Klitschko Win Sets Up Holyfield Fight
Vladimir Klitschko knocked out the previously undefeated American Calvin Brock in the seventh round at New York's Madison Square Garden to retain his IBF version of the world heavyweight title.
The 30-year-old Ukrainian dominated the fight behind his jab on Saturday night before opening up after the sixth round when he suffered a bad cut over the left eye from an unintentional head butt. A right hand in the seventh sent Brock falling face-first to the canvas and the contest was stopped after two minutes and 10 seconds of the round.
The win for Klitschko could set up a defence in the new year against the 44-year-old former champion Evander Holyfield, who continued his comeback with a win on Friday night when he out-pointed the Puerto Rican Fres Oquendo in San Antonio, Texas. Holyfield's promoter Murad Muhammad says he would be prepared to pay Klitschko, the 1996 Olympic super-heavyweight champion, $20m for the fight.
Also on the New York bill, watched by her father Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali continued her career with a fourth-round stoppage victory over her fellow American Shelley Burton to retain the WBC women's super-middleweight title. Ali, who had complained angrily at the decision of the American television network HBO not to show her fight, has now won all 23 of her contests as a professional.
Evoking memories of the tide of emotional support that helped sweep Barry McGuigan to a world title, the undefeated Irish rising star Bernard Dunne moved closer to his own world-title shot when he outpointed Newark's Esham Pickering to win the vacant European super-bantamweight title before a 7,000 crowd at the sold-out Point Depot in Dublin.
The 26-year-old Dubliner Dunne may now be steered to a challenge against the IBF super-bantamweight champion, Steve Molitor of Canada, who won the title on Friday night when he stopped Hartlepool's Michael Hunter in five rounds.