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Saturday, January 29
Updated: January 30, 3:34 AM ET
 
Beyer retains his WBC title

Associated Press

RIESA, Germany -- Germany's Markus Beyer knocked out Leif Keiski with a body shot in the seventh round Saturday to retain his WBC super-middleweight title.

Beyer, who raised his record to 18-0 with eight knockouts, dropped Keiski three times during the first defense of his crown.

Beyer caught Keiski with a lightning shot to the liver as he was moving in midway through the seventh, and the Swedish boxer crumpled to the canvas in pain.

"That was a great blow. You almost couldn't see it," said Angelo Dundee, Keiski's trainer and the former trainer of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, among others.

The sudden end came after Keiski, whose record fell to 28-2, appeared to have climbed back into the fight after two earlier knockdowns.

"I'm not too happy," said Beyer, 28, and regarded as the most talented German boxer. "I took too many punches."

Keiski was able to catch Beyer with numerous punches, especially in the fifth and sixth as the German suddenly appeared to lose control of the fight after a furious start.

But Keiski couldn't solve Beyer's quick hands, with a sudden left dropping Keiski to his knees in the second round and a short left in the fourth.

Beyer had also knocked Britain's Richie Woodhall down three times as he won the title in October, then struggled to finish the 12 rounds after breaking bones in both hands.

Beyer is next expected to make a mandatory defense against WBC No. 1 challenger Glen Catley of Britain.




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