Boxing:Matthew Macklin restored his position as a middleweight title contender with a ruthless stoppage of Joachim Alcine in Las Vegas. Macklin put Alcine down twice in the opening blows of their non-title clash on the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez undercard and the fight was over inside three minutes.
The Irish middleweight went in to the fight on the back of world title defeats to Felix Sturm and Martinez and he appeared hungry from the opening bell.
He rained in shots on Alcine, who had only previously been beaten twice, and the Quebec-based fighter was on the canvas twice inside the opening minute, the first from a clubbing right he could never recover from.
Macklin continued to dominate as the round wore on, landing more heavy shots that forced referee Jay Nady to call a halt with 24 seconds remaining in the first round.
Macklin will now have a rematch with Martinez in his sights after the Argentinean survived a late onslaught from Chavez Jr to capture the WBC middleweight crown.
The 37-year-old Martinez, who beat Macklin in 11 rounds in March, had promised champion Chavez a powerful performance and was true to his word for much of the fight as he dominated with his quicker, busier style.
He bloodied his opponents' nose and closed his left eye with southpaw right jabs and straight left hands, and gradually weakened him with left hands to the body.
However, Chavez landed a series of left hooks early in the final round and knocked Martinez down. The challenger was badly hurt but he returned fire and managed to hang on until the bell to inflict a first defeat on the 26-year-old Mexican.
"Julio fought a great fight. He showed he had heart right until the end," said Martinez, whose record is now 50-2-2.
Chavez said: "I was 20 seconds away from knocking him out. I started way too late. Going into the fight, I thought I was going to be able to do all night what I did in that final round. A rematch is justified."