By Jake Donovan

Krzystztof Glowacki made the first successful defense of his cruiserweight title, dropping former champ Steve Cunningham four times en route to a unanimous decision win Saturday evening at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Scores were 115-109 (twice) and 116-108 in favor of Glowacki in the opening bout of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC-televised tripleheader. 

Glowacki was fighting for the first time since his off-the-canvas knockout win of long-reigning champ Marco Huck in their instant classic last August. As was the case on the night, the unbeaten southpaw from Poland was a bit slow out the gate, allowing for Cunningham - who turns 40 in July - to jump out to an early lead. 

The good fortunes didn't last very long for the the former champ from Philadelphia, who was dropped twice in a near-disastrous round two. Cunningham's biggest issue throughout the fight was an inability to get out of the way of Glowacki's potent left hand. 

When he wasn't on the canvas, Cunningham's supreme conditioning and boxing ability carried him through most rounds. However, an inability to remain off the canvas was ultimately his undoing, and more so lacking the equalizer to discourage Glowacki, who was pushed 12 rounds for the first time in his career.

Showing his fighting Philly heart, Cunningham never backed down at any point and - despite the knockdowns - very much managed to make a fight of it. Glowacki's power proved too much to overcome, however.

It was a painful lesson learned by Huck, who was tied for the most title defenses in cruiserweight history and even had the Polish boxer on the canvas in their non-stop thriller last summer. However, Glowacki recovered and went on to close the show in emphatic fashion. 

He did so again in the later rounds versus Cunningham, but settling for a strong finish to secure a points win in lieu of a knockout ending. A left hand shot upstairs had the former champ once again on the canvas in round 10, coming at a point when Cunningham had closed the gap on the scorecards. 

True to form, Cunningham came back within the round, rocking Glowacki with a right hand moments later and enjoying mild success in the remainder of the frame. It wasn't enough to avoid a 10-8 round on the scorecards, which meant he needed a knockout finish in order to become a three-time world champion.

Such were the marching orders issued by head trainer Brother Naazim Richardson prior to the final round. Yet it was Glowacki who fought like he needed the rounds. A fourth knockdown came in the closing seconds of the fight, putting an exclamation point on a strong first defense of his cruiserweight title. 

Glowacki improves to 26-0 (18KOs), coming up big in his first fight since recovering from a surgically repaired wrist.

Cunningham falls to  28-8-1 (13KOs), falling to 0-2-1 in his last three starts. A draw and loss made for a forgettable 2015 campaign, though both coming under dubious circumstances. The loss came in a 12-round decision to Vyacheslav Glazkov in their heavyweight title eliminator last March, in a slow moving fight that many felt should have went his way.

Five months later, Cunningham struggled to a draw with former light heavyweight titlist Antonio Tarver in a tough-to-watch heavyweight clash that headlined the same show on which Glowacki-Huck appeared. The decision wasn't controversial, but the aftermath was as Tarver was popped for a banned substance, the second such time in his disgraced career.

It was the last fight at heavyweight for Cunningham, who dropped back down to cruiserweight where he previously enjoyed two title reigns. However spirited was his performance on Saturday, it could also very well prove his last days spent on the championship level. The heart is always there, but Glowacki proved to be the fresher talent and the better boxer on this particular night.

With the win, Glowacki will have to next face unbeaten mandatory contender Oleksandr Usyk (9-0, 9KOs), the 2012 Olympic Gold medalist from Ukraine. 

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox