Joshua overwhelms Whyte in seven
British heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15 KOs) knocked out countryman Dillian Whyte (16-1, 13 KOs) in the 7th round on Saturday night at The O2 Arena in Greenwich, London.
The Olympic gold medallist, who lost to Whyte in an amateur contest in 2009, had to take some heavy blows for the first time in his professional career before ending the clash of bitter rivals with a huge uppercut.
Joshua staggered Whyte with power punches in the opener and when he continued to unload after the bell, Whyte retaliated with two shot as both camps stormed the ring.
Whyte stunned Joshua with a left hook in the second round and followed up with more punches to the head and body of his shaken opponent.
Joshua soon took charge again, ripping right hands through Whyte's defences in the 4th. He continued to land hard punches as the fight progressed and while Whyte threw back shots despite on shaky legs, a devastating right uppercut sent him to the canvas in the 7th.
Whyte stayed flat on his back as the fight was waved off at 1:27 of the round.
With the win, Joshua captured the vacant British heavyweight title and defended his Commonwealth belt.
Also on the card, Chris Eubank Jr (21-1, 15 KOs) stopped Gary O’Sullivan (22-2, 15 KOs) after seven rounds in a WBA middleweight title eliminator.
Eubank connected with solid shots from the start, and while the Irishman had his moments and came back with some good punches, his cornermen called a halt to the bout at the end of the 7th with O’Sullivan taking too much punishment.
The Brit fighter is now the mandatory challenger to Daniel Jacob's WBA middleweight title.
Venezuelan banger Ismael Barroso (19-0, 18 KOs) halted two-time world title challenger Kevin Mitchell (39-4, 29 KOs) in the fifth round in a WBA interim lightweight title bout.
Barroso was credited with a knockdown in the 4th despite a tangle of legs.
But if there was any doubt about the first knockdown, there was none about the following two knockdowns in the fifth.
A jolting jab floored the Londoner heavily onto the canvas.
After he unsteadily got back to his feet, Barroso piled on more punches to send Mitchell down again before the fight was stopped at 2:40 of the round.
Barroso will now challenge WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla.
British cruiserweight Tony Bellew (26-2-2, 16 KOs) scored a hard-fought unanimous decision over Poland's Mateusz Masternak (36-4, 26 KOs) to claim the vacant European title.
Both exchanged punches throughout and Bellew's left eye began to swell but he finished the stronger and landed some hard shots in the 12th and won by scores of 115-112, 115-112 and 115-113.
In an upset, 2012 Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell (12-1, 10 KOs) lost a split decision against Frenchman Yvan Mendy (33-4-1, 16 KOs).
Mendy knocked down the previously unbeaten Brit in the fifth and was awarded scores of 115-112 and 115-113, while the third judge scored it 115-113 for Campbell.