Fury hammers Christian Hammer to set up Klitschko clash
British heavyweight Tyson Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) defeated Christian Hammer (17-4, 10 KOs) by an 8th round stoppage on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
Fury dominated every round until Hammer’s corner threw the towel in at the end of the eighth round.
6’9” Fury toyed with his much shorter Romanian opponent, snapping out a fast jab from either stance, constantly switching between orthodox and southpaw, and then followed up with shots to head and body.
Hammer kept coming forward and tried to get at close range to land punches, but time and time again, Fury would tie him up, spin him around and push him away.
Fury dropped Hammer with a right hand during the fifth and the overmatched Romanian had to soak up more shots to see out a tough round.
For the remainder of the fight, Fury continued to dominate until Hammer had enough of being hit and being unable to land any shots of his own.
Hammer remained on his stool and did not continue after round eight.
Fury now sets his sights on fighting Wladimir Klitschko after retaining his European heavyweight title.
The 26-year-old, who is the mandatory challenger for Klitschko's WBO world title belt, said: "I'm ready for him.
"I'm a much improved fighter and that's why I'm ready for Klitschko next."
Also on the card, Chris Eubank Jr (19-1, 14 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten Dmitry Chudinov (14-1-2, 9 KOs) to clinch the WBA interim middleweight title.
It took Eubank a couple of rounds to settle into the fight, his first since losing a close points decision to British rival Billy Joe Saunders, and in one of several close-in brawls, it was his elbow that did the damage, cutting his Russian opponent above the left eye.
But by the third, Eubank started putting together some classy combinations and dominated Chudinov as the bout progressed.
Both exchanged punches in the eighth but it was Eubank who was landing the harder shots and by round nine Chudinov was cut over both eyes and being punished.
Eubank went all out for the KO in round twelve and after a barrage of punches the referee stopped the bout at 2:11 of the final round.