Moses Itauma made another emphatic statement as the British heavyweight prospect became the first fighter to stop Jermaine Franklin.
Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte were both taken the distance in points wins in Franklin's two previous visits to the UK but the durable American was brutally taken out midway through the fifth round in Manchester by Itauma.
Having knocked his opponent down in the third, Itauma closed the show in spectacular fashion a couple of rounds later, following up a punishing left uppercut with a right hand that saw Franklin crash to the canvas face first.
Referee Steve Gray immediately waved off the contest as Itauma bowed to the sold-out Co-op Live Arena crowd after moving to 14-0, which will only amplify calls for the 21-year-old to fight for a world title next.
Itauma admitted Franklin was the "final piece of the puzzle" before a world title fight - Oleksandr Usyk and Fabio Wardley hold the four major belts between them - and the Michigan man was lined up as an opponent for his robustness.
While Franklin absorbed some stinging blows throughout to get some rounds into the legs of Itauma, there was a major gulf in class, with the youngster displaying his superior speed, footwork and all-round ringcraft.
After masked Mancunian rapper Meekz performed on his ringwalk, Itauma quickly got to work, landing several southpaw lefts that rocked Franklin's head back although the underdog remained upright.
Itauma had stopped his last nine opponents inside two rounds and even though Franklin made it past that benchmark, he soaked up another big left, sticking out his tongue before rallying in the final few seconds.
Franklin received an eight count towards the end of the the next round after a short right hook behind his ear, having momentarily taken his eye off Itauma when backed up against the ropes.
He recovered well into the fourth but the end came in savage fashion in the next round as Itauma gained another highlight-reel knockout to the delight of the crowd.
Itauma is ranked as the no 1 challenger in the WBO and WBA rankings, while he sits at No 3 with the WBC, and promoter Frank Warren believes he could target a world title this year if unified champion Oleksandr Usyk vacates one of his belts.
Usyk, who holds the WBC, IBF and WBA belts, must make a mandatory defence of his WBC belt after his next fight against Rico Verhoeven in May.
Warren told DAZN "Well Usyk is fighting in Egypt. After that fight, he'll be ordered to defend his WBC title, which is against Agit Kabayel and if he doesn't do that he'll get stripped and then the next organisation will order him to defend his belt.
"He's got to defend his mandatories, that's what they are all there for to be done. I'm pretty confident he will fight for a world title this year."
Itauma, speaking on DAZN, said: "Thank you very much to the great Manchester crowd, I've had a lovely time.
"I'm happy to get the win. I've enjoyed my stay in Manchester, this is actually where I won my first national title. We come here seven years later, I'm picking up a win over Franklin.
"I've got to thank Franklin for giving me this opportunity, it takes two to tango. I appreciate it.
"I don't know what to say, the Lord is good. I tried to knock him out in the first or second round, but maybe not today. So I went back to the basics, and the knockout just came.
"When I first turned professional, I thought I would win titles but I didn't think it would be so soon. I'm just a young boy chasing a dream."
