Luan Krasniqi

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's 100th birthday.

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.

On 17 March 2007, Krasniqi fought Brian Minto for the title of WBO 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.

Luan's next fight took place on 29 April 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany 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.

2005 brought Krasniqi to the top of the heavyweight competition after he knocked out highly regarded Lance Whitaker and became a mandatory challenger 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.

After this defeat Krasniqi struggled to get back to the top of the European rankings. Finally on 14 February 2004 he won against the "Bull from Bosphorus" Sinan Samil Sam and became European Champion once again.

German Heavyweight Champion 2001-2002 EBU Heavyweight Champion 2002, 2004–2005 WBO Interconti Champion 2007.

During Lewis' training for the fights against Shannon Briggs, Željko Mavrović and Evander Holyfield 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.

1996 he added the European Championships with a win over Christophe Mendy.

1996 Olympic Results Boxed as a Heavyweight (– 91 kg)

Krasniqi stormed the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships, by taking the silver medal beating Sinan Samil Sam and Wladimir Klitschko – 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.

Krasniqi is the youngest of eight children to Kosovar Albanian parents. He has often said that he had a happy and active childhood, growing up in Junik, a small town in the District of Gjakova, where in 1987 he finished his primary and secondary school, before his family moved to Rottweil in Germany. 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 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 was and still is an idol. Nobody can ever achieve what he achieved. Such a thing is a once in a lifetime phenomenon."

Luan Krasniqi (born 10 May 1971) is an Albanian-German actor and retired professional boxer. He held the European heavyweight title and also challenged for the WBO world heavyweight title.