Klitschko beats Brewster by TKO

Cologne, Germany:

Vladimir Klitschko beat Lamon Brewster with a technical knockout after six rounds to successfully defend his IBF and IBO heavyweight titles on Saturday and make up for one of the most painful losses of his career.

"I have waited for this fight for three years," Klitschko said. "This was incredibly important for me. Today I could not lose. My confidence was such I simply could not lose."

The Ukrainian clearly dominated the first five rounds, making repeated contact with his strong left jab that largely went unanswered.

Brewster seemed to be standing up to the constant punishment, but two massive left-right combinations in the sixth round rocked the American. Before the seventh could start, Brewster's trainer, Buddy McGirt, flapped his towel and referee Sam Williams called the fight.

"He was the better man tonight. I did my best. I felt prepared but he won fair and square," Brewster said.

Seeing Klitschko gaining momentum and his own fighter rooted to the spot, McGirt told Brewster after the fifth round he was thinking of retiring him. But he gave Brewster one last chance to turn the bout around.

"You could see Wladimir was picking it up. I knew he'd set him up for the kill," McGirt said. "I gave him one more round but I told him I didn't want to see him get hurt. Wladimir was getting more confident so why take a chance with his life?"

Brewster would have continued, but placed his faith in his coach's decision.

"Naturally, I wanted to continue," he said. "I'm a dog. I'll fight until the end. I knew I was having trouble. I was being jabbed and he was outmaneuvering me.

"Buddy said 'You've got a wife and kids, we can always pick this up another day.' So I said OK."

Both trainers said afterward that Klitschko would have knocked him out in the seventh round.