GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany -- Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine defended his WBC heavyweight championship belt Saturday night with a 10th-round knockout of Albert Sosnowski of Poland.

Klitschko improved his record to 40-2 (38 KOs) after the ring referee called the 12-round bout following a left-right combination to Sosnowski's head at the 2 minute, 30 second mark of the 10th round.  Read on for more…

The Warsaw native, looking to become the first Polish heavyweight world champion, was gradually worn down by the taller and heavier Klitschko and dropped to 45-3-1 (27 KOs).

"I am very happy to have defended my title. I had really good preparation and was in top form," said the 38-year-old Klitschko, who had his brother, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion Wladimir, in his corner.

"I saw that he is still young and made some mistakes and I took advantage of them."

The 31-year-old Sosnowski called Klitschko "a great fighter."

"I gave everything I had today," he said. "But he kept pressuring me and I was tired. I could have kept boxing but in the next round I would have lost probably."

Klitschko said afterward that he would like to fight either WBA title holder David Haye or Nikolai Valuev.

The location of the fight had special meaning for Klitschko as it took place at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, home of the German Bundesliga football club Schalke, of which Klitschko has been a member since 2001.

The former European champion Sosnowski worked hard the first two rounds to keep Klitschko from attempting his right and relying on his left.

The Pole could not land many shots to the body of the champion, who had about 5 inches and 20 pounds on Sosnowski.

The challenger had a strong third round with three decent connections with the left to Klitschko's head.

Klitschko began beating down Sosnowski in the fifth round with three strong lefts to the head. And the Pole had his first bloody nose after five rounds.

Sosnowski stumbled for the first time in the sixth after a left hook by Klitschko, though the challenger was able to land a powerful left a round later.

The champion took over in the ninth with a combination and a big right to the head before finally landing the finishing left-right flurry.
 

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