Kevin McBride shrugged off Mike Tyson's attempts to break his arm after sending the former heavyweight king into long overdue retirement.
The tall 32-year-old from Clones used his height to force a sixth-round retirement from Tyson at the MCI Center in Washington DC.
New Yorker Tyson, 38, confirmed his retirement after the humiliating defeat, which saw him resort to sly clinches, low shots and deliberate headbutts as he desperately tried to salvage something from the fight.
McBride stuck to his plan, closing the weary Tyson down quickly and stifling his lacklustre single-shot attacks.
Referee Joe Cortez docked two points from Tyson in the sixth round of the scheduled 10 after the American deliberately caught McBride with his head and forced a cut to the eye. The former world champion had earlier been warned about punching below the belt.
Despite the all-too-familiar dirty tactics, McBride was determined to pay homage to Tyson and after the fight, thanked the veteran for the opportunity and proclaimed him a legend.
"He was trying to break my arm and headbutt me," McBride admitted. "That's the rough tactics of boxing and he wasn't getting his way with me.
"I am the bigger, stronger man and the bigger stronger man will always beat the smaller stronger man.
"I take a good shot, I am just coming into my prime and I have got a lot more to offer boxing so I am looking forward to the future," McBride said after the bout.
Tyson, meanwhile, insisted the headbutt seemed his only option as his energy sapped.
"I was desperate, I wanted to win."
However, Kevin McBride does not deserve a world-title shot on the back of his awkward victory over Mike Tyson, according to his former manager Frank Maloney.
"It is a great victory for him, it will help his pedigree but I do not believe it warrants a world-title fight," Maloney said.
"I was pleased for Kevin, obviously, because I worked with him from scratch.
"But people can get carried away with this victory. You have actually got to put it in perspective and look at the Mike Tyson that stepped into the ring and realise that Mike Tyson has not got it."
