Brewster Staggers Klitschko in Upset

He had the bigger frame. He had the bigger name. He had the oddsmakers on his side. He had the dream of sharing the heavyweight title with his brother. And through four rounds of Saturday night’s World Boxing Organization heavyweight title fight, Wladimir Klitschko had put together a dominating performance against Lamon Brewster.

None of it mattered, however. Because Klitschko also turned out to have a glass jaw.

Brewster, a Los Angeles fighter with a dream of his own, pulled off a major upset at the Mandalay Bay Events Center by knocking Klitschko down in the fifth round and then winning the vacant title when referee Robert Byrd stopped the match at the end of that round.

“It was kill or be killed,” said Brewster (30-2, 27 knockouts), who had been knocked down in the previous round. He had dedicated the fight to long-time trainer Bill Slayton, who died from cancer last October.

Klitschko (42-3, 39), who had a four-inch height advantage and 17-pound weight advantage, had blistered Brewster, a 3-1 underdog, with a devastating jab through the first four rounds, bloodying his face.

But in the fifth, Brewster connected with a pair of left hands that left Klitschko helpless on the ropes. Byrd gave Klitschko a standing eight-count, ruling that only the ropes had prevented him from going down.

When the bell sounded to end the round, Klitschko was back on the ropes. With the final echo of that bell still ringing in his ears, Klitschko fell to the canvas from the accumulation of punishment Brewster had dished out.

Byrd tried to help Klitschko up. But when Klitschko staggered to his feet, Byrd looked in his eyes and decided the fighter had had enough.

Klitschko, whose brother Vitali will fight for the World Boxing Council heavyweight crown against Corrie Sanders on April 24 at Staples Center, did not talk to the media before being taken to a nearby hospital for observation.

“I called it because [Klitschko] couldn’t take care of himself,” Byrd said. “I tried to get a response out of him, but there wasn’t one. I have never stopped a fight like that [between rounds] before.”

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Cory Spinks would appear to have all the ingredients necessary to be one of boxing’s biggest names. He has the name recognition with both his father, Leon, and uncle, Michael, having been champions. He has his name on three title belts as the reigning welterweight champ of the WBC, World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation.

And Saturday night, in the semi-main event, Cory (33-2, 10) defended those titles with a unanimous decision over Zab Judah (30-2, one no-contest, 22).

“I beat a super fighter tonight,” Spinks said. “If I don’t get credit now, I don’t know what I have to do.”

Judge Doug Tucker scored the fight 116-111 and judges Chuck Giampa and Dave Moretti each gave it to Spinks, 114-112. The Times scored it 115-112 for Spinks.

Spinks was clearly the superior fighter in a match that lacked much action until the last two rounds. Then the crowd woke up when Judah went down in the 11th round. He got up and floored Spinks in the closing seconds of the 12th.

All Spinks had to do to win the fight was to get up, and that he did.

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In an earlier match, Lakva Sim (19-3-1, 16) of Mongolia won the vacant WBA lightweight championship by beating Miguel Callist (17-4-1 13) of Panama on a fifth-round TKO. The fight was stopped at the 2:20 mark of the round by referee Tony Gibson after Callist had previously been knocked down in that round.