Klitschko KOs Leapai in 5th round

OBERHAUSEN, Germany: Wladimir Klitschko toyed with Alex Leapai and knocked him out in the fifth round to retain his four heavyweight belts on Saturday.
Klitschko, taller with a longer reach, controlled the fight at will, scoring with left jabs and straight rights with hardly any opposition from the Samoan-born Australian.
Leapai went down when he was hit with a left-right combination. He got up but Klitschko put him away for good with 58 seconds left in the fifth.
“Glory to Ukraine,” Klitschko said after his one-sided win.
Klitschko recorded his 53rd KO in 62 wins, with three defeats. Leapai dropped to 30-5, with three draws. In his 25th world championship fight, Klitschko retained his WBA and IBF heavyweight belts, plus the minor WBO and IBO versions.
Leapai, the first Australian challenger in 106 years, never had a chance. The only time he ever got close to the bigger Ukrainian was just before getting floored in the fifth.
He took an eight count in the first round, although he claimed to have slipped.
Leapai’s only chance was to try to get inside, but Klitschko easily stopped him with his effective jab. Leapai appeared to finally hit Klitschko in the fifth but the champion replied with a barrage and put the Australian down. Leapai got up but was clearly shaken, and Klitschko finished him off with a huge right to the jaw.
“It wasn’t easy, my head was in Ukraine and what is going on there. I hope there is no war and people dying. I am proud of my people,” Klitschko said.
Klitschko’s elder brother, Vitali, who has retired from boxing to run for political office in Kiev and who has been one of the leading opposition figures in Ukraine, was in Wladimir’s corner as usual. Vitali’s wife, Natalia, sang the Ukraine national anthem before the fight.
“It was textbook fighting by Wladimir. He did not make a mistake,” Vitali said.
Leapai, a delivery truck driver, said it was time to “go back to the gym.”
“I tried to take the fight to him and it didn’t work. I am all right, I was waiting for my opportunity but he is a champion and a great fighter,” Leapai said.

Keith Thurman, Lucas Matthysse win by stoppage

In Carson, California, Keith Thurman had an unenviable act to follow when Lucas Matthysse and John Molina Jr. put on a bloody 11-round slugfest right before he stepped in the same ring with Julio Diaz.

Although Thurman couldn’t match Matthysse’s pyrotechnics, the rising welterweight still managed a big finish.

Thurman remained unbeaten Saturday night, stopping Diaz after three rounds when Diaz’s corner threw in the towel due to an injured rib.

Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs), nicknamed “One-Time” for his one-punch knockout power, retained his WBA interim welterweight title. He floored Diaz in the second round before delivering the body shot that led Diaz to quit on his stool on a chilly night before the usual energized crowd at the outdoor ring south of Los Angeles.
Although he had a short night, Thurman still demonstrated his formidable skill and power in his seventh fight in less than two years.

“He’s a warrior, but he just couldn’t take the punishment,” Thurman said about Diaz. “No one knows the power of One-Time until they step in the ring with One-Time. We did the work in the gym. How did you think I was able to look this good?“
A left to the temple dropped Diaz, although he stayed on his unsteady feet for a moment before taking a knee and getting up to beat the count. Thurman remembered the punch that evidently injured Diaz’s rib, but thought Diaz (40-10-1) had partially blocked it.

“We were able to put that pain and that hurt on him like we’re supposed to,” Thurman said.

The main event was an anticlimax after a tenacious performance by Matthysse (35-3, 33 KOs), who overcame two early knockdowns and stopped Molina early in the 11th round of the Argentine 140-pound star’s dynamite return to the ring. Matthysse knocked down the bleeding Molina in each of the final three rounds, culminating in a decisive combination.

Matthysse hadn’t fought since injuring his eye and losing a decision to 140-pound champion Danny Garcia last September, but he was right back in destructive form.

“It did take me a few rounds to get going, but I was able to take control of the fight,” Matthysse said. “The knockdowns threw me off a little, but I was able to get my punches in.”

That defeat interrupted the rapid rise of the hard-punching Argentine known as “The Machine,” and he returned with what many expected to be a simple fight against Molina (27-4), a Los Angeles-area fighter who infamously got knocked out in the first round of a title shot in 2012.