BOXING:The unbeaten Irish middleweight Andy Lee celebrated the 10th win of his career after flooring Thomas Hengstberger in the second round in Germany last Saturday night.

The undefeated Limerick southpaw dropped the Austrian with a clinical left one minute and 22 seconds into the second round in Cologne.

Hengstberger had won 12, lost four and drawn two of his 18 professional fights before Saturdays scheduled eight-rounder.

But Lee looked sharp from the opening bell and dropped the Austrian with a straight left following a neat combination in the second.

Hengstberger got back up on the count of seven but the referee ruled he was in no condition to continue and stopped the contest.

Speaking after the fight, Lee, who had been in training camp with Wladimir Klitschko in Austria before his meeting with Hengstberger, said he was delighted with the win.

"All my training and preparations paid off on Saturday night and I am thrilled to take my unbeaten record into double figures and I'm pleased with my performance," he said.

"I felt very sharp in there but I had to keep my concentration because Hengstberger is an experienced fighter and I couldn't take anything for granted.

"I very happy with the way things are going at the moment and the important thing for me is to maintain my unbeaten record and keep winning."

Saturdays victory was Lees 10th in the 18 months since he signed a contract with legendary coach Emanuel Steward and the Kronk Gym in Detroit.

It was another good night for Kronk boxers in Cologne after one of Lee's stablemates, Jonathan Banks, racked up his 17th straight victory, over Gustavo Enriquez.

Lee and Banks were boxing on the Klitschko/Lamon Brewster undercard.

Wladimir Klitschko suffered a hairline fracture in his left hand in the first round of his IBF world heavyweight championship defence against Brewster on Saturday, his manager said yesterday.

Klitschko, 31, retained his IBF world title with a technical knockout after six rounds.

The giant Ukrainian, who won every round on all three judges' scorecards, dominated from the start.

Klitschko's manager, Bernd Boente, was reported by the German sport news agency SID yesterday as saying the fracture was detected during a hospital examination near Cologne.

Klitschko's left hand, he said, would be in a cast for at least four weeks.

Klitschko hit Brewster with two powerful left-right combinations in the sixth round and the American's corner decided their man had taken too much punishment and signalled to the referee to stop the fight.

The 1.98-metre Ukrainian's victory in front of 19,500 fans took his record to 49-3 and was revenge for his surprise defeat by Brewster in 2004. Brewster was the last man to beat Klitschko.