Krasniqi knocks out Monse/Dimitrenko dominates passive Francis

31.07.04 – Saturday night Luan Krasniqi beat his countryman René Monse for the second time in a contest for the European heavyweight championship, this time by technical knockout after round 6. His victory was repeat and new ground at the same time for the 33 year old German. Even though Krasniqi is now a two time European champion his win in front of 4,500 at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart was his premiere of a successful title defense. After he won the crown of Europe for the first time in January 2002 against Monse he lost it in his next fight against Polish Saleta three months later. An insufficient preparation led to lack of stamina and to his loss by way of retirement after round nine.

But there were no signs of lack of stamina when Krasniqi regained the title from Turkish Sinan Samil Sam in February, and he also didn’t do his opponent the favor to tire when he won his fourth contest for the EBU crown against Monse.

Krasniqi fought on a high pace from the beginning and broke Monse’s nose with an accidential knock of his ellbow after he missed with a punch. In a dramatic fourth round southpaw Monse hurt the European champion twice. But each time Krasniqi was able to regain his balance and fired back.

Then the outcome went into Krasniqi’s favor for good. In the fifth and in the sixth round Monse was saved from a knockout defeat by the bell ending the rounds after he was deeply hurt from Krasniqi’s punches and was staggering across the ring. There wouldn’t be a seventh round as the deeply warn out challenger allowed his cornermen to throw in the towell.

Krasniqi, the son of Kosovo Albanian parents, is very successful specificly in rematches. He already impressed when he gained revenge against Przemyslaw Saleta in April of last year and sent his former conqueror into retirement with an explosive first round knockout.

With his 27th victory in his 28th professional contest the former amateur star Krasniqi cemented his position as one of the most solid and most skilful boxers in the current changeable and unexpectable heavyweight scene. Even a world title shot in one of the four major sanctioning bodies is now possible for the intelligent man from Germany’s Black Forrest who speaks five different languages.

An alternative possibility would be a contest against EBU mandatory challenger Timo Hoffmann.

The 35 year old Rene Monse, however, who now lost for the second time in his 16th professional fight and who for the second time failed to beat Krasniqi and missed the European title, may need to consider retirement.

Bidenko blitzes Frank

On the undercard that included five other heavyweight contests and one fight at cruiserweight Taras Bidenko celebrated the quickest knockout. The 25-year-old Ukrainian sent Brazilian Daniel Frank to the canvas after one minute and 54 seconds of the opening round. Bidenko who stopped his opponent with a left right combination to the chin upped his record to 11-1 with 7 knockouts. Frank dropped to 14-8 with 14 knockouts.

Chagaev chops down Lane to the body

Bidenko’s Russian stable mate Ruslan Chagaev was having more trouble with his opposition, American Garing Lane. The 25-year-old “White Tyson” needed five rounds to drop his experienced opponent to the canvas twice with body shots. After the second knockdown Lane stayed down and allowed the referee to count to ten. Chagaev improved to 12-0-1 with ten knockouts. The bull-like 318 pound American dropped to 22-37-2 with 13 knockouts.

Onofrei gores Gogic

Hamburg based Rumanian Konstantin Onofrei retained his international German heavyweight title when he stopped challenger Goran Gogic from Jugoslavia after one minute and eight seconds of round nine. Onofrei won most of the rounds with the higher activity but Gogic kept being dangerous with counter punching until the Jugoslav ran out of gas in the before last round. Coach Sdunek then opted to throw in the towel when Gogic took punishment on the ropes without throwing anything back. Onofrei improved to 18-1 with 14 knockouts. Gogic dropped to 9-2-2 with five knockouts.

Dimitrenko dominates passive Francis

Universum’s biggest heavyweight prospect, Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko, won a one-sided eight round decision against British Julius Francis. The 22-year-old “Sascha” dominated a highly defensive and passive Francis at will using his 6-foot-7 height and his projecting reach well. After eight rounds all three judges had given every round to the undefeated Dimitrenko who improved to 15-0 with ten knockouts. Francis dropped to 23-18-1 (12).

All Results:

European Heavyweight Championship:
Luan Krasniqi TKO7 Rene Monse (Corner retires after round 6)

EU Cruiserweight Championship:
Firat Aslan W10 (97:94, 97:93, 96:94) vs. Lee Manuel Osie

Heavyweight:
Alexander Dimitrenko W8 (80:72, 80:72, 80:72) Julius Francis

Heavyweight:
Ruslan Chagaev KO5 (1:46) Garing Lane

Heavyweight:
Taras Bidenko KO1 (1:54) Daniel Frank

International German Heavyweight Championship:
Konstantin Onofrei TKO9 (1:08) Goran Gogic

Heavyweight:
Valery Chechenev KO2 (2:36) Frank Dunklau