Klitschko, who has stopped or knocked out 43 of the 48 victims he has been matched against, dropped the reluctant Austin with a left hook and the one-time sparring partner from Texas decided to stay on his belly for eight of the count to 10.

The crowd of 16,000 jeered the ugly conclusion.

Austin's credentials were poor and the win failed once again to prove conclusively that Klitschko has found the form that a few years ago left him in the No 1 position to fill the void created by the retirement of Lennox Lewis. However, concussive defeats in 2003 and 2004 clearly ruined the Ukrainian's confidence.

The plan now is for Klitschko to fight the World Boxing Association's champion Nikolai Valuev, who is unbeaten in 46 fights, in June or July, at about the same time that his older brother, Vitali, returns to the ring to meet Oleg Maskaev for the World Boxing Council version.

The fact that two Ukrainians, a Russian and a Kazakh fighter will contest two of the heavyweight belts is one of the reasons why the division is as good as dead in America.

On the same night in Liverpool, Souleymane M'baye retained his WBA light welterweight title with a disputed draw against Ukraine's Andreas Kotelnik. Three years ago M'baye beat Kotelnik in another controversial split decision.

The nominal main event at the Olympia in Liverpool involved local boxer Derry Matthews, who defended his World Boxing Union featherweight title against the British featherweight champion John Simpson. It ended with a points decision for Matthews, but he was down in the first round and had two points deducted for hitting and holding in a bad-tempered brawl, which left Simpson believing he had won.