Last month, Britain's Anthony Joshua defeated veteran Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in a world heavyweight title fight epic in front of 90,000 people at Wembley, taking victory on an 11th round stoppage.
Joshua added the WBA, IBO titles to his IBF belt but only after being knocked to the canvas by the 41-year-old Klitschko in the sixth round.
The Ukrainian was also sent crashing to the floor in the fifth round and twice more in the pivotal 11th as the 27-year-old British fighter took his record to 19 wins in 19 fights.
A third defence of his IBF world heavyweight title also earned Joshua the vacant WBA belt as he became the first British heavyweight since Lennox Lewis in 2002 to hold two versions of the world title.
It was Klitschko’s first stoppage defeat since Lamon Brewster beat him in 2004 and leaves his record at 64 wins and five defeats.
Klitschko was trying to reclaim two of the three belts he lost to Joshua’s fellow Briton Tyson Fury by an upset on points in November 2015.
The Ukrainian had not fought since then after Fury twice pulled out of rematches and entered the ring as the underdog.
It was Joshua, after 18 straight knockouts as a professional, who was the 1/2 betting favourite and he smiled as he walked to the ring in front of Britain’s largest boxing attendance since 1939.
Both fancied they could stop each other and in the latter rounds looked for the big shot. And it was Joshua who landed it in the 11th. The champion uncorked a sweet right uppercut to snap back Klitschko’s head, followed by another right to send his opponent to the canvas.
Klitschko courageously got up but was nailed by another right and another right uppercut which dumped him back on the canvas. Klitschko got up from the second knockdown in the round but when Joshua started to pile on the pressure referee David Fields stepped in to stop it.