The good news: Now there's one less heavyweight fighter wearing a championship belt. The bad news: The unification bout between IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko and WBO champ Sultan Ibragimov was awful. Madison Square Garden sounded like it was hosting a New York Knicks home game as the crowd of 14,011 did far more booing than cheering. Both men fought cautiously with Ibragimov staying away and Klitschko continually slapping down on Ibragimov's right arm whenever the smaller fighter reached out with a jab. When Klitschko did throw his jab it was effective but he rarely followed up with his sledgehammer right. If you missed the fight, consider yourself lucky. The only rounds which were any different than the rest were the ninth, when Klitschko almost scored a knockdown, and the tenth, when Ibragimov basically tackled Klitschko to the canvas. Other than that, it was round after round of nothing.

After 12 painful-to-watch rounds, all three judges scored the fight for Klitschko: 119-110, 117-111, 118-110.

Punch stats: Total Punches: Klitschko - 148 of 348 (43%); Ibragimov - 97 of 316 (31%). Jabs: Klitschko - 108 of 245 (44%); Ibragimov - 16 of 137 (12%). Power Punches: Klitschko - 40 of 103 (39%); Ibragimov - 81 of 179 (45%).

On the undercard, undefeated John Duddy was handed an undeserved gift in the form of a majority decision against Walid Smichet. Despite the win, Duddy may have looked bad enough to jeopardize his proposed June 7 fight with middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik. Duddy ate a shocking number of right hands throughout the fight and suffered a nasty gash over his left eye. Judge Frank Lombardi scored a reasonable 95-95 draw. The other two judges (John McKaie and Don Trella) had it an indefensible 98-92 for Duddy. There's no questioning Duddy's chin and heart but he better learn to move his head or he's going to get KO'd if he ever faces Pavlik.