Mannheim, Germany, Ukraine’s Vladimir Klitschko defeated Italian Francesco Pianeta with a sixth- round stoppage victory to retain his WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles.
The 37- year- old Ukrainian, was never troubled during the fight as he made the 14th defence of his belt in his second stint as champion.
Pianeta had been unbeaten in his previous 29 professional fights but was floored in the fourth and fifth rounds.
Klitschko finished the contest in brutal style in the following round.
Klitschko’s last defeat was in May 2004 when he suffered a fifth- round stoppage against American Lamon Brewster. He has now 60 of his 63 fights.
The 28- year- old Pianeta was obviously outclassed by his opponent; he took a lot of punishment but stayed in the contest for six rounds.
Klitschko floored his opponent with a straight right hand in the fourth and then again a round later when he landed with a left hook. But a powerful combination in the sixth round sent Pianeta down again and, although he got up, referee Ernest Sharif stopped the contest.
The Ukrainian could now fight unbeaten Russian Alexander Povetkin later this year.
Before the fight, Pianeta recovered from a testicular cancer in 2010 and Klitschko applauded his opponent, saying, “After the battle he has had against cancer he deserves respect.
“He tried everything to hit me, if he had landed one his big punches, I would have got up.”
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