Klitschko defends heavyweight title

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STUTTGART, Mar 22 (AFP): World heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko defended his WBC title with a ninth round knockout win over Cuban exile Juan Carlos Gomez here Saturday.
It was Klitschko's 36th knockout, and his 37th victory, to maintain his impressive record as challenger Gomez struggled to impose himself on the champion and was out-classed on the way to the second defeat of his career.
"He was a hard opponent, I have known him for a long time," said Klitschko, who used to spar against the Cuban.
"I was a bit hectic against him, he frustrated me with his blocks," added the Ukrainian whose younger brother Vladimir holds the IBF, IBO and WBO crowns.
The knockout after one minute 49 seconds of the ninth round could have come much sooner as Gomez struggled to match the champion from the sixth round on.
Having beaten Samuel Peter in Berlin last October to win back the WBC heavyweight title he lost to Lennox Lewis, this was Klitschko's first defence of the belt and he encountered few problems.
His 35-year-old opponent, who now lives in Hamburg, seemed determined to frustrate Klitschko by constantly swatting away his punches and thwarting the champion's efforts to land clean punches which was a feature of the early rounds.