The Australian Danny Green stopped Roy Jones Jr in the first round of their IBO world cruiserweight title fight, preventing the 40-year-old American from claiming his ninth title across five weight classes.
The 36-year-old Green retained his belt and improved to 28-3 with a technical knockout at the Acer Arena. It was Jones's first professional fight outside America in his 20-year career and only his sixth loss since 1989, along with 54 wins, 40 by knockout.
Green hit Jones with a right hand to the head after one minute, moved in to apply more pressure and, after a series of blows, the English referee, Howard Foster, stopped the bout after just 122 seconds.
Jones offered no excuses for a defeat which could signal the end of his career. "We don't make excuses, it was a great performance by Danny," he said.
Green, meanwhile, was almost apologetic for handing such a defeat to one of his boxing role models. "He's one of the greatest fighters of all time," Green told the crowd.
"I almost feel bad doing that, it almost most hurt me to do that to someone I look up to as a professional fighter inside and outside the ring. He's a bloody legend."
After a near one-hour delay following an undercard bout, Jones entered the arena to mild applause but Green, with the Australian band Men at Work's song Down Under playing, entered the ring to a rapturous reception.
Jones had been stopped just twice in his career, by Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson but Green warned ahead of the encounter that he could end the Sydney fight early.
"I won't name which punch, but there's one punch, if I hit him clean with it, he is going to be knocked out for a week," Green said. "His speed can baffle me, but my power – it can hospitalise someone. My fists are like bricks."
Green has never been stopped, although he was knocked down but not out by the Argentinian Omar González in 2004.
The Australian twice lost bids for the WBC super middleweight title to Markus Beyer – one by disqualification and the other in a split decision. He retired temporarily in March 2008 before making a comeback in April this year. Jones, who has won eight world title belts across four divisions from middleweight to heavyweight, was a strong betting favourite.