Tyson Fury pleaded with the referee to stop the contest when Dillian Whyte stumbled towards the referee after the brutal winning knockdown.
The pair clashed in a historic duel at Wembley Stadium in front of a raucous 94,000 crowd with Whyte looking to seize the world glory he had waited over 1700 days for. However he quickly became on the back foot from the first bell and was comprehensively outboxed by Fury who quickly dismantled his challenge.
Fury detonated his right hand in the sixth round which sent Whyte crashing to the canvas in the first significant opening of the contest. Whyte rose to his feet clearly on extremely shaky legs and it was quickly evident that his night would shortly be over.
After Whyte began stumbling towards the referee, the retaining champion pleaded with the official Mark Lyson to call a halt to the contest waving his hands and shouting "no" in a desperate bid to see no more action.
Lyson promptly followed his wishes after assessing the situation with Whyte clearly out on his feet after the well-time punch landed and ended his title challenge. The 'Body Snatcher' was left without complaints over the stoppage despite being just one second away from the midway point of the heavyweight clash.
An amicable build-up preceded the fight and the pair maintained their respectful attitude during an embrace after the stoppage took place. Fury later revealed that his desperate plea to the referee came through fears of seriously hurting his opponent if he had been required to go hunting further to close the show.
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"It was definitely a great shot," Fury said after the fight. "I was very happy with the referee Mark Lyson because if he would have allowed it to continue and me to storm in and hit him with two or three more, then he could have been in big trouble.
"He made a fantastic call because he was all over the place. I was actually concerned even though I just had chinned him. I was actually concerned it would be allowed to continue and I was like 'no ref don't let it go on' because I would have had to take him out and I didn't really want to do that. But the referee made the right decision and that was it."
Whyte and Fury embraced after the final bell and spoke about the fight, with Fury predicting that his rival will return to the top of the division despite the nature of the defeat. "I spoke to him after the fight," Fury said. "I gave him a kiss and a cuddle and told him he will be a world champion one day. People will say Dillian Whyte is s***, please put a pair of gloves on and we'll see if they s*** themselves."
