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Associated Press
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany -- Wladimir Klitschko again showed his dominance of the heavyweight division, stopping Ruslan Chagaev in a hastily put together title fight Saturday night before 61,000 fans at a German soccer stadium.
Wladimir Klitschko captured the vacant Ring magazine heavyweight title with a TKO over Ruslan Chagaev. The 6-foot-6 ½ Klitschko used his piston-like left jab and strong straight right to dominate his 6-foot-1 opponent. The 33-year old Klitschko used his superior reach (81-74) to keep his overmatched opponent on the end of his lefts and straight rights. Chagaev was an easy target for the Ukrainian and could never get inside to score effectively. Klitschko poured it on in the ninth round, scoring with several straight rights on the fading Chagaev. American referee Eddie Cotton went to Chagaev's corner after the ninth and the fight was called off. Klitschko raised his record to 53-3 (47 KOs) while Chagaev fell to 25-1-1 (17 KOs). Besides winning the vacant Ring Magazine title, Klitschko retained his WBO, IBF and IBO versions of the fractured heavyweight title.
The IBF and WBO champion added the Ring Magazine belt to his haul, knocking Chagaev down in the second round and opening a cut over the Uzbekistan-born fighter's left eye in the eighth.
Referee Eddie Cotton stopped the fight in the 10th round.
Chagaev, who is the WBA's "champion in recess," did little more than raise a deep bruise under Klitschko's right eye. He was done in by the Ukrainian's height advantage and superior power.
The sellout crowd was the biggest boxing audience in Germany since Max Schmeling knocked out Adolf Heuser in front of 70,000 people in Stuttgart in 1939.
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany -- Wladimir Klitschko again showed his dominance of the heavyweight division, stopping Ruslan Chagaev in a hastily put together title fight Saturday night before 61,000 fans at a German soccer stadium.
Wladimir Klitschko captured the vacant Ring magazine heavyweight title with a TKO over Ruslan Chagaev. The 6-foot-6 ½ Klitschko used his piston-like left jab and strong straight right to dominate his 6-foot-1 opponent. The 33-year old Klitschko used his superior reach (81-74) to keep his overmatched opponent on the end of his lefts and straight rights. Chagaev was an easy target for the Ukrainian and could never get inside to score effectively. Klitschko poured it on in the ninth round, scoring with several straight rights on the fading Chagaev. American referee Eddie Cotton went to Chagaev's corner after the ninth and the fight was called off. Klitschko raised his record to 53-3 (47 KOs) while Chagaev fell to 25-1-1 (17 KOs). Besides winning the vacant Ring Magazine title, Klitschko retained his WBO, IBF and IBO versions of the fractured heavyweight title.
The IBF and WBO champion added the Ring Magazine belt to his haul, knocking Chagaev down in the second round and opening a cut over the Uzbekistan-born fighter's left eye in the eighth.
Referee Eddie Cotton stopped the fight in the 10th round.
Chagaev, who is the WBA's "champion in recess," did little more than raise a deep bruise under Klitschko's right eye. He was done in by the Ukrainian's height advantage and superior power.
The sellout crowd was the biggest boxing audience in Germany since Max Schmeling knocked out Adolf Heuser in front of 70,000 people in Stuttgart in 1939.