ROUND 8
Perhaps sensing his brother's fatigue, Vitali stomps across the ring and delivers a jolting left jab, following it with a crushing right that sends Wladimir stumbling back into the ropes.
A right cross snaps Wladimir's head directly back, and a follow-up combination leaves his right eye looking even worse than it did between rounds, when cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran was unable to do much to decrease the swelling.
Wladimir clinches, but after Cotton breaks them up, Vitali unloads with another right cross, sending his brother wobbling into his own corner.
Vitali wards off an attempted clinch with a left hook to the body, then readjusts his aim to score with a left uppercut that keeps Wladimir pinned in his corner, inches away from a frantic Emanuel Steward.
Wladimir has enough presence of mind left to clinch. After Cotton breaks them up, Vitali misses with a right but follows up with a thunderous left hook that sends Wladimir stumbling along the ropes into a neutral corner.
Wladimir, his right eye nearly swollen shut, tries to steady himself to repel Vitali's onslaught. But a desperation right misses badly, leaving him wide open for another neck-swiveling left hook from Vitali. The impact robs Wladimir of what's left of his legs and drapes him over the top rope, his left arm all that keeps him off the floor.
Vitali, looking at once furious and terrified, hesitates. Cotton, seeing how badly Wladimir is hurt, jumps between the brothers and waves the fight over with only three seconds left in the eighth round.
Wladimir's weight causes him to slowly slump to the canvas, where he sits shaking his head as Steward, Duran, the ring doctor and Vitali rush to his assistance.
After a few moments, satisfied that he will be OK, they help him to his feet and out of the ring as Michael Buffer takes the microphone.
"Referee Eddie Cotton stops the fight at 2:57 of round number eight. The winner by technical knockout, still the WBC heavyweight champion and NEW IBF, WBO and IBO champion -- Vitali "Doctor Ironfist" KLEEEEEET-SCHKO!"