BOXING : Breland Stops Japanese Challenger in 4

Champion Mark Breland of the United States battered Japan’s Fujio Ozaki and stopped him in the fourth round Sunday, retaining his World Boxing Assn. welterweight title.

There were no knockdowns, but with Ozaki injured above his right eye, referee Julio Cesar Alvarado of Panama lifted Breland’s hand at 35 seconds of the fourth round of the scheduled 12-round bout.

It was Breland’s third defense of the title he won by knocking out Lee Seung-soon of South Korea in the first round in February.

From the opening round, the 26-year-old Breland, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist from Brooklyn, N.Y., landed speedy left jabs and followed up with hard rights.

Using his footwork and a height advantage of 6-foot-1 1/2 to 5-foot-8 1/2, Breland kept his distance while scoring with rights to the face. Ozaki, 28, defended by clinching and sidestepping.

Ozaki, making his second attempt at the world title, came out aggressively in the third round, often landing rights to Breland’s face.

Breland fought back with speedy combinations--left jabs, uppercuts and straight rights.

Breland’s punches opened a cut above Ozaki’s eye later in the third. The referee stopped the fight briefly so a doctor could examine the eye, then allowed the fighters to continue.

Breland continued to hit Ozaki with left jabs and straight rights to the face.

In the fourth round, the referee stopped the fight for the final time as bleeding continued from Ozaki’s cut. After consulting with the doctor, he lifted Breland’s hand in victory before the capacity crowd of 1,800.

Breland weighed 150 pounds, and Ozaki 146.