March 21, Stuttgart, Germany:
Chris Byrd, fresh off three weeks of sparring with Vitali Klitschko, stopped outclassed German Mathias Sandow in the fourth of a scheduled eight-rounder. Byrd, down to cruiser, looked fit, trim and toyed with his opponent before opening up in the fourth forcing a stoppage.
Tony “the Tiger” Thompson, also a sparringpartner for Vitali, had a much tougher opponent in Adnan Serin but won a fifth round tko when Serin´s chief cornerman threw in the towel.
Big Alexander Ustinov knocked out overweight American Byron Polley in the second round in what was the chief support.
There was a final ten count for WBC representative Edmund Lipinski, 74, who passed away in Stuttgart Friday. Lipinski´s last creation was the WBC Baltic Sea title and he was also the man behind the CIS / Slovanic title that at first was sort of a “pirate” organisation before Lipinski got affiliated with the Russian Federation-
American heavy Nathan James got an easy win when Taras Varva injured his shoulder 15 sekonds into the very first round and was unable to contiunue