Former two-time cruiserweight world champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (51-3-1, 37 KOs), made his return to the ring in Sosnowiec, Poland.
The dangerous veteran stopped Kai Kurzawa (37-5, 25 KOs) in four rounds to capture the vacant IBF Inter-Continental cruiserweight belt. Wlodarczyk battered his opponent and had him down in the third and the fourth.
It was the second fight for "El Diabo" since losing his world title to current champion Grigory Drozd of Russia in September 2014. He came into that fight off a lengthy layoff.
Prior to that loss, Wlodarczyk was on a very solid run where he stopped for champion Giacobbe Fragomeni in six rounds in a bout held at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago and traveled over to Russia where he got off the floor to knock out Olympic gold medal winner Rakhim Chakhkiev in eight rounds.
In March, Wlodarczyk needed only two rounds to blast out gate-keeper Valery Brudov (42-8, 28 KO), who lost three of his last four bouts - including a January decision loss to Noel Gevor in Germany.
Brudov went down in the second round from a series of punches and then his corner threw in the towel as the boxer appeared to be in trouble. A replay showed that Brudov may have injured his right knee when he fell.
Also on the card, heavyweight contender Krzysztof Zimnoch (19-1-1, 13 KOs) was back on the horse. He suffered one of the bigger upsets of the year, when he was demolished in one round by Mike Mollo in February. He is back in the hunt after taking out veteran opponent of choice as of late, Konstantin Airich (23-17-2, 18 KOs), in four rounds.
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