Klitschko Stops Williams as a Boxing Fairytale Ends

In heavyweight boxing action, Vitali Klitschko stopped Danny Williams tonight in Las Vegas to retain his WBC heavyweight title. Referee Jay Nady waved the fight off at 1:26 of the eighth round.

Williams barely escaped the first round after Klitschko had him down and hurt early.

Williams said: “He was a lot more awkward than I thought and it was harder than I thought it was going to be. I got cut in the first round and it became harder and harder to see his punches.  I kept fighting because it was the heavyweight championship of the world but he was just too good.”

Nady took a close look at Williams in a seventh round, but it was finally all over in the eighth when Williams hit the canvas for the fourth time and was wisely prevented from continuing by Nady despite rising again.

Vitali Klitschko claimed it was his finest performance to date.

“This was the best fight of my career and I was surprised Danny was able to take so many punches. He has a strong chin and he caught me good a couple of times.”

“My strategy was to use my reach because I knew he would try to get close to me, so I stayed outside. I thought the fight would have been stopped a little earlier.”

Undercard Action

Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto set the stage for a showdown with Kostya Tszyu next year when he demolished American Randall Bailey with another devastating performance on Saturday. In a fight fought at the 140 lb. limit, Cotto came in weighing a reported 155 lbs.

Cotto knocked Bailey down 3 times in total. The fight was stopped after the last knockdown, which took place in the 6th round.