Photo by Martin Rose – Bongarts/Getty Images

Wladimir Klitschko stopped Kubrat Pulev at 2:11 of Round 5 to retain his RING, IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles Saturday in Hamburg, Germany.

Klitschko (63-3, 53 knockouts) put Pulev down four times – all as a result of left hooks – in one of his most dominating performances in recent years. Pulev (20-1, 11 KOs) was universally recognized as the No. 1 contender.

Klitschko now has 17 consecutive successful defenses since he stopped Chris Byrd in 2006 to win the IBF belt, eight shy of Joe Louis’ record of 25. The Ukrainian has 23 successful defenses over two reigns.

Pulev’s strategy evidently was to rough up Klitschko but the champion quickly demonstrated that the Bulgarian’s tactic was futile. Pulev went down twice in Round 1, once in Round 3 and once more in the final round.

Pulev was unable to rise after the final knockdown.

A full report will follow shortly.