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If today was Vitali Klitschko's farewell fight, then the first line here is predictable as all hell: The career ends not with a bang, but a mismatched whimper.
Klitschko improved to 45-2 with the 41st stoppage win of his pro career by easily routing overmatched challenger Manuel Charr over four rounds, getting the duke when the fight was stopped due to a cut.
To say that Charr (21-1, 11 KO) was no match for Klitschko would be akin to saying that Jean-Marc Mormeck was no match for little bro Wladimir. Charr, as anyone sane expected, looked as if he had no real business in the ring with Vitali, and didn't fight like he wanted to be there, making his post-stoppage anger hard to understand beyond just understanding that he wishes he'd won. He didn't really try to win. Whatever his game plan was, it was silly.
Charr went down in the second round, which may not have been a legitimate knockdown, but it doesn't much matter. In the end, it was barely even a legitimate sporting contest.
Undercard Results
(Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Magomed Abdusalamov survived a first round knockdown at the hands of 603-year-old American Jameel McCline, got back to his feet, and stopped McCline on "what must have been" a short left hand or the like in the second round. I maintain my serious reservations about Abdusalamov's actual quality, but he does have thudding power. Abdusalamov 16-0 (16), McCline 41-13-3 (24).
(Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Vyacheslav Glazkov wasn't exactly inspiring or exciting, but he got the job done against veteran also-ran Konstantin Airich in another heavyweight fight, winning by decision. Scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-91. Glazkov 13-0 (9), Airich 23-7-2 (17).