German boxer Felix Sturm has scored a second round TKO victory over defending champion Darren Barker to take the Briton's IBF middleweight title in Stuttgart.
Former WBA champion Sturm twice knocked Barker to the canvas and looked set to finish him off when the towel was thrown in.
Referee Mark Nelson called it off two minutes, nine seconds into the round on Saturday.
Sturm, a German of Bosnian descent, claimed his fourth world title and improved to 38-3-2 (17 KO), while Barker dropped to 26-2 (16 KO).
"I hit him well with my swings," said Sturm.
"We worked on that in training. I also worked on my hip rotation and was more stable than before."
Barker, who pointed at his hip after going down the second time, was limping and clearly in major discomfort.
The Londoner previously had two hip replacement operations. He was taken to a hospital directly after the bout to assess the extent of his injury.
He added that he was looking forward to a rematch in England early next year.
