Olympic gold medallist James DeGale stopped Belfast's Ciaran Healy at the end of the first round of their super-middleweight contest in Manchester on Saturday night.
DeGale dumped Healy to the canvas with a pair of savage body shots and, although his opponent gamely got to his feet at the count of eight, the Londoner finished the job with another sharp left.
Referee Phil Edwards waved the contest off just as the bell sounded to end the round and the towel was flung by the 34-year-old's cornerman Eamonn Magee.
Despite Healy's modest reputation it was a textbook performance from DeGale who mixed aggression with accuracy to score the most impressive win of his short professional career.
And it was good enough to silence the boo-boys who bizarrely dogged him through his first two contests despite his heroics in clinching middleweight gold in China last summer.
After a tentative paid debut, DeGale hammered previously unbeaten Jindrich Kubin to first-round defeat in his last fight in May to suggest more of an exciting, front-foot future was in store.
And DeGale delivered the goods again in style tonight, wobbling the outclassed Healy with an opening left and completely dominating his rugged foe for the most emphatic of wins.
Former world amateur champion Frankie Gavin knocked opponent Graham Fearn down twice on his way to a second-round stoppage and his third straight win.
The 23-year-old worked over the York chocolate factory worker until a left to the body melted Fearn's resistance midway through round two.
Fearn gamely clambered to his feet at the count of eight but was merely prolonging the inevitable and, when Gavin floored him again with a short left, referee Steve Gray wisely called the contest off.
Hatfield teenager Billy Joe Saunders also came through his third paid test against Nottingham veteran Matt Scriven, who entered the ring having lost his last 27 consecutive fights.
Predictably Saunders bossed the contest from the start, landing unanswered shots with either hand on his game opponent before referee Edwards stopped Scriven on his feet at one minute 21 seconds of the second round.
