Wladimir Klitschko has never been accused of wooing Lady Luck but he got a big buss from the mythical gaming gal that saved him from oblivion when he eked out a technical split decision over DaVarryl Williamson in the fifth round Saturday at Caesars Palace before 4,100 disappointed spectators in Las Vegas.

The abbreviated ending in Showtime’s televised 10-round bout came when an accidental head butt inflicted a deep cut over Klitschko’s right eye, prompting referee Jay Nady to halt the action and sent the judges to the scorecards to determine a winner.

Dr. Margaret Goodman, ringside physician, made the decision to halt the bout when Jacob Duran, cutman for Klitschko, informed her he couldn’t control the blood flow. Dr. Goodman told the media “it was a jagged laceration on the right side of the forehead that was to the bone and very bad. The injury will keep the former WBO heavyweight champion from sparring for 45 days nor have a regulation bout for 60 days.

Through five rounds, judges Chuck Giampa and Jerry Roth 49-46 for Klitschko while Doug Tucker saw it 48-47 for Williamson. Early in the fourth round, the Washington, D.C. fighter knocked down Klitschko with a straight right but the latter rose quickly and countered effectively to change what is normally a10-8 round but three judges voted it 10-9 for the NABF heavyweight champion.

In the pre-fight hype, both fighters viewed the Gary Shaw promotion as a “crossroads fight in our careers.” Neither Klitschko, 244, or Williamson, 218, acted like a true warrior looking for a big victory.

The underdog Williamson was in cautious retreat almost from the opening bell, throwing few punches while Klitschko was off balance and stumbling with a jab that was too short. Even pulling Williamson into clinches, the Ukraine upstart looked like wrestling was his road game. There was a rare moment in the third round when he caught his reluctant adversary with three good rights. Williamson didn’t appear affected by the salvo but didn’t make an effort to counter.

Klitschko insisted he won every round but he is a cinch to change after he has a look a Showtime’s tape. Williamson’s big beef was that it was his punch that caused the cut, not a head butt.

“Our strategy in the early rounds was to keep moving and let Klitschko wear himself out. My strong conditioning was to be able to turn on the pressure in the last five rounds. I thought Klitschko was starting to tire as early as the third round when the fight was stopped, we never had a chance to put the pressure on. Wladimir said it was still a close fight. I still feel like I won,” Williamson admitted, having collected $90,000, as his record dipped to 20-3,17 KOs.

Emanuel Steward, Klitschko’s Hall Of Fame trainer, was openly as disappointed as his fighter the way the night ended.

“That Williamson was on his toes and giving bad angles wasn’t going on for long. I wanted my guy to get him out of there early as possible. As far as that fourth round knockdown, Williamson caught Wladimir off balance. There ino way this fight was going the distance,” Steward advised.

In the mini post-fight recap, a foreign voice from a German writer asked Steward about the prospects of a rematch.

The engaging creator of world champions in the Detroit Kronk gym smiled softly and let his eyes roll ala Eddie Cantor.

“Rematch? No way. The styles are all wrong. Wladimir didn’t need this fight. The public almost surely wouldn’t want to see it again. It’s a wonder why they didn’t crack heads early. Both guys were dropping their heads down and reaching out punching wildly.Vitali and Wladimir both grew up fighting the European style and they still haven’t got it out of their systems despite all their natural talents.”

The way this slated10-rounder ended did nothing for the morale of Klitschko and Williamson. Their
respective pre-fight comments carried a message how serious they were regarding the pending prestige.

Klitschko, 28, earning $300,000 as his log now reads 43-3, 40 K0s, said “Williamson should have confidence against me of course, he should because I am at the bottom right now. After what happened to me six months ago (Lamon Brewster on a five-round KO for the WBO title) I am at the bottom of this division.)

Williamson, knocked out by Joe Mesi a year ago, “ I learned the hard way you can never lower your focus.You can lose your focus and that is what happened to me. You get knocked out. I learned from that and I‘m sure Wladimir learned what happened to him. The most dangerous fighter is a desperate and hungry one. I think Wladimir and I are desperate and hungry as it gets.”

LACY’ TNT WEAR S DOWN VANDERPOOL FOR TITLE.

Heavy-handed Jeff Lacy was the scene-stealer Saturday at Caesars Palace with a dramatic eighth-round TKO victory over S yd Vanderpool to take the IBF super middleweight championship.

For this sterling performance, Lacy, 27, from St. Petersburg, Fla., became the first member of America,’s 2000 Olympic team to win a world title as a professional in taking the measure of hard-nosed Vanderpool, out of Canada, ranked as the No.1 contender going in.

Heralded as a big body-banger, Lacy went into to this war, using his full-arsenal of jabs, hooks and jolting uppercuts---all this for an ambitious adversary who hasn’t lost since May 13, 2000 when trying to take Bernard Hopkins’ IBF middleweight crown in Indianapolis.

Vanderpool’s agility and boxing skills enabled him to keep the pressure on Lacy early, winning the first two rounds on the cards of judges Larry Hazzard,Jr., C.J. Ross and Glenn Trowbridge, The ever-forward Floridian picked up the tempo offensively in the fifth and sixth rounds with big combinations to the head and body, Lacy punching in triple to the body and uppercuts that seemed to be moving the wearying Vanderpool at will and almost put him down in the sixth round.

After the seventh round, Lacy was in full domination but the judges had it close on their tabs with Hazzard and Ross at 67-66 while Trowbridge saw it 68-65.

Coming out in the eighth, Lacy exploded with a seven-punch volley that drove Vanderpool off the ropes and across the ring where referee Robert Byrd halted the rout at 1:38 after the tough Canadian had been shaken by three uppercuts.

Vanderpool, 167, who earned $70,000 as his record dipped to 35-3, 23 KOs, figured Lacy, 168, would get tired in the later rounds but it didn’t happen that way.

“Lacy was firing everything he had at me but I wasn’t ready to quit. The referee thought I’d had enough, but I was ready to continue but he waved it off.”

Lacy, rated No,4 by the IBF, improved to 17-0,14 K0s and picked up a purse of $50,000.

OUMA RALLIES TO UPSET PHILLIPS FOR IBF CROWN

In the other world title bout on the card, Kassim Ouma, 152, Kampala, Uganda, rallied in the last two rounds to upset IBF Junior Middleweight king Verno Phillips,152.5, Denver, Col.

Ouma, working behind a punishing body attack, gave as good as he got especially in the middle rounds but
Phillips remained in the hunt although his left eye was badly swollen.

Ouma went to the extreme, needing a 10-8 edge in the 11th round and winning the12th round straight up. That is a three point swing and the underdog pulled it off when judges Paul Smith and Dick Houck gave him the last two rounds for a 114-113 score. Dalby Shirley’s vote was academic since he had Ouma winning 117-110.

In their first meeting three years ago, Ouma decisioned Phillips over10-rounds on scores of 97-93, 96-93, and 95-94. There were plenty of close rounds but Ouma clinched the issue by knocking down Phillips in the ninth round and staggering him in the 10th.

With this repeat win, Ouma’ credentials improved to 20-1-1,13 K0s, earning $40,000. Phillips picked up $135,000 as his resume slipped to 38-9-1, 20 K0s.

(Jack Welsh is a syndicated columnist headquartered in Las Vegas and ls a regular contributor to Ringsports.com and other national sports publications and websites.)