BOXING Wladimir Klitschko battered and KO'd

His career is at the crossroads after losing to journeyman Lamon Brewster.
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Wladimir Klitschko better get used to working in his brother's corner during fights. It might be the only future he has left in boxing.
With his chin exposed yet again in a shocking knockout loss to a journeyman boxer, the Ukrainian once thought of as a future heavyweight champion now must decide whether he will ever fight again.
Klitschko's more immediate plans are to be in the corner when his brother, Vitali, fights for the WBC title against Corrie Sanders on April 24. But the hopes the two brothers had of becoming heavyweight champions at the same time probably ended in the fifth round Saturday night against Lamon Brewster.
Battered
Klitschko's own trainer said before the fight that Wladimir should retire if he lost. Few who saw him collapse under an onslaught from the unheralded Brewster would argue the point.
Klitschko was taken to a hospital for a precautionary brain scan after the fight on the recommendation of a ring doctor who was alarmed at what she saw as the fifth round drew to a close in the fight for the fringe WBO title.
The scan proved normal, but there was nothing normal about the way Klitschko was stopped in a fight he had dominated for four rounds. Two left hooks by Brewster midway through the fifth round turned the bout around, and he went down for a second time after the bell sounded to end the round.
Brewster was on his stool getting ready for the sixth round as Klitschko tried to get his 6-foot-6 frame off the canvas. It took agonizingly long, and when he did, he was so wobbly that referee Robert Byrd had no choice but to stop the fight.
"He couldn't take care of himself," Byrd said. "I tried to get a response out of him but there was none. I've never stopped a fight like that before."
Second KO loss
It was the second knockout loss in the last four fights for Klitschko, who won the 1996 Olympic gold medal and was once thought of as the better of the two boxing brothers.
Meanwhile, Don King was beside himself with his fighter's win and the current state of the heavyweight division. IBF champion Chris Byrd and WBA champion John Ruiz fight on the same card next Saturday in New York, and unless Vitali Klitschko comes up big against Sanders there is no dominant heavyweight out there.
Mike Tyson was among those at the postfight news conference with a stake in the future. Tyson was scheduled to begin training today in Arizona for what he said would probably be a fight in July or August against a second-tier opponent.
Tyson's manager, Shelly Finkel, would like him to fight twice, then take on undefeated Joe Mesi, possibly in December at Madison Square Garden.
"Pretty encouraging, isn't it?" Tyson asked.
The heavyweight shocker overshadowed an excellent fight earlier Saturday in which Cory Spinks defended his undisputed welterweight titles with a unanimous decision over former 140-pound champion Zab Judah despite being knocked down with 25 seconds remaining.