Tyson Fury completed the first stage of his latest comeback when he outclassed Arslanbek Makhmudov in an uninspiring near shutout over 12 rounds late on Saturday night. The former world heavyweight champion has retired on five previous occasions and, each time, he has been unable to resist the lure of a return to the ring. Now, even at the age of 37, he was still too fast, fluid and accurate for the lumbering Makhmudov.

The Russian from Dagestan hits hard and 17 of his previous 21 victories had featured successful stoppages within the first three rounds. But Makhmudov has never faced a heavyweight of Fury’s pedigree. The chasm between them was obvious from the second round and reflected in the scorecards as two judges had Fury winning each round, in a 120-108 victory, while the third official recorded a 119-109 margin.

As soon as the formality of the result was confirmed, Fury turned to the watching Anthony Joshua and demanded that they meet in the ring in their next fight. Joshua stared intently at Fury before he was finally compelled to pick up a microphone – only for his answer to disappear in an embarrassing loss of sound.

After 16 months away from boxing, Fury chose to precede his ring walk with a tribute to Ricky Hatton, the much-loved but troubled fighter from Manchester who died last September. Both men suffered for years with mental health problems and it was touching to see Fury appear just as Blue Moon rang out across this vast and gleaming arena. His eyes were glazed with tears for his lost friend.

Makhmudov, looking like a bearded monk beneath his black hood, seemed unmoved as he waited for Fury to join him in the ring. Once the bell had rung, the hulking heavyweight offered Fury a meaty welcome back to boxing as, looking unconcerned by the magnitude of the biggest fight of his career, he chased after his vaunted rival. There was scant finesse to Makhmudov’s work but a couple of his crude punches landed as Fury took his time to ease into the bout.

Fury settled in behind his jab and, towards the end of the second round, he showed his superior technique as he spun away from Makhmudov to land a crisp and clubbing combination in a corner of the ring. Makhmudov began to look a little weary as, in the third, he took a couple of deep gulping breaths. But, a few minutes later, he caught Fury with a solid left but that solitary punch was countered by the Gypsy King’s hand speed as he popped combinations into Makhmudov’s face and body.

A small swelling began to form beneath Makhmudov’s left eye and, midway through a roughhouse scrap, Fury turned to his corner to marvel at his own string of punches. He shook his grinning head and waved his arm as if to celebrate the kind of dexterity missing from Makhmudov’s repertoire. But it was still a leaden contest. The bearded brawler kept barrelling forward as his head presented an easy target for Fury’s uppercut in the seventh round.

The crowd managed a stifled roar when, in round eight, Fury tagged Makhmudov with a sharp left and then another right uppercut. But Fury’s work was contained, rather than brilliant, as he cruised through the rounds against a hand-picked opponent who had the requisite toughness to take the fight the distance.

In the 10th he again unfurled the same jolting uppercut which made Makhmudov’s head rock back. But there was little sign that Fury was about to seal a stoppage victory. There was more of the same in the final three minutes before Fury raised his arm and kissed Makhmudov in honour of his grit – if not much semblance of skill.

Before the fight Turki al-Sheikh, the man behind Saudi Arabia’s control of a significant chunk of professional boxing, spoke at ringside in an interview broadcast on Netflix. Sheikh, with his customary yet awkward swagger, promised “a big surprise” and that “we will announce the biggest fight in the history of England”. The fact that Joshua was seated just a few feet away from him rather undermined the apparent revelation.

But Joshua took the remaining heat out of the occasion when, while talking into a functioning microphone, he initially refused to commit himself to the proposed fight. His response was perhaps understandable while he continues to recover from the car accident in Nigeria which cost the lives of two of his close friends in December. Joshua eventually conceded that “contracts are being sent over and you’ll probably see us in the ring next, more than likely”.

Asked whether he would need a warm-up fight, Joshua responded sharply: “Good question. That [Fury] could be a warm-up fight, based on what I saw tonight.”

In the main event on the undercard Conor Benn defeated the veteran former world champion Regis Prograis, winning their 10-round contest 98-92 on all three scorecards. But, at 29, Benn is eight years younger than Prograis. He is also much the bigger and fresher man so there was little surprise in his victory. But the best welterweights in the world will hardly be quaking after watching Benn look not much more than a decent operator who is in supreme condition.

The muted hum of the crowd throughout the fight suggested they were similarly underwhelmed. A gracious Prograis, a fine boxer and an even better man, confirmed his retirement after he congratulated Benn.

Fury, meanwhile, is back in business but this was not a night to judge the real merit of his predictable comeback. Far better and more dangerous opponents will tell us more than this landslide against a cumbersome man-mountain who offered such little threat in the ring.