Klitschko Hammers Byrd

MANNHEIM, GERMANY - Rule number one: when your opponent outweighs you by 40 pounds, it would be best not to test his power.

Chris Byrd must have forgotten rule number one.

Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko easily demolished reigning champion from the U.S. Chris Byrd to win the IBF heavyweight title in a offensive masterpiece Saturday night.

Klitschko's powerful right cross finished off the American 41 seconds into the seventh round. It was the second time Byrd was floored in the fight.

The rematch was similar to their first encounter in October 2001. Byrd also lost that bout, although he survived two knockdowns on his way to losing on a decision.

This time around Klitschko, 30, finished off Byrd early.

In the fifth round, Byrd climbed to his feet after being knocked down, then withstood a barrage of shots. He took a beating for more than a minute until Klitschko backed off. Byrd waved his gloves at Klitschko, telling his opponent to come at him.

"He's a fighter with a big, big heart," Klitschko said. "But he provoked me."

Byrd, 35, had made four successful defences of the belt he won from Evander Holyfield in 2002.

"I never hit him, not the way he hit me," Byrd said.

Byrd was bleeding profusely from a cut above his left eye and had swelling around his nose and both eyes.

Now the giant Ukrainian has turned his attentions to unifying the heavyweight division.

"I want to conquer the other titles in the category, that's for sure," said Klitschko, the 1996 Olympic champion.

The victory means that three of the four heavyweight world titles are now in the hands of eastern European fighters, with Serguei Lyakhovich of Belarus holding the WBO version and Russian Nikolay Valuev, who was in the stands, the WBA champion. A fourth former Soviet fighter, Oleg Maskaev of Kazakhstan is due to tackle American Hasim Rahman for the WBC title.

After beating Byrd in 2000, Klitschko defended the WBO title five times but lost the belt in two rounds to journeyman South African Corrie Sanders in 2003 -- who was then beaten in eight rounds by Klitschko's brother Vitali in his next fight.

Two fights later Klitschko suffered a stunning collapse in a clash with Lamon Brewster for the vacant WBO belt, appearing to pass out in the ring after a fifth round knockdown, despite having dominated the first four rounds.

The two defeats by Sanders and Brewster led many to question his ability to take a punch and his stamina.

"The opinion from outside? I have no chin, no balls, no stamina, no this and that, it hurts pretty bad, but I am thankful for all the critique I have had because it's all motivation," he said. "I have to believe in myself and even against Byrd, I heard from his corner 'he has no heart, come on, keep pushing him' -just those words made me mad. However, in the ring you can have no emotions, you cannot get mad, maybe it was the one mistake I made."

The opening exchanges of yesterday's fight were cagey, although Klitschko clearly looked to dominate his opponent, six inches shorter and 12.5kg lighter than him, with a punishing rangy jab and quick left-right combinations that regularly found their way through Byrd's defence.

Klitschko had assumed total domination by the time another powerful left-right combination sent Byrd crashing down to the canvas in the fifth.

The challenger kept battering Byrd through the sixth and seventh rounds until a stiff right had his opponent reeling. He cuffed Byrd with a left hook then another left-right saw him crumple to the floor.

Bravely, Byrd rose again but he was clearly disoriented and his face was a mess.

The referee mercifully called a halt to proceedings, making the chess playing doctor a two-time world champion.

Klitschko's record moved to 43 wins, with 41 knock-outs, and three defeats while Byrd fell to 40 wins against three defeats -- two of those coming against Klitschko.

"He's the best heavyweight today and is well on the way to becoming one of the all-time great heavyweights," Emanuel Steward, Klitschko's trainer, said. "He was the one I always told Lennox (Lewis) to look out for on the way up."

Sonny Banerjee
Editor-in-chief

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.