Jürgen Brähmer vs. Haxhi Krasniqi

This will (not signed yet but 99% likely) be the fourth WBA 175lb title defense of Brähmer, on Sat1 in Brähmer's home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where the champion has fought six times in as many years. He was last defeated there by Hugo Garay back in 2008 in his first bid for the WBA title.

Provided he thwarts Krasniqi, and Nathan Cleverly is successful in his light heavyweight return a few weeks later (April 11th on Sky) Brähmer will be scheduled to meet Cleverly for his fifth defense in September.

That would be a fight nearly five years in the making. In a convoluted series of twists and turns, Brähmer and Cleverly originally entered talks in early 2011 for Brähmer to make a third defense that May of the WBO title he then held. Brähmer was injured and had to withdraw and was stripped, leaving Tony Bellew to step in on three days' notice to grapple with Cleverly for the interim belt. Then at the last minute Bellew failed to make weight and was replaced by Aleksy Kuziemski. Cleverly and Bellew would settle their business soon afterward, meeting just five months later and rematching three years later, this past November up at cruiserweight. Brähmer vs. Cleverly is long overdue, and unless either of them falters this spring, will finally happen. Cleverly would provide Brähmer the "big name" his résumé is lacking (although his actual worthiness as foe may be diminished after the destruction by Kovalev and jumping up and down in weight) while dethroning Brähmer would be exactly what Cleverly needs to keep himself relevant and stage a comeback.

As for Haxhi "Robin" Krasniqi, he is a wild card here and oughtn't be disrespectfully overlooked as though Brähmer vs. Cleverly were a foregone conclusion. Krasniqi extremely limited but a hard trier and persistent as they come. If he is up for this and has the night of his life and Brähmer looks past him with his eyes on the more lucrative Cleverly match, we could actually see an upset with the popular Kosovo-born ham-and-egg pug forcing the issue on sheer hustle and mental fortitude to overcome the big deficit in skill. He also has advantages in height and reach (2" and 3" respectively) over Brähmer and is nearly a decade his junior, with perhaps the better gas tank and '2nd wind' powers of recuperation in the late stages.

 

If he does retain via draw (or by decision close enough to be controversial, with some people scoring it for Robin) would that kill the buzz for Brähmer vs. Cleverly? :think

Might Krasniqi be able to spoil the party even if he doesn't strap on the belt?

 

Krasniqi is a German-based Albanian.

 

:?

How equal with Sturm exactly?


Sturm is of Bosnian descent, but was born in Germany.

Kranisiqi was born in Kosovo. (and yes, both Muamar Hukic and Avetik Abrahamyan were born outside Germany as well, so really Krasniqi is the same as them...but none of them are "German" as much as Adnan Catic)

 

Official.

 

True but he does have unsettled business with Brähmer.

I guess as long as his return opponent isn't too lousy, him cutting back into queue just behind Krasniqi could be tolerable.