Klitschko beats Chagaev by TKO

Eurosport - Sat, 20 Jun 23:57:00 2009

Ukraine's Vladimir Klitschko retained his world heavyweight titles by handing Ruslan Chagaev his first defeat thanks to a technical knockout after the ninth round in Germany.

BOXING 2009 Vladimir Klitschko of Ukraine celebrates after defeating Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan during their IBF/WBO and IBO world heavyweight championship title fight in Gelsenkirchen - 0

Klitschko, 33, held on to his IBF, IBO and WBO belts when the referee stopped the fight before the start of the 10th round in front of 61,000 fans with the Uzbek WBA champion-in-recess bleeding from a large cut above his left eye.

Standing 1.99 metres tall, Klitschko initially held the challenger, who is 14 centimetres shorter, at bay with his longer reach before knocking his opponent down with a powerful left-right combination midway through the second round.

Unable to get close to the champion, Chagaev, who had a 25-0-1 record going into the fight, took a series of punishing jabs that slowly chipped away at his defences.

He suffered a three centimetre cut above his left eye in the sixth round but battled on at the Schalke 04 football stadium.

Chagaev, 30, who did not face WBA champion Nikolai Valuev after the Russian pulled out of their fight late last month because the Uzbek had the hepatitis B virus, managed to come back and landed a couple of body blows.

But Klitschko dominated in the eighth and ninth rounds, forcing Chagaev to the ropes and landing dozens of punches as his shaken opponent's eye bled profusely.

Referee Eddie Cotton inspected the wound after the ninth round and decided to stop the fight in favour of the Ukrainian whose impressive performance takes him to 53-3-0.

Klitschko, whose brother Vitaly holds the WBC crown, was initially scheduled to fight David Haye before the Briton pulled out with an injury earlier this month.

Reuters

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  1. Cameron, thanks mate. How you doin. That jab was the­ key, ey? lighnin! Trust me Camo, dont listen 2 a word­ Lancey or Jery sey, there idiots.

    From neilsenti55, on Sat 20 Jun 11:52PM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    neilsenti55
    you're the man; you know your stuff­ mate.

    From cameron w, on Sat 20 Jun 11:48PM

  3. Lance, Jerry, U will never usually hear a man of my­­ stature say these words but....I FU CKING TOLD U SO.­­ COME ON, COME ON.... WHAT DID I SAY, i sed he wudnt­­ get hrough his defence. lanc e sed
    ' speed will be­­ the key for chageav', is that so lance, eat ur­­ words boys and APOLOGISE RIGHT NOW,

    From neilsenti55, on Sat 20 Jun 11:37PM

  4. Congratulatins big Vlad, 9 rounds of domination and now­ the Ring champ aswell, Well done big man.

    From JamesH, on Sat 20 Jun 11:36PM

  5. Klitschkos rule!

    From TT, on Sat 20 Jun 11:34PM

  6. Lance, Jerry, U will never usually hear a man of my­ stature say these words but....I FU CKING TOLD U SO.­ COME ON, COME ON.... WHAT DID I SAY, i sed he wudnt­ get hrough his defence. lanc e sed
    ' speed will be­ the key for chageav', is that so lance, eat ur­ words boys and APOLOGISE RIGHT NOW,

    From neilsenti55, on Sat 20 Jun 11:18PM
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