Wladimir Klitschko retained his WBO, IBO and IBF world heavyweight championship titles when he knocked out Samuel Peter of Nigeria on Saturday.
The Ukrainian floored his opponent in the 10th round with a flurry of punches to the head of the “Nigerian Nightmare” to claim his 55th win in 58 fights and the 49th by knockout.
Peter keeled over backward and never looked like making the count as the fight came to a dramatic end.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Until then, the Nigerian had frustrated Klitschko and the 40,000 crowd at the Eintracht Frankfurt soccer arena without staking a real claim for the titles.
Peter had never been counted out before.
“Samuel Peter is a very aggressive boxer. I have great respect for him and he fought to the last punch,” said Klitschko, 34, in the ringside interview.
Klitschko controlled the fight from the second round, hurting the Nigerian with some left-right combinations.
He struck Peter with a vicious uppercut in the sixth round, by which time the Nigerian already had a swollen right eye.
Klitschko used his jab to wear down his opponent and by the ninth round, his win looked only a matter of time.
Klitschko finished the fight with one minute and 22 seconds of the 10th round remaining.
■GAMBOA VS SALIDO
AFP, LAS VEGAS
World Boxing Association featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa outpointed Orlando Salido to take the International Boxing Federation belt on Saturday.
The Cuban-born, Miami-based Gamboa improved to 19-0.
The three ringside judges unanimously gave the fight to Gamboa by scores of 116-109, 114-109 and 115-109.
Mexico’s Salido would have lost his title no matter the outcome after weighing in on Saturday at 138 pounds after weighing 126 pounds on Friday.
Had he won, the title would have become vacant.
■MOLITOR VS BOOTH
AP, SUNDERLAND, England
Steve Molitor of Canada retained his IBF super bantamweight title with a majority decision against English challenger Jason Booth on Saturday.
Molitor was favored by two judges 116-113 and 116-112, while the third called it even.
“He came with a good game plan,” Molitor told Sky Sports.
“He was more awkward than I thought. He didn’t hit hard, but he was fast and creative,” he said.
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