Wladimir Klitschko became the undisputed world heavyweight champion by beating David Haye on a unanimous points decision late Saturday.
Klitschko now holds the IBF, WBO and WBA belts after being awarded the fight by the three judges 117-109, 118-108, 116-110 to claim victory over Haye, the former WBA champion.
Klitschko and elder brother Vitali, the WBC champion, now hold all four of the major world titles.
“It was not easy, he was incredibly fast,” said Klitschko, who thanked the 40,000-strong crowd for braving the rain during the outdoor bout at Hamburg’s football stadium.
“It was not enough for my 50th knock-out, but now we have all the belts in the Klitschko family.”
Haye said a broken toe in training had hampered him during the fight.
“I gave everything I could, but I knew that I am not fully fit,” said the Brit, who was roared on by a significant British influence in the crowd.
“I couldn’t push off my right leg because I broke my toe in training. It was frustrating.”
It was a bout that promised much and delivered little, as Haye struggled to get inside Klitschko’s reach, despite his pre-fight boast that he would knock the Ukrainian out.
Klitschko won the IBF belt against Chris Byrd in 2006 and added the WBO title two years later, while Haye had been the WBA champion since 2009.
Biggest title fight
This was the first heavyweight unification bout since Klitschko took the WBO belt from Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden in 2008 and the biggest title fight since Mike Tyson was beaten by Lennox Lewis in 2002.
The pair had been due to meet in 2009 in Gelsenkirchen, but a back injury forced Haye out.
Haye was down in the first round when Klitschko pushed him as both fighters probed each other’s defence with a series of jabs.
Both fighters landed shots to the face but it was the Ukrainian who started to show marks on his face and Haye found his range with a couple of right-hand shots in the fourth, one of which stunned Klit-schko on the bell.
Haye slipped twice in the fifth and Klitschko upped the pace as Haye wobbled after a right in a good round for the Ukrainian, while Haye was down again in the seventh after slipping as he went to land a swinging right.
While Haye looked fresh, Klitschko was still the aggressor, but the pace dropped although Haye slipped again after being caught with a right.
In the 10th, the bigger fighter landed several strong rights to Haye’s face as the Brit seemed unable to get inside Klitschko’s reach of over two metres.
Haye was down early in the 11th following another skip and the referee gave him a standing count.
The Londoner tried to raise his game, but the fight was slipping away from him.
He came out firing in the 12th and final round, but Klitschko’s jab kept him at bay.