World heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko earned the 40th knockout of his career on Saturday when he stopped Polish challenger Tomasz Adamek in the 10th round to defend his WBC belt.
This was the 40-year-old Klitschko’s seventh defense of the WBC belt he won in 2008 against Nigeria’s Samuel Peter and despite a brave effort from Adamek, the champion was rarely threatened.
Having had his first pro bout back in 1999, this was Dr Ironfist’s 40th KO and 43rd victory as he out-classed Adamek and made his trademark big right punish the mandatory challenger.
Photo: EPA
Along with younger brother, Wladimir, the IBF, WBA, IBO and WBO champion, the Ukrainian siblings continue to dominate the heavyweight division.
Despite being six years older, Vitali Klitschko made the most of his physical advantage as he tipped the scales 12kgs heavier and 15cm taller than Adamek, and dominated the opening rounds.
Adamek, a former cruiserweight and light heavyweight world champion, made a tentative start and a heavy right hand at the end of the second sent him tumbling back onto the ropes, but he got back to his feet before the count.
With Wroclaw’s Miejski Stadium set to host matches next year during soccer’s European Championships, Ukrainian Klitschko had few fans amongst the predominantly Polish crowd of just more than 40,000 fans.
Adamek, who had said his speed would “kill” Klitschko, went on the offensive in the fourth and fifth, upping his work rate, but he rocked backward nearly every time Klitschko landed a telling blow.
The Polish fighter had a standing count in the sixth as Adamek was taking numerous punches and was lucky to reach the end of the round.
More punishment followed in the seventh and Adamek switched to damage limitation as Klitschko made his superior reach count.
The crowd roared when the champion was put on the canvas at the end of the eight, but it was only a slip.
Klitschko landed numerous jabs in the ninth as Adamek’s strong chin soaked up plenty of punishment and Italian referee Massimo Barrovecchio finally put the Pole out of his misery midway through the 10th.
The defeat leaves Adamek with 44 victories, 28 knockouts and two defeats, but most of his fights have been at lighter weights.
TITLE CAMPAIGN: The victory sent the Monkeys to the Taiwan Series for the third time in the past four seasons as they seek their first championship since 2019 The stage is set for the Taiwan Series after the Rakuten Monkeys on Monday beat the Uni-President Lions 4-3 in Game 5 of the CPBL Challenger Series in Kaohsiung. The Monkeys, who entered the top of the ninth scoreless, tied the game with a three-run blast by Lin Chih-ping and scored the winning run in the 10th on an RBI single by Lin Li, a three-time batting champion in the CPBL. Both players entered the game as pinch hitters. “The coach told me to stay prepared as a pinch hitter in the later part of the game. My teammates had
The Ministry of Sports on Wednesday night called for the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) to address issues in Taiwanese soccer after national manager Huang Che-ming on Tuesday resigned following Taiwan’s elimination in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Taiwan on Tuesday were thrashed 6-1 by Thailand in their Group D tie at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Taiwan finished with no points, after losing all four of their matches, eliminating them from qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. Huang made his surprise resignation at a post-match news conference, following three losses since he took over the team from English coach Gary White in August. Huang
HIT AND RUN: Toronto manager John Schneider got his wish that his team ‘find some slug in the air out here,’ as the Blue Jays combined to total 611m of homers Tired in Toronto, the Blue Jays slugged in Seattle. Vladimir Guerrero Jr and George Springer on Wednesday woke up the Jays, as Toronto hit five home runs to rebound from an early deficit, routing the Mariners 13-4 and closing to 2-1 in the American League Championship Series (ALCS). Toronto had 18 hits — all within the first three pitches of each at-bat. “If they give us a first pitch, the pitch that we’re looking for, we’re going to attack and we’re going to be aggressive,” Guerrero said. Seattle starter George Kirby gave up eight of the hits. “I wasn’t really executing when they got
For a second straight day, protests by La Liga players against staging a regular-season game in Miami, Florida, in December were censored or not fully broadcast for television audiences. The television feed of Barcelona’s home game against Girona switched right before kickoff to an exterior view of the stadium, which only showed part of the field from a distance. That impeded home audiences from seeing the teams’ players standing still for the first 15 seconds in opposition to La Liga’s plan to hold the Barcelona-Villarreal game across the Atlantic on Dec. 20. The broadcasts of the initial moments after kickoff of the
RSS