Photo credit: Pavel Terekhov – By Eric Thomas: Vitali Klitschko (40-2, 38 KO’s) took out Alberto Sosnowski (45-3-1, 27 KO’s) tonight to capture his 40th victory and move forward hopefully with a big mega fight against either WBA heavyweight champion David Haye or a fight against Ruslan Chagaev. The options, unfortunately, aren’t unlimited for the 38-year-old Vitali Klitschko or his brother IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Vitali, 6’7”, had a five inch height advantage and a 25 pound weight advantage over the 6’2” 224 pound Sosnowski. In the end, Vitali’s superior size was just too much for Sosnowski to overcome.

The Polish heavyweight showed incredible heart by continually coming forward trying to make a fight of it with the bigger Vitali, but he didn’t have the size to match Vitali and ended up running into a lot of hooks, jabs and right hands. Sosnowski was hurt in the 9th and then put away in the 10th. Vitali seemed to be fighting under control for most of the fight, saving up his energy until the later rounds when he began to bombard the smaller Sosnowski with heavy blows. Each time that Vitali would land, the shots had a big effect on Sosnowski, backing him up and causing him to freeze in his tracks.

In the 10th, Vitali blasted Sosnowski apart with a searing right hand that left Sosnowski on his backside in the corner. Too hurt and too tired to get up. The fight was stopped by referee Jay Nady at 2:20 of the 10th. After the fight, Vitali said “I was in good form. Sosnowski was younger than me, but people saw that I did well against him. He did everything to win this fight but my experience got me through.”

It was more than experience, though; it was Vitali’s superior size and physical gifts that got him through this fight. If he had come out gunning in the first round and had ignored his defense completely, chances are high that he would have knocked Sosnowski out in the 1st or 2nd round. Vitali was that much better than him once he actually started throwing his shots with meaning. Instead, Vitali played around with Sosnowski, jabbing him and just landing hard enough to connect with his shots but not hurt until the 8th.

Vitali, with his younger brother Wladimir telling him to get in gear, started punching with a lot of power and hurting Sosnowski. In the 9th, Vitali hurt Sosnowski with a hard right near end of the round. Sosnowski was in serious trouble as the round ended. In the 10th, Vitali stayed on Sosnowski, stalking him around the ring, punishing him with huge shots and then taking him out after hurting him with a chopping right hand.

Although Vitali says he wants Chagaev and Haye, he’ll probably have to settle for Chagaev because Haye seems to be more interested in looking in another direction right now rather than taking a risky fight against a slugger like Vitali. However, Haye likely will look in the direction of Vitali and Wladimir at some point before he retires, but it’s not likely to happen right now.