In a result that surprises absolutely no one on earth, Vitali Klitschko (40-2, 38 KO) dominated and easily dispatched of Albert Sosnowski (45-3-1, 27 KO) in a blatant mismatch today in Germany. Klitschko retains his WBC belt.

It was no test for Klitschko, as everyone on earth expected. Sosnowski, who was gifted a short run as European heavyweight titlist, never had a chance from the minute this garbage fight was signed, a disappointing fight from Vitali after he showed great guts taking on legitimate contenders last year. Even fighting Kevin Johnson was better than this. Vitali did his best to sell Sosnowski as an opponent, but nobody was buying it. This was time wasted. If you know a single solitary thing about the heavyweight division, you know Sosnowski could not win this fight without Vitali Klitschko passing out in the middle of the ring.

The undercard featured Detroit's Johnathon Banks, who is featuring regularly on Klitschko brother cards, drawing with veteran journeyman Jason Gavern. Banks (24-1-1, 17 KO) won one card 115-111, and drew 113-113 on the other two. Gavern (19-7-4, 8 KO) now has two straight surprising results, as he upset Manuel Quezada in April.

Other Results

Willie Casey (8-0, 5 KO) won the super bantamweight edition of Prizefighter at York Hall. Casey, 28, was the late substitute for Wayne McCullough, who pulled out earlier this week. Goes to show you never can tell.

Librado Andrade stopped Eric Lucas in a damn good fight last night on Friday Night Fights. To be honest, I don't see it as much of a win for Andrade (29-3, 22 KO), as Lucas (39-8-3, 15 KO) is a light hitter who turned 39 today and had fought just once since 2006, and that bout came in December. There was never any doubt, I don't think, that Andrade would pretty much hammer his way past Lucas, but the veteran was all fire and spirit out there, and gave it perhaps his last best shot.

Shannon Briggs (51-5-1, 45 KO) stopped Rob Calloway (70-12-2, 57 KO) in the first round last night in Norfolk. It's probably time for Calloway, 40, to really go ahead and hang them up. He's not a heavyweight, and was giving up 54 pounds in this fight to Briggs, who's washed up. Briggs should retire, too, but he won't. He'll keep talking about money fights and taking bouts like this one instead. On the same card, Daniel Judah was stopped in five by a 34-year-old named Adam Seal (8-1, 7 KO). Judah is shot.

Gary Sykes (16-0, 4 KO) retained his British super featherweight title in Huddersfield with a wide decision over Kevin O'Hara.

Souleymane M'baye picked up the interim WBA welterweight belt over Antonin Decarie in France. The full belt, which Shane Mosley was recently stripped of, is held by Vyacheslav Senchenko. Brick noted it when the Mosley stripping became official, but it really is bizarre, sad and deplorable that in the most talked-about and top-heavy division in boxing, two of the four alphabet straps are held by Jan Zaveck and Vyacheslav Senchenko, a pair of fighters who are fringe top ten at best.

I'll be out until Monday, so everyone have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.

I guess Klitschko.com turned out to not be such a great PPV venture in the United States after all.

Just over a month after Team Klitschko decided to host the Wladimir Klitschko-Eddie Chambers fight online instead of having it distributed in the States by Integrated Sports or any other independent pay-per-view carrier, the decision has been made to go that exact route for the May 29 fight between Vitali Klitschko and Albert Sosnowski.

The event will be priced at $24.95, which is about as affordable as it gets. Which is good, because this is an awful mismatch and a fight that really shouldn't be happening. It is, with all due respect to Vitali, the easiest fight that Klitschko could have found where he had a reason why he's doing it.

As in, "Hey Vitali, why are you fighting this freakin' guy?" And Vitali could reply, "He's European heavyweight champion!" That title is now held by Audley Harrison, and was nearly picked up by the very faded Michael Sprott.

I have ordered some crap in my time. Fights I knew, whether I'd admit it or not, would be bad. Valuev-Holyfield, Valuev-Haye, Hopkins-Jones II, etc. But I think this is one I won't pay $25 to see. They won't have a useful undercard (Johnathon Banks is tentatively scheduled to take on someone faded or no good) and Vitali-Sosnowski just has zero intrigue. Hopkins-Jones was at least a rematch that deep down I had to see, as a longtime fan and admirer of both. Valuev-Haye had Haye, who I find very interesting. Valuev-Holyfield was, in theory, a last-ditch shot for Evander in a freak show fight.

But this is just Vitali Klitschko taking an easy stay-busy fight while he waits for someone else to come calling. Sosnowski has no chance. Vitali is even having trouble finding ways to categorize this fight as one worth watching.

"I watched Sosnowski's fights and must admit that he is a very experienced, quick and tough opponent," Klitschko says in the press release. "He will do anything to get my belt but I promise that this is not going to happen."

The language is interesting here. He has to "admit" that Sosnowski is "very experienced." Sosnowski is really neither quick nor particularly tough, as Zuri Lawrence (the guy with no knockouts) nearly knocked him out. Compared to Vitali, he is pretty small, so that might give the illusion of quickness, but he's not. Sosnowski won the European title against Paolo Vidoz, one of those gift fights for whoever wound up winning. Vidoz hasn't beaten anyone worth their salt in about five years and Sosnowski was coming off a draw with Francesco Pianeta.

At least Sosnowski isn't jivin'. "This is a dream come true," he said. He goes on to talk about how he's going to surprise everyone (he won't), but I like leaving it at that. It's definitely a dream.

Most interestingly, this means that Integrated will present two pay-per-views on the same date, as that night they'll be the distributor for the Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Roman Martinez double-header from Puerto Rico.

With boxing just about to really kick into full swing for 2010, I'm checking my watch every other day or so for the time someone at ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Comedy Central, ET Online or the famed site Old Man Who Used to Like Marciano and Hasn't Seen Boxing in 11 Years to chime in and notice, "HEY!"

"You know what would help?!"

"Heavyweights!"

"People always liked heavyweights before."

"With heavyweights, yada yada, Marciano and Louis and Ali and Frazier and Foreman and Holmes and Tyson and Jersey Joe and I guess Holyfield, too, why not?!"

Personally, I think the sport of boxing does just fine without a dominant heavyweight division, but I also don't deny that of course the game could benefit from a headline-grabbing big man. I also don't deny that without the lettuce, a BLT is just a BT.

For those who might not pay close attention, here are some notable heavyweight fights coming your way. I figure after Pacquiao-Clottey one of those "Hey! The heavyweight division is dead!" articles will pop up, so let's burn this out now.

Friday, March 12: Samuel Peter (33-3, 26 KO) v. Nagy Aguilera (15-2, 10 KO)

The night before the big Pacquiao-Clottey show in Arlington, Top Rank will put an appetizer onto the table about a half hour up the road at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine. Sam Peter is still best-known for knocking down Wladimir Klitschko three times in a 2005 loss, and has in a lot of ways become a hype job because of that performance, despite the constant harping on Klitschko for having a glass jaw that follows the world champion around to this day. If Klitschko's chin is so bad, what's the big deal about Peter knocking him down?

That was the last time Wladimir looked so much as vulnerable, too. Since then, Peter has stopped four guys, and three of them were bums. The fourth, Oleg Maskaev, was stopped in under two minutes by Nagy Aguilera in his last fight. Oleg, for the record, recently said he plans to box on at age 41, and considering how giddy the WBC has proven to be to hand him mandatory challenger positions before, why not, I suppose.

Anyway, this could be a decent sleeper fight if all goes right. Since signing with Top Rank after losing two straight to Vitali Klitschko and Eddie Chambers, Peter has been slowly rebuilding his career. He's run over Marcus McGee, Ronald Bellamy and the free-moving land mass that is Gabe Brown in his last three. Though not a world-beater, Aguilera could be a fair step back up the ladder in terms of competition.

Most likely, though, he isn't, and Peter will blast him out without much trouble. Aguilera's only credible win is over Maskaev, who is really old and never took a punch all that well, and was caught cold.

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If this is indeed Vitali Klitschko's final year as an active boxer, he's sure starting with a whimper. After talks with Nikolai Valuev fell apart and a deal with Odlanier Solis apparently couldn't be reached, WBC titlist Klitschko (39-2, 37 KO) has agreed to a fight with European titleholder Albert Sosnowski (45-2-1, 27 KO). They will meet May 29 in Germany.

Sosnowski was scheduled to face Audley Harrison in London on April 9, but has pulled out of that fight for the chance at bigger money and obviously greater glory against Klitschko.

Before anyone starts considering whether or not the 31-year-old Pole has a chance against Vitali, let me deflate that balloon quickly. We're talking about a fighter in Sosnowski who was shut out over eight rounds two years ago against Zuri Lawrence, the heavyweight oddity best known for his stunning record (24-15-4, 0 KO). Sosnowski was routed by Lawrence, who had in his previous two fights been knocked out by the shell of Hasim Rahman and then decisioned by non-prospect Darrel Madison. After Sosnowski, Lawrence was knocked out by Jason Estrada, another guy who can't punch.

Said Sosnowski of the opportunity, "A dream comes true. Because of the Harrison fight I am already in training and suddenly comes the once-in-a-lifetime chance to fight Klitschko. I want to thank him and his team to give me that opportunity which I will definitely take. For me, Klitschko is already over the hill. I know that I am the underdog for everybody, but I tell you, Klitschko will regret that he picked me. Many Polish and Germans with Polish roots live in the Gelsenkirchen area and I hope that they will support me. I will be the first Polish heavyweight champion of the world!"

Well, he's not lacking for enthusiasm. We can give him that.

Klitschko's biggest problem here is a win over Sosnowski adds absolutely nothing to his legacy, to his current standing, to anything. It just keeps him busy, but that's also sort of important when you're 38 with a balky back and are trying to secure a fight with David Haye later in the year. The last thing Klitschko would need going into a Haye fight is heavy rust or his body being off.

It is what it is, and I can't call it anything more than that. It's nothing but a tune-up. It's a nice opportunity for Sosnowski, and the fight could make OK money. Klitschko is a big draw in Germany, and Polish fight fans are very dedicated. Sosnowski isn't exactly Tomasz Adamek or Andrew Golota in name (or talent), but he's getting a shot at a major title.

If you're wondering what becomes of Audley Harrison, no word yet.