Wladimir Klitschko defends his WBA, IBF and WBO Heavyweight titles against Alex Leapai in a complete mismatch. Leapai goes down in the opening round on a glancing left hook before taking more serious punishment from Klitschko for the next several rounds. Klitschko folds Leapai up again in the fifth round after four unanswered straight right hands. The brave challenger beats the count, but Klitschko sends him crashing into the ropes with another straight right. This time, Leapai fails to beat the count of Referee Eddie Cotton.

Can't Stop: Wladimir Klitschko vs Alex Leapai

Klitschko proves to be too big for Povetkin to manage as the Russian continually pushes his full body weight on top of Povetkin's head to wear him down. Povetkin is dropped four times in the bout, and Klitschko wins an ugly unanimous decision.

Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alexander Povetkin

Klitschko wins Euro heavyweight title
Associated Press
COLOGNE, Germany -- Vladimir Klitschko beat up Axel Schulz for eight one-sided rounds Saturday night to gain the vacant European heavyweight championship.
The 6-foot-8 Ukrainian dealt Schulz fierce punishment throughout the fight and had the German dangling helplessly on the ropes when the bout was stopped with 18 seconds left in the eighth round.
Klitschko, the 1996 Olympic super heavyweight champion, caught Schulz with a straight left earlier in the eighth, sending him to the canvas for the first time in his career.
Klitschko's record improved to 29-1 with 27 knockouts.
Schulz, whose record dropped to 26-4-1 with one no-contest, didn't win a round and he didn't protest at having the fight stopped.
"It didn't make any sense anymore," Schulz said. "He had already hit me hard the last couple of rounds."
The 30-year-old Schulz had turned in credible performances in losing title bouts to George Foreman, Michael Moorer and Frans Botha.
But the 23-year-old Klitschko, the younger brother of WBO champion Vitali Klitschko, dissected Schulz from the opening seconds of the fight with a left jab that visibly snapped his head back.
A game Schulz, who took one shot after another, had the 18,500 spectators roaring by coming back slugging every time the taller Klitschko sent him into the ropes with hard combinations.
Klitschko, however, was so dominant the only drama was to see how much punishment Schulz could absorb or if he would be seriously hurt.

Can't Stop: Wladimir Klitschko vs Alex Leapai

Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alexander Povetkin

Wladimir Klitschko vs Axel Schulz

On this Day