Boxing:David Haye delivered on his promise to "destroy" bitter rival Audley Harrison with a devastating third-round stoppage in Manchester last night to retain his WBA heavyweight title.
The champion maintained throughout the build-up that his fellow Londoner was not deserving of a title shot and that the fight was made simply due to the public's interest in a former Olympic champion who is now simply a figure of fun.
So it proved, with Haye starting extremely tentatively before stepping it up to knock Harrison down and leave the 39-year-old surely staring at retirement.
While 30-year-old Haye came into the fight with a record of 24-1(22KOs), defending his title for the second time and hunting for unification bouts with the Klitschko brothers, Harrison was 27-4, (20KOs) and seeking to build on the momentum of a European title win in April.
That night 'A-Force' was losing widely to Michael Sprott before uncorking a winning left hand in the final round. Against Haye, that same weapon was regarded as his best chance in a fight bookmakers gave him little chance of winning.
Harrison boasted a three-stone weight advantage as well as a two-and-a-half-inch height difference, though Haye's slimmed-down frame enhanced his superior speed.
Harrison was booed into the ring like a pantomime villain and that continued in a tame opening round, with Harrison landing three southpaw jabs to Haye's solitary body shot and occasional probing.
Referee Luis Pabon called the fighters together to urge them to fight during the second round, though Haye at least landed a hard right early on and two more later in the session before the fight exploded in the third.
Haye jumped in with a right hand and hurt Harrison visibly. With Harrison on the ropes he followed it with a left-right, left-right combination which snapped the challenger's head back.
A further assault to the body followed before he focused on the head once more, unleashing left hooks and straight rights which sent his man crumpling to the floor.
Harrison was on his feet at eight but Haye ran across the ring to finish him off, teeing off with vicious right hands, a right uppercut and left hooks which repeatedly found their target.
When a dazed and endangered Harrison tried to cover up helplessly but took a roundhouse right flush, the referee called a halt to the fight one minute 53 seconds into the round.
Afterwards Haye told Sky Box Office: "I'm convinced I can crush anyone in the world. I'm in great condition as you can see and I can land punches whenever I choose to. That's why this fight went to the third round - I put a lot of money on the third round and lot of my friends and family did. I didn't want to let them down by doing him too early.
"Ask around - I told everyone I'd knock him out in three rounds. That's exactly what I did. No way was he going into that fourth round. If he would have gave me something silly early but he didn't and he was very cautious. I could have took him out earlier if I really put my foot on the pedal but there was no need. I was waiting for him to give me the perfect opportunity to land my Hayemaker.
"I knew there was going to be a big third round. I knew the boos would be turning to cheers in a matter of minutes. Adam wasn't fussed about it and he told me to ignore it. That's exactly what I did.
"When you look at videos of me fighting, it looks like I'm easy to hit. But when you're in there fighting me, it's a completely different thing. I didn't give him the opportunity to land that left hand - I don't even know how many times he threw it. I was waiting for him to throw the left hand so I could counter it - he knew that. He knows me really well.
"Credit to him - he got in really good shape. Maybe he could go on and fight somebody else for a title, but it's definitely not against me."
Haye said of a potential fight with either of the Klitschko brothers: "Next year I promise that fight is going to happen. I know there is nowhere else for them guys to go. They're fighting all the guys that everyone is bored of, you know. Audley Harrison is a character in the UK - everybody got behind him. That's why this fight happened. Who wants to see them fighting fat Americans coming over for a payday? No-one wants to see that so they've got no other option but to sit round a table and talk sense. We've got to get that fight happening next year. I guarantee I'll give them the same treatment as Audley Harrison got - and that's a knockout."