For those fed up with the Klitschko era, the bad news is that there is no end in sight. Vitali Klitschko, the elder of the Ukrainian brothers, successfully defended his WBC heavyweight title in Los Angeles in the early hours of yesterday, scoring a one-sided win over Cris Arreola, who was pulled out by his corner at the end of the tenth round. But if this was the best heavyweight the United States has to offer, one must ask where the threats to the Klitschkos will come from.

When Vitali returned after four years from an injury-enforced retirement to regain his WBC title last year, the expectation was that, point proved, he would soon hang up his gloves again. But two bouts on, he appears just to be warming up.

At 38, Klitschko is older than Lennox Lewis was when he last boxed and the same age Muhammad Ali was for a foolish comeback against Larry Holmes. But on his form against Arreola, Klitschko looks unbeatable. The Californian never stopped trying, but Klitschko kept him away with a ramrod jab, then peppered him with hooks and uppercuts throughout. As well as battering Arreola’s features, Klitschko reduced him to tears.

Recently, Klitschko hinted that he might try to break George Foreman’s record as the oldest world heavyweight champion. That would require him to box on for seven years — another career in boxing terms. While he denied that is on his agenda, it is clearly in the back of his mind.

“I’m not the youngest heavyweight, but I feel like I’m 25,” he said. “It’s never easy; he has a great, great chin. Cris has all the skill to be a world champion.” Just not in this era, he might have added.

At present, apart from his brother, Wladimir, the WBO, IBF and IBO champion, the next best challengers, Nikolay Valuev and David Haye, face each other in Nuremberg on November 7 for Valuev’s WBA title, while Alexander Povetkin, the unbeaten 2004 Olympic super-heavyweight champion, is in line to face Wladimir.

Beyond that, Odlanier Solís, a Cuban amateur star and defector, will probably get his chance at some point, while most other contenders have already been exposed. Reports suggest that Vitali could next face Kevin Johnson, 30, an American, who would be making a huge step up in class.

Ricky Hatton is hopeful he can get Matthew Macklin a world title shot in the UK after Macklin won the European middleweight title with an impressive first-round stoppage of Amin Asikainen in Manchester on Friday. “It’s down to me to do my job and get him a world title shot, hopefully at home,” Hatton, Macklin’s promoter, said. “I’m sure we can do it.”

With Kelly Pavlik scheduled to defend his WBC and WBO titles in December, Macklin hopes to face Felix Sturm or Sebastian Sylvester, two Germans who hold the WBA and IBF titles respectively. “Beating either would give me more leverage and experience going forward to a Pavlik fight,” Macklin said. “You are as good as your last fight in boxing. Now the team’s settled, the ball’s rolling. In two fights, I’ve won the British and European titles with knockouts.”

Macklin is managed by Brian Peters, who after Friday night’s high saw Bernard Dunne, another of his boxers, lose the WBA super-bantamweight title to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, of Thailand, in Dublin on Saturday.

Dunne, who became Ireland’s first world champion in 12 years when he won the title in March, was knocked down three times and stopped in the third round. “There are no excuses, Bernard was beaten by a great, great fighter,” Peters said.

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