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Vitali Klitschko regains heavyweight title in Las Vegas

12/10/2008

Vitali Klitschko has regained the heavyweight world title, four years after his last fight, after beating Samuel Peter in Las Vegas.

The Ukrainian won the WBC version of the title by technical knockout when his opponent retired at the end of the eighth round.

Klitschko's last fight was a victory over Britain's Danny Williams but a year later he was stripped of his belt when he was unable to mount a mandatory defence because of a knee injury.

The same injury forced him to retire, but there was no evidence that it was hampering him on Saturday night against Peter.

Klitschko dominated the Nigerian, landing consistent heavy blows to the head. The 37-year-old wore down his opponent and eventually the accumulation of blows proved too much for Peter.

Although Klitschko was unable to achieve a clean knockout he was still happy with his performance during his comeback fight.

He told Setanta Sports: "I have my skills, I can't lose my skills. If I am fit and healthy I can show a good performance.

"If you want very much, have big will and support from your team, family and my brother, I can do anything."

Vitali's brother Wladimir Klitschko holds the WBO and IBF world titles and Vitali said his dream would be for his family to hold all the titles between them at the same time.

Russia's Nikolai Valuev holds the WBA version of the title currently.