South African Corrie Sanders caused an upset on Saturday night when he beat Wladimir Klitschko on a technical knockout in the second round in Hanover to win the WBO heavyweight championship.
Sanders, who is known to be one of the quickest heavyweights, knocked Klitschko to the canvas twice in first round, but the bell saved the champion before Sanders could put him down for a third time.
Sanders came out at the bell for the second round going for the knockout and had Klitschko in trouble within a few seconds, knocking him down. The referee stopped the fight 25 seconds into the round.
At age 36, Sanders who went into the fight with a 40-2 record with 30 knockouts, knows that he only has a few more fights ahead of him. The victory against Klitschko will certainly have opened a few doors for him.
For Klitschko, it was only the second defeat in 42 fights. Before taking on Sanders, he had defended the WBO heavyweight title successfully five times. At age 26 the dethroned champion still has a long career in front of him and it seems likely that more will be heard of him in the future. – Sapa-DPA