This is the Polish "Dragon" – the contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World
"This is the new Andrzej Gołota" – that is what one of the Polish newspapers wrote when Albert Sosnowski, as a 19-year old teenager, decided to become a professional boxer in 1998. It turned out to be untrue. "The Dragon" is better than Gołota.
In December 2009 the Polish boxer had the greatest success of his career to date. After a spectacular fight he defeated an experienced Italian Paolo Vidoz and won the European Heavyweight Championship title. Now, an even more significant challenge is ahead of him – in a few weeks, he will cross swords with the famous Vitali Klitschko, and WBC Heavyweight Championship of the World will be a stake here.
- "If it wasn’t for the endurance and hard work, it wouldn’t take place" – Sosnowski explains. – "I would like to thank the Klitschko’s team for this opportunity. I appreciate my rival’s class and I have a lot of respect for him. However, it doesn’t mean that I fear my opponent and I don’t notice my chances to win. Quite the opposite, I will try to achieve something which Andrzej Gołota couldn’t make in the fight with Lennox Lewis. I know I can do it. I believe in myself. I will show the heart of a warrior, faith in victory, willingness to fight and character. This is why I decided to take this bout" – the Pole adds.
"The Dragon" is fully aware of the challenge that is ahead of him. Although he had previously the title of WBF World Champion which he won in famous Emperors Casino in Johannesburg after a tough and desperate fight with Lawrence Tauasa, now both the class of the opponent and the prestige of the event are incomparable with the previous – as well as a precious sense of achievement.
In accepting the proposition from Vitali Klitschko’s team, a fight between "The Dragon" and Audley Harrison, the Olympic champion as of 2000 from Sydney, planned for April 2010 will not now happen.
Sosnowski has had 48 professional fights. He has won 45, and 27 of them by knockout.
He earned his nickname at the beginning of his career.
Sosnowski explained "Few years ago I got the proposition to fight in Wrocław, on the same show as Andrzej Gołota. Bravo Sport Magazine organized a contest to choose a nickname for me. There were a lot of answers and I finally decided to become "DRAGON". At the same time my friends from high school who came to see my fights created a fan club DRAGON 98, so they used my nickname and the year when I started my career. I liked it and it stayed like that. In the ring I am "The Dragon". It fits me well".
Sosnowski gathered positive reviews for most of his performances. He was impressive e.g. in the fight with respected Danny Williams, which finished with a knockout in November 2008, as well as in the fight with Francesco Pianeta, which finished with a draw in April 2009. The EU title European Union was at stake in this fight.
The greatest TV stations all over the world showed Sosnowski’s performances. In Poland people could watch him mostly in TVN, and also in SPORTKLUB channels, Polsat Sport and Orange Sport.
As he says, he loved sport since he was a small child. And he dreamed secretly that the whole world would know him.
"As a child I was lively, I loved to be active and I was always willing to play games. I was in sport school and enjoyed fencing . I was a vice-champion of Warszawa in the sabre category . Besides that I also played football in Hutnik Warszawa. I was the captain of the team. So I really had a lot of sport activities and that is not all. I was also attending swimming and wrestling classes" The Dragon" mentions.
"The Dragon" is not only a class boxer, but also a popular boxing expert and TV commentator. Albert, together with Polish world boxing champion Agnieszka Rylik, conducted "Kuchnia boksu" [„The Boxing Kitchen"] program in TVN Turbo channel, where he analysed the most spectacular fights of famous boxers and conducted sparrings with invited guests.
In March 2008 Sosnowski took part in the reality show Big Brother VIP. Only selected celebrities were invited for this edition. Albert spent two weeks in Big Brother’ house. When he found out about a fight in USA that was ahead of him, he had to resign from participation in the programme to begin full training.
Another huge hobby of Sosnowski is poker. He manages playing poker as well as when he is out of the ring. In the prestigious Sports Stars Challenge, in the company of 7 players, Albert took second place and was very close to be qualified to the grand final of the tournament.
Although he was traveling all over the world and visited the most exotic places, he likes his hometown Warszawa the best.
"When I always come back here, my heart starts beats faster. Just like when somebody comes back home after longer absence – the Polish pretender to the title of heavy weight world championship – I want to meet my love Magda, family and friends as soon as it’s possible. I also love to take my girlfriend to the theatre or cinema. A good play, an interesting movie – I like it".
However, for now Sosnowski has to forget about any kind of entertainment and pleasure. He is training hard to snatch away the world championship belt from Vitali Klitschko in May.
The chief of training staff, who prepares Albert to his bout with Vitali, is experienced and highly appreciated in Poland, Fiodor Łapin (he also cooperates with i.a. Krzysztof „Diablo" Włodarczyk). Except for Łapin, also Jacek Dąbrowski and Paweł Gasser help Sosnowski, who led „The Dragon" to his biggest successes. Now they do everything to make Sosnowski also defeat the older of Klitschko brothers.
"I often hear the question if I am not afraid of this fight" – Albert says. – "Only an idiot does not feel fear, however I don’t have problems with my digestion and I fall asleep with no problems. Actually I was really scared when I was flying for the first time. That was a weird feeling. I didn’t have any control over the plane and suddenly I lost contact with the ground. Additionally, there were turbulences. Now I don’t have problems with that any more!! – "The Dragon" finishes.
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