Klitschko retains WBC belt, TKOs Gomez in 9th

Vitali Klitschko retained his WBC heavyweight title by with a ninth-round TKO of Juan Carlos Gomez on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Klitschko twice put down the Germany-based Cuban defector, in the seventh and ninth rounds, before Belgian referee Daniel Van de Wiele stopped the fight with 1 minute, 11 seconds remaining in the ninth round.

Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs) was making the first defense of the title he reclaimed by stopping Samuel Peter in dominating fashion last October. The Ukrainian, whose brother Wladimir holds the IBF and WBO versions of the title, hasn't lost since getting knocked out by Lennox Lewis in 2003.

The 35-year-old Gomez was the …