WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO TKO7 (0:44) HASIM RAHMAN

It was the mixture as before from Wladimir Klitschko in his heavyweight title fight with Hasim Rahman in Germany today, a steady, prolonged softening up pounding with the left jab, then the heavier artillery wheeled in to close the show when his opponent had been rendered incapable of offering anything more than the semblance of resistance.

I wrote in the preview that anything less than a win in six rounds would be considered disappointing, but a stoppage at 44 seconds of round seven was good enough. Still, I did think that Klitschko could have ended this fight sooner. Rahman looked very limited for a former heavyweight title holder, his punches and movements awfully slow, his balance shaky and his stamina rather woeful — HBO’s Jim Lampley commented that the 36-year-old looked “very tired — even after three rounds”.

If it had been Lennox Lewis, at his best, in the ring with Rahman on this night I think that Britain’s ex-champ would have halved the four rounds it took him to knock out Rahman in Las Vegas seven years ago. Klitschko won easily and got the stoppage without having to take a punch of any consequence. That part of it was good. However, Rahman was, in boxing parlance, there for the taking. He stoically took punishment but I don’t think he really wanted to be there.

When Rahman went to the ropes for a long portion of the third round, gloves up, rather like Peter Manfredo Jr. against Joe Calzaghe, it seemed he was almost inviting Klitschko to throw the prolonged series of punches that would have ended the challenger’s misery. Instead, Klitschko stood back and prodded Rahman with the jab. He wasn’t ready to open up, and perhaps he was wise to hold back, considering that two of his three stoppage losses seemed to be caused by running out of gas.

After five rounds, though, Klitschko still wasn’t putting really heavy pressure on Rahman, even after his trainer, Emanuel Steward, had asked him to “step it up”. It was smart boxing, and the left jab was working beautifully, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who who was getting a little impatient.

Even after Rahman went down from a couple of left hooks early in the sixth, Klitschko took his time, going after his man in a measured manner, pummelling him a bit but not with sufficient vigour to bring matters to a conclusion.

It surprised me that cornerman Buddy McGirt didn’t retire Rahman at the end of the round — he had surrendered on behalf of Lamon Brewster and Paulie Malignaggi in similar circumstances in which a boxer had taken a pasting and had no chance of winning. Mercifully, though, the end was not long in coming, with a worn down, worn out Rahman sagging under punishment in the opening stages of the seventh.

Klitschko gets full marks for efficiency, and he showed once more that he is going to be very difficult to beat — I just wished he had been a bit more exciting in a fight in which he had the chance to look spectacular.