Klitschko Crushes Austin With Ease

Looking on the bright side, at least you didn't have to pony up pay-per-view money to see it.

Wladimir Klitschko eradicated overmatched Ray Austin, the mandatory challenger per ruling of the IBF–the sanctioning body which somehow determined that he was the top heavyweight in their ratings ladder–with four left hooks in the second round in Manheim, Germany on Saturday afternoon.

Britney Spears spent more time and energy fighting off a trip to rehab than Austin expended against Klitschko, who sized up the 36-year-old Ohioan in the first round, and finished the job at 1:23 of the second. Klitschko wanted a stiffer test than Austin, who was not known as a top tier fighter, after losing and drawing with assorted journeymen types since turning pro in 1998. All perceived this bout to be easy pickings for Klitschko, but few thought it would be this simple. Austin was moving to his right to evade Klitschko, but the large Ukrainian cut him off, and tossed a leaping, sweeping left hook that damaged the challenger. He followed that with four left hooks, three of which landed, to finish the job.

The first one was really all that was needed, as Austin's focus went fuzzy then. He dropped face-first to the canvas, and attempted to rise. He made it up at 9.5 seconds, but the referee Eddie Cotton noted that he looked groggy and unstable. Klitschko never even had to take his right hand out of his holster. The winner moves to 47-3, with 43 KOs, while Austin drops to 24-3-4.