Russia’s Drozd beats Janik to defend WBC cruiserweight title (The Associated Press)
Russia’s Grigory Drozd defended his WBC cruiserweight title for the first time Friday, defeating Poland’s Lukasz Janik with a ninth-round technical knockout. Cheered on by a raucous and nationalist home crowd in the Russian capital, Drozd weakened Janik with a succession of body shots before knocking him down in the seventh round. Janik went into a defensive mode as he tried to last the distance, but the referee stopped the fight in the ninth with the Pole taking a pounding and barely able to defend himself.