Wladimir Klitschko made up for one of the most painful losses of his career. The Ukrainian heavyweight battered Lamon Brewster and scored a technical knockout after the sixth round Saturday to successfully defend his IBF and IBO titles.

"I have waited for this fight for three years," Klitschko said. "This was incredibly important for me. Today I could not lose. My confidence was such I simply could not lose."

Klitschko clearly dominated the first five rounds, making repeated contact with his strong left jab that largely went unanswered.

"He did challenge me but his speed was not that good. I saw almost all the punches coming from Lamon. And I knew Lamon's defense was not the best," Klitschko said.

Brewster seemed to be standing up to the constant punishment, but two massive left-right combinations in the sixth round rocked the American. Before the seventh could start, Brewster's trainer, Buddy McGirt, flapped his towel and referee Sam Williams called the fight.

"He was the better man tonight. I did my best. I felt prepared but he won fair and square," Brewster said.

"Buddy said I was taking too many shots and was thinking of stopping the fight," said Brewster, who'd shaved his thick, full beard for the fight. "He said 'I love you, I love you.' And I said whatever he thought was the best decision. You can't see yourself from where you are. Buddy decided to stop the fight."

Seeing Klitschko gaining momentum and his own fighter rooted to the spot, McGirt told Brewster after the fifth round he was thinking of retiring him. But he gave Brewster one last chance to turn the bout around.

"You could see Wladimir was picking it up. I knew he'd set him up for the kill," McGirt said. "I gave him one more round but I told him I didn't want to see him get hurt. Wladimir was getting more confident so why take a chance with his life?"

Brewster would have continued, but placed his faith in his coach's decision.

"Naturally, I wanted to continue," he said. "I'm a dog. I'll fight until the end. I knew I was having trouble. I was being jabbed and he was outmaneuvering me.

"Buddy said 'You've got a wife and kids, we can always pick this up another day.' So I said OK."

Both trainers said afterward that Klitschko would have knocked him out in the seventh round.