Klitschko retained his belts

On Saturday night, IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko was set to defend his titles against former conqueror Lamon Brewster in front of 17,000 fans at the Köln Arena in Cologne, Germany. Three years ago, Brewster captured the WBO heavyweight title with a shocking fifth round TKO victory over the younger of the Klitschko brothers. Since then, Brewster had three successful title defenses before losing the belt in a heavyweight classic against Sergei Lyakhovich in 2006. The rematch against Klitschko was his first bout since suffering that defeat. On the other side, Klitschko returned with strong wins against Samuel Peter, Chris Byrd (his title winning effort) and Calvin Brock, among others. So after years of waiting, the fans finally got to see the rematch between two of the best heavyweights today.

World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko scored a dominating victory over tough Lamon Brewster in the main event. Brewster's trainer Buddy McGirt halted the action after the sixth round. It was a interesting opening round, as both fighters tried to etablish their game plan. Klitschko used his long jab to keep the distance, while Brewster tried to get on the inside and land some big body punches. It was Klitschko, however, who was more effective in the first. The second was a even better round for Klitschko, as he seemed unable to miss with his excellent jab. But Brewster continued to walk forward, looking for his opportunity. In the middle of the round, the champion landed a left hook followed by a right hand that stunned Brewster a bit. But Klitschko couldn’t seriously hurt his foe. In the third stanza, Klitschko continued to dominate with his jab. Brewster wasn’t able to get on the inside and unleash his best weapon, his left hook. Close to the end of the round, Klitschko scored with some nice right hands but the challenger took them well. Klitschko controlled the fourth with his jab again, although the round was rather slow and nothing noteworthy happened. Round five was a tough one for Brewster, as he was once again kept at bay by Wladimir's jab. Klitschko also mixed it up with his right hand but Brewster showed his heart as he took them and continued to move forward. However, withour any success. The sixth was about the same, as Klitschko’s jab almost always found its target, while the challenger took everything that was thrown at him.

After round six, however, the trainer of Lamon Brewster, Buddy McGirt, decided his fighter had taken enough of a beating and halted the action. Thus, Klitschko was declared the winner by TKO at the end of round six. It was a great performance by Wladimir Klitschko, who impressivly got redemption. Brewster, although soundly beaten, tried his best but was completly unable to put Klitschko in any danger at all. With the victory, Klitschko kept his IBF and IBO belts and moves to 49-3 with 44 KOs. Brewster, suffering his second straight loss, falls to 33-4.