Tyson Fury pleaded with the referee to call off his fight with Dillian Whyte after dropping 'The Body Snatcher' with a picture-perfect uppercut in the sixth round.
Whyte somehow rose back to his feet before the count of 10 but looked unsteady before referee Mark Lyson waved off the WBC heavyweight title bout.
Fury floored Whyte with a sixth round uppercut
The challenger beat the count to get up
However, Fury screamed that Whyte should not be allowed to continue
As the man in the middle took a good look at Whyte before making his decision, Fury can be seen in the background pleading with the official to put a stop to it as a sign of respect to his opponent, who was clearly in no fit state to continue.
Fury has done that before when he asked the referee to put Derek Chisora out of his misery when he fought him for the second time in 2014.
"I was very happy with Mark Lyson, he did a fantastic job," Fury said after the Whyte fight.
"If he had allowed it to continue and me to storm into him and hit him with two or three more then he may have been in some serious trouble.
"So, a big shout out to the ref. He made the right call there. I would have had to pile on to him again and hurt him, and I didn't really want to do that."
The fight started with a surprise tactical decision from Whyte who came out boxing in southpaw. It is something the 34-year-old has never done before and it appeared to throw off Fury in the early stages of the bout.
In round two, Whyte returned to his usual orthodox stance and Fury switched to southpaw before quickly changing back during what was a cautious three minutes from both men.
Fury hurt Whyte with a number of body shots before knocking him out with an uppercut
As the fight dragged on it became a little messy as an argument broke out between the two boxers midway through the fourth frame when they clashed heads, leaving a cut over Whyte's right eye.
In round five, hard body shots were exchanged between the pair, but it was Fury who was able to land a big right-hand upstairs that seemed to momentarily wobble Whyte.
As they approached the midway point, Whyte was competitive but losing the rounds and clearly needed to try something different if he hoped to have any chance of winning on the judges' scorecards.
Fury went over to console his opponent immediately after the stoppage
In the end, they weren't needed as Fury landed a huge right uppercut that sent Whyte to the canvas in round six.
The long-time heavyweight contender rose to his feet but was clearly in no position to defend himself and the fight was called off.
In the immediate aftermath of the biggest fight of the year, Fury retired from boxing and announced his intention to fight UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a hybrid bout and serenaded the 94,000 fans in Wembley Stadium with his version of Don McLean's American Pie.
He did, though, hail Whyte's warrior spirit but added it was a shame he was fighting someone as good as him.
"Tonight, he met a great in the sport. There's no disgrace. He's a tough, game man. But you're not messing with a mediocre heavyweight. You're messing with the best man on the planet. And you saw that tonight."
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