BOXING Klitschko loses fight, but gains credentials and a lot of new fans

Vitali Klitschko was leading Lennox Lewis on all three ringside scorecards.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Vitali Klitschko sure looked the part of a loser, and technically he was. The left side of his face was a purple pulp, blood streamed from a deep cut over his eye and there were welts everywhere.
Look a little closer, though, and you could see a winner.
Klitschko didn't win the heavyweight title Saturday night from Lennox Lewis, but he emerged from the fight with some new credentials and a lot of new fans.
The heavyweight division suddenly has a giant of a new heavyweight to reckon with.
"I see everything, I don't know why he stopped the fight," Klitschko said. "I know if the doctor doesn't stop the fight I win the fight because I want to be world champion."
Klitschko was leading
The ring doctor did stop the fight after the sixth round with Klitschko leading on all three ringside scorecards. And although Klitschko protested, he wasn't nearly as loud as the fans who in six brutal rounds found a new heavyweight hero.
Lewis was still the heavyweight champion, and he was left to explain to doubters why he allowed Klitschko to land the heavier and more effective punches through six rounds of a wild heavyweight brawl.
The explanation rang hollow, especially when Lewis claimed he was somehow deprived of a spectacular knockout he was sure would come the next round.
"I really wish the referee wouldn't have stopped the fight. I wanted to knock him out for real," Lewis said.
Klitschko, who many believed wasn't even the best fighter in his family, rocked Lewis early and often before the ring doctor finally stopped the fight after six rounds because of bad cuts to Klitschko's left eye.
Connected often
Klitschko's style may have been amateurish and stilted, but the 6-foot-7 Ukrainian hit Lewis with almost every left hand he threw and had the champion exhausted and baffled.
The judges thought Klitschko was getting the better of Lewis in what at times was a wild and bloody brawl. So did the enthusiastic crowd of 15,939, which cheered wildly at every punch the challenger landed.
Ring doctor Paul Wallace, who looked at the eye after the third round and allowed the fight to continue, stopped it after giving it a second look after the sixth round.
Explanation
Wallace, in a somewhat convoluted explanation, said Klitschko's eyelid was closing in such a way that the fighter had to turn his head to see him. The explanation may have been lost in the translation in the corner, but soon Klitschko was rushing around the ring shouting, "No, no, no."
Indeed, the heart Klitschko didn't show when he quit after the ninth round because of an injured shoulder against Chris Byrd was in plentiful evidence against Lewis. He took hard lefts and uppercuts from the champion without flinching, and was leading 58-56 on all three ringside scorecards when the fight was ended.