Wladimir Klitschko promised to unify all the heavyweight titles as soon as possible after adding the WBO crown to his IBF and IBO belts at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Ukrainian Klitschko earned a unanimous decision (119-110, 117-111, 118-110) over Russia's Sultan Ibragimov in the first heavyweight unification fight since 1999.
That left WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev of Russia and the winner of next month's WBC title showdown in Mexico between Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev as obstacles to Klitschko achieving heavyweight domination.
With older brother Vitali Klitschko on the comeback trail and having been promised a match with the winner of Maskaev-Peter, that leaves Chagaev as the next realistic target.
‘I'm ready to fight again as soon as possible,’ Klitschko said.
‘I fought 12 rounds just but I didn't get hurt and I wish I could get another champion.
‘Next month we have Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev fighting so we'll see what's happening there but my brother Vitali will be stepping in so we'll let him handle it.
‘The WBA situation is Chagaev fighting somebody so we'll see if we get a chance to unify all the titles.’
Despite all the talk, it was a night to forget as Ukrainian Klitschko and Russia's Ibragimov served up a dreary contest punctuated only sporadically by significant moments of action.
With a four-and-a-half-inch height advantage, the 6ft 6inch Klitschko kept Ibragimov at arm's length throughout the opening rounds, patting down the Russian southpaw's leads while throwing only occasional left jabs of his own.
The tactics soon began to wear thin on many fans in the 14,011 crowd as sporadic boos rang out around the arena.
Round seven saw both fighters open up a little, Klitschko landing a rare big right to the crouching Ibragimov's left temple while the Russian replied with a clean left to the Ukrainian's ribs.
But the pair reverted type soon after and the jeers increased.
Klitschko again hurt his man with a right hook to the head midway through the eighth and this time followed up by landing another.
Ibragimov hit the canvas soon after, although it was due to a push rather than a punch but at least the boos subsided.
Ibragimov, though, had trudged back to his corner and his mood was not improved as the ninth got underway.
Klitschko burst into life once more, sending the WBO champion backpedalling into a neutral corner with a left jab straight right, left jab-right hook combination that knocked the Russian onto his haunches and between the ropes.
Both fighters hit the floor in the 10th round as Ibragimov bundled Klitschko onto his back and landed on top of him and it provoked the most open exchanges of the fight as the champions finally traded blows.
Klitschko remained the dominant fighter, however, and again bore down on Ibragimov in the 11th round, picking his rival off intermittently with isolated left jabs and finishing the round by snapping the Russian's head back with a right hook just before the bell.
All Klitschko had to do was ride out the final round but the final three minutes only brought a return of the booing.
Klitschko praised Ibragimov for putting his title on the line when he was under no obligation to do so.
‘I want to say thank you to Sultan Ibragimov for taking this fight because boxing fans are tired of all the sports politicians and all the talk about unification that never came,’ Klitschko said.
‘We made this happen and it's great for the sport first of all. The heavyweight division needs an undisputed champion, we need a person to carry this title.’
Both Klitschko and Ibragimov were booed throughout the fight as they failed to give the 14,011 crowd any real fireworks over 12 rounds.
The victor was disappointed he had not been able to win with more style.
‘I wanted to win this fight as impressively as possible but it was difficult,’ Klitschko said.
‘He is a very difficult opponent and his defensive style didn't make it easy to be impressive.’
Asked about his reliance on using the left jab against Ibragimov while keeping his right under wraps for most of the fight, Klitschko said: ‘I had to make sure I would land them.
‘If I would miss, I would lose the balance and it's hard to get back.
‘I thought I was going to knock this guy out but it wasn't easy. I know you're not satisfied, but I have to keep the belts and knock everybody else out.’
Ibragimov revealed he had been carrying a hand injury for the past three weeks after suffering what his manager Boris Grinberg described as a ‘bone trauma’ when his fist struck a sparring partner's forehead during his training camp.
‘I had a problem with my left hand and in the fight I felt I had to be stronger,’ Ibragimov said.
‘But Wladimir was faster than I thought he would be.
‘We watched old Klitschko fights but he was much faster today than in any of those. He was different and that made it difficult to stick to our plan.’
