Fight:1448738
Vassiliy Jirov 198 lbs beat Jonathan Williams 203 lbs by TKO at 2:52 in round 2 of 10
- Date: 2009-10-17
- Location: Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
- Referee: Robert Ferrara
- Judge: Craig Harmon
- Judge: Chris Wilson
- Judge: Chris Flores
Former world cruiserweight champion Vassiliy 'The Tiger' Jirov, 35, a Kazakhstan fighter out of Scottsdale, Arizona, returned to the ring for the first time in 27 months and scored a second round stoppage of Jonathan 'The Jackhammer' Williams of Tacoma, Washington, now 7-7-1 with 6 kos. The bout went off with Jirov, now 38-3-1, 32 kos, at 198 pounds back to cruiserweight, and Williams at 202 pounds as a heavyweight. Jirov went down three times in the first from what he claimed were slips due to wearing old boxing shoes, and one of the falls was ruled a knockdown. Southpaw Jirov overwhelmed Williams with power punches in round 2, knocking him down three times for the automatic TKO. In a reunion with James Toney after the bout, Jirov hoped for a rematch of their twelve round IBF cruiserweight title bout in 2003 after 2 more tuneup bouts. "Everyone knows I'm the best heavyweight in the world. For a million dollars....." said Toney, "Just show me the money and I'm there."