated Calvin Brock in his hometown. After the fight, Brock' fans cheered Bostice."

"I am counting on Bostice is taking this thing seriously," said Krasniqi. "He looks tense and has slimmed down a lot. He is probably totally well-trained. For me Bostice is really a stumbling block and I must first defeat him. After that, I take it that I am the official challenger of Liakovich."

Krasniqi also sent kudos to Wladimir Klitschko who became IBF champion on Saturday with a knockout victory over Chris Byrd. "Wladimir did his thing very well," he said. "But I was sure disappointed in Byrd. He did not try even once to seriously hit Wladimir hard," analyzed Klitschko's former amateur rival. "Wladimir was to be sure brave and did everything right. But we must wait to see what happens when he takes a hard punch again.

"I said a week ago that Wladimir is not a sporting challenge as long as he is not world champion. Moreover, I didn't think that he would bring off the thing against Byrd so well. Naturally, each world champion is a sporting challenge for me, and that now includes Wladimir."