By Kurt Ward

Another Wladimir Klitschko fight, another dominant victory.  This one, however, was a bit different.  The challenger, previously unbeaten Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev, 20-1 (11KOs), didnt go into a shell when feeling the power of the heavyweight champ.

For the five rounds that Pulev was in the ring he was trying to win; taking the centre of the ring and willing to take punishment in order to get his own shots off.  In taking this approach, he brought out the best in the champion and making it an entertaining fight for the fans.

This was the first of a new three-fight deal for Klitschko, 63-3 (54 early) with American TV giant HBO and he needed to deliver a performance after his last appearance on the station a year earlier when he mounted Alexander Povetkin to a wide unanimous decision victory.  We all know Jim Lampley loves compubox and informing us all on how many punches either man has thrown and landed, but for that fight compuclinch would surely have been more practical.

Thankfully, we saw less hugging and more devastating left hooks from Klitschko in the Pulev fight and it was great to see; it is what fans expect of the heavyweight champion of the world, especially a dominant champion who possesses incredible one-punch knockout power in either hand.

Thoughts now turn to Klitschko's next defence which is looking likely for March/April in Germany.  The frontrunners seem to be unbeaten American Bryant Jennings and the winner of the upcoming rematch between Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora.  Either of those will be good fights.

Klitschko has now made 17 successive world title defences and is right behind Larry Holmes who made 20 defences.  The Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, is still way in front with his incredible run of 25 title defences that will probably never be beaten.  How long the current champion can go on for seems to be entirely up to him.  He has made a lot of money and is approaching his 39th birthday.  His partner is due to give birth to his first child in a few weeks and, looking at the current crop of heavyweights, it seems motivation is the biggest threat to his eight-year run at the top.

He hasn't been the most exciting and has had his fair share of critics over the years, but 10 years ago he was considered finished when he was stopped for the second time in quick succession against Lamon Brewster.  His own brother told him to retire on the back of that loss.  A decade later, however, he's still here and looking as good as ever.  Maybe it's about time even his harshest critics gave him a bit of credit.

A year ago Sky Sports filmed a middleweight special titled 'The Gloves Are Off' which featured Matthew Macklin, Martin Murray, Andy Lee and Darren Barker.  It was hoped that these four men could give the fans what they wanted and engage in battles that would bring back memories of the epic Benn/Watson/Eubank rivalry.

A year later, sadly, and not a single fight has taken place between them or looks likely to in the future.  Barker was stopped in two rounds not long after the programme aired by Felix Sturm and promptly retired.  Matthew Macklin went on to get stopped by Gennady Golovkin and, this past weekend, take a beating at the hands of Jorge Heiland with many now calling for him to hang up the gloves.  Martin Murray and Andy Lee have got world title opportunities coming up against Gennady Golovkin and Matt Korobov, respectively.  They would have made for some really interesting  fights.  It's just a shame that for whatever reason they couldn't get the fights made while all in their prime, and when the fights would have been big domestic clashes.

It's great to see Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr doing things a bit differently and fighting each other when the fans want to see it.  Bob Arum may be a fan of letting things marinate but fight fans just don't like waiting that long.  Too many things can go wrong and the fights we look forward to end up not happening.

Spike O'Sullivan crushed Anthony Fitzgerald and did it with swagger reminiscent of prime Naseem Hamed and Roy Jones Jr.  Hands either by his side or even behind his back at one point, he came out full of confidence and genuinely believed he was levels above his opponent.  He was correct and scored a stunning first-round knockout.   He was then nearly smashed in the face by a stool that was thrown from the crowd. O’Sullivan didn't see it coming but, thankfully, it missed him by millimetres.  That's how good defensively he was on the night.

Contact Kurt on Twitter @BoxingAsylum and listen to him and his fellow panellists every Sunday for the live boxing podcast at 8pm GMT/3pm EST