Las Vegas, NV (BoxingGurus.com) - In a rough and action packed bout, Kostya Tszyu defeated Sharmba Mitchell, when Mitchell quit in his corner between the 7th and 8th rounds. Mitchell had re-injured his surgically repaired left knee just before the bout, but decided to go ahead with the fight. Tszyu won the WBA/WBC Junior Welterweight unification bout with a 7th round TKO and now sets up an ultimate unification bout with IBF champion Zab Judah.

Mitchell (47-3, 29 KO) hurt his knee in the 7th round and had very limited movement. After discussing it with his corner and the ring doctor, Team Mitchell decided to not take any more chances and quit.

"He was fighting dirty, throwing me around and hurt my leg," Mitchell said. "My corner stopped the fight and I have to respect their decision. But it hurts."

Tszyu and Mitchell exchange punches   Steve Marcus (Reuters)

Tszyu (26-1-1, 21 KO) started slowly trying to adapt to Mitchell's speed and movement, but after the second round, Tszyu dominated the fight landing crisp punches almost at will, but never putting Mitchell down due to a punch. Mitchell did go down to the canvas due to the rough antics of Tszyu, and he eventually lost a point in the 4th round by referee Joe Cortez.

"My accuracy wasn't there, but he had good defense," Tszyu said. "He was talking about an injury before the fight but then he got in the ring. And once you get in the ring there are no excuses. You have to fight."

Tszyu was ahead on two scorecards and tied on another at the time of the stoppage. BoxingGurus.com had the fight 68-64 through seven rounds.

Tszyu made $800,000 for this title fight, while Mitchell made $900,000.