KLITSCHKO RETAINS TITLE

Calvin Brock's journey to become the heavyweight champion took a side trip to the mat this evening, falling victim to a bone-crunching right hook by Wladimir Klitschko 2:10 into the seventh round. While he beat the 10 count, Brock clearly didn't have enough in him to convince referee Wayne Kelley, who stopped the fight.
The boxing banker seemed a little wobbly on his feet early in the fight, stumbling several times to the matt in an awkward display. He seemed unsure of his strategy and how to handle the aggressive Klitschko, who maintained a steady attack and left hand jab throughout the fight.

It wasn't until the fifth round, when the left hand made way for the right, that Klitschko's dominance was apparent. The champion had worked a steady and effective jab throughout the fight, but had yet to place a convincing power punch and had hardly let go of his right. Meanwhile Brock was finding a better rhythm than the first few rounds, slipping underneath Klitschko's jab and working his body with loud hooks and straight jabs. As early as the third round Klitschko had large red welts on his torso, but Brock's consistent approach was showing holes.

As Napoleon says "You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war." Brock, by doggedly pursuing the same body blow jabs showed Klitschko all of his art, and the Kazakhstan born Ukrainian finally realized that the opening he was waiting for had been there all night.

"I knew it was over there," he said. "I should have tried that earlier, but it took me time to get my distance and rhythm."

First a sharp left hand knocked a slowing Brock back and then a thundering right sent Brock spiraling face first into the canvas. Though Klitschko was winning on the cards up until that moment, it had been a challenging fight for the champion.

"He was a good defensive fighter," Klitschko said of Brock, whose unbeaten record is now a thing of the past.

"He had a better jab than I thought he did. He was very strong," Brock said. Brock presented himself as a challenge to the champion, and against a faster fighter, Klitschko may have problems if a challenger can avoid his jabs. With an interesting corral of Heavyweight belt holders, it will be sooner than later that Klitschko finds himself either facing one time opponent to be Shannon Briggs, giant Nikolai Valuev, or the second Cinderella Man of the Year, Oleg Maskeav.