Anthony Joshua stopped Charles Martin in two rounds at London 's O2 Arena to claim the IBF
heavyweight title in only his 16th professional fight.
The Briton
floored his American opponent with a peach of a right-hand counter and after
Martin was knocked down again, the referee called a halt.
Joshua is
also just the third man to win a pro heavyweight world title while still a reigning
Olympic champion.
And he is
the first Briton to win both the super-heavyweight Olympic gold and a version
of the world heavyweight title - London-born Lennox Lewis was fighting for
Canada when he won the 1988 Olympic super-heavyweight title in Seoul.
Joshua's
victory now brings a super-fight against fellow Briton and WBA and WBO champion
Tyson Fury a step closer.
Champion
Martin, who was making the first defence of the title he won in January,
entered the ring wearing a tall crown, a fur-trimmed, velvet cape and a smile
as broad as his shoulders. But the smile soon disappeared.
Some
thought previously unbeaten Martin, 29, would trouble Joshua with his southpaw
stance - he was the first left-hander Joshua had faced in the paid ranks - but
he barely threw a punch in anger.
It took
Joshua half of the first round to find his range but when he did, he landed
with three or four big right hands that appeared to rattle the champion.
The
challenger staggered Martin with a sweet left hook early in the second, before
a beautifully timed right put him on the seat of his pants.
Martin rose
at eight but after another massive right put him down again, referee
Jean-Pierre van Imschoot counted him out on his feet, one minute and 32 seconds
into the round.
Remarkably,
Joshua now has 16 knockouts from 16 pro fights and has only boxed 34 rounds in
total. His only fight to go past three rounds was a seventh-round stoppage of
Dillian Whyte last time out.
Joshua
joins Muhammad Ali and Leon Spinks as the only men to be professional
heavyweight world champions while still reigning Olympic champions.
Ali, then
known as Cassius Clay, won light-heavyweight gold in 1960 before dethroning
Sonny Liston in 1964; Spinks won light-heavyweight gold in 1976 before dethroning
Ali in 1978, in only his eighth paid fight.
While
nobody has won a world heavyweight title faster than Spinks, Joshua surpasses
Ali (20 fights), Lennox Lewis (22) and Mike Tyson (28).
Frank
Bruno, Lewis, David Haye and Bob Fitzsimmons complete the list of Britain 's
heavyweight world champions. Herbie Hide and Henry Akinwande were WBO
title-holders when the belt was not taken seriously by many of the elite
fighters in the division.
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