Daniel Dubois has retained his WBO world heavyweight title with a brutal second-round stoppage of Fabio Wardley.
Their fight-of-the-year rematch at The O2 Arena in London ended in a furious assault from the champion.
With just 39 seconds left in the round, referee Steve Gray waved off the contest as Wardley’s trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel.
Resuming hostilities just five months after their first encounter, Dubois launched an all-out assault from the first bell and earned a destructive victory that sent a clear message to his rivals in the division.
The Londoner’s first defence of the title he seized from Wardley in May positions him for unification fights, as well as a possible clash with the winner of Tyson Fury’s much-anticipated bout against Anthony Joshua in Cardiff on December 11.
On this evidence, he will be the favourite to unify the heavyweight belts after a display of ferocious punching power that left Wardley in survival mode from the start.
Wardley had vowed to make the adjustments needed to avenge the only defeat of his career.
However, the former white-collar boxer was outclassed as his inexperience caught up with him.
Dubois had oozed confidence all week and he wasted no time marching into the ring, dispensing with the stage theatrics to get the fight started as soon as possible.
The 29-year-old dealt Wardley his first defeat as a professional when he came back from two knockdowns, the first after 16 seconds, to take the title in a thunderous and bloody clash in Manchester last May.
Wardley had been promoted to WBO champion last November after Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title.
More to follow...
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