Lamon Brewster put a stunning end to the heavyweight hopes of one half of the Klitschko brother team.
Brewster came off the canvas Saturday night to land a pair of smashing left hooks and turn the fight around in the fifth round, then won in bizarre fashion after the bell sounded to end the round when referee Robert Byrd waved the fight to an end.
PHOTO: AP
Wladimir Klitschko, the 2m-tall Ukrainian who was dominating the fight when he got caught midway through the fifth round with the left hooks, was knocked out for the second time in his last four fights. He was taken to a hospital for a precautionary brain scan on the advice of ring doctor Margaret Goodman.
"It was kill or be killed," said Brewster, who was fighting for the first time in 13 months and was a 9-1 underdog on the day of the fight.
In the other fight on the card, Cory Spinks won a unanimous decision over Zab Judah to keep his 147-pound titles.
Brewster won the fringe WBO title and put himself in the heavyweight picture, while Klitschko might have to think about whether he will continue to fight. Klitschko's trainer said last month he would advise him to retire if he lost again.
Klitschko's brother, Vitali, was in the corner watching Wladimir dominate until the fateful fifth round. Vitali fights Corrie Sanders for the WBC heavyweight title in two weeks.
Byrd stopped the fight after Klitschko had gone down following an exchange with Brewster that lasted after the bell. Klitschko stumbled into the center of the ring and went down, but it wasn't ruled a knockdown because the bell had already sounded.
Klitschko, though, had trouble getting up, getting to his knees and then haltingly to his feet. Byrd stopped the fight as Klitschko stumbled to his corner, giving Brewster the win by TKO at 3:00 of the fifth round.
Klitschko was winning the fight easily with his punishing left jab and knocked Brewster to the canvas in the fourth round with a vicious right hand. He appeared close to being able to stop Brewster, but Brewster managed to get through the round, with both fighters falling on the canvas after tangling in Brewster's corner at the end of the round.
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