By Allan Fox: #7 WBC contender Manuel Charr (21-1, 11 KO’s) is probably feeling pretty low tonight after putting in an extremely poor effort in losing a 4th round stoppage defeat against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Olimpiyskiy, in Moscow, Russia.

Charr was cut in the 4th round over his right eye and the referee quickly halted the action and marched Charr over to the ringside doctor to examine the cut. The cut really didn’t look that bad. However, the doctor halted it anyway much to the unhappiness of the large mostly Russian crowd in Moscow.

You can excuse the stoppage, but you can’t excuse how poorly the 27-year-old Charr fought in that bout. He really didn’t put in much of an effort at all. He looked like someone that was afraid to let his hands go for fear of getting hit with something big. He might as have because he was getting really nailed by Vitali, strafed Charr with shots round after round until the fight was halted by recommendation of the ringside doctor.

When Charr finally did try and make a fight of it in the last seconds of the 3rd round, Vitali lined up and knocked him down with a chopping right hand to the head. Charr made a big mistake of dipping his down to low in the seconds of the round and this enabled Vitali to hit with a series of huge right hands to the head. You could see then that Charr wasn’t going to last too much longer.

In rounds one and two, Charr circled the ring constantly with his guard trying to keep from getting hit by Vitali. It didn’t work, as Vitali stalked Charr around the ring unloading on him with right hands, jabs and short left hooks. Vitali fought mostly with his hard like he did in this last fight, but occasionally he’d throw a left when he’d toss in left-right combinations with devastating affect.

It’s too bad that Charr couldn’t put in move of an effort in this fight because this is probably going to be the only chance he’ll ever get a title shot. I don’t see him ever getting another crack at a title because he’s so beatable. Unless his promoters continue to match him up against weak 3rd tier opposition I don’t see him ever getting another shot at a title. Someone will beat him and that will be that. He’s just a very average fighter that probably didn’t deserve to get this title shot tonight.