Light heavyweight Robin Krasniqi turned his career around Saturday night.
Krasniqi, a 33-year-old who had fallen short in almost all of his biggest fights, scored a significant upset by stopping Dominic Boesel in the third round to win an “interim” title in Magdeburg, Germany.
Krasniqi (51-6, 19 KOs) put Boesel (30-2, 12 KOs) down with a big right hand in the final round. It was strangely ruled a slip by referee Oliver Brien but Boesel was clearly hurt.
Moments after Boesel was able to get to his feet he took an even bigger right hand directly to the chin, which knocked him flat on his back.
Brien stopped the fight without counting because it was clear Boesel couldn’t continue. The official time was 2:25.
Boesel entered the fight as the WBA’s No. 1-ranked contender, behind titleholder Dmitry Bivol and secondary titleholder Jean Pascal. Presumably, Krasniqi will now climb into the rankings.
Krasniqi, a Munich-based native of Kosovo, lost a near-shutout decision to Nathan Cleverly in his own world title challenge in 2013.
Boesel had won six consecutive fights since he was stopped in 11 rounds by Karo Murat in 2017.
