David Haye's heavyweight protégé Joe Joyce enhanced his reputation last night with a stunning win in London, needing only 38 seconds to blast through Donnie Palmer.

The Londoner needed no time to settle in at The York Hall, taking the front foot from the off, and breaking the guard of Boston based Palmer several times in the opening seconds with vicious blows to the head.

It wasn’t long before the knockout blow was delivered, with a neat left-right combination to the head enough to send the visitor to the canvas.

To his credit, Palmer did get to his feet, yet was clearly in no state to continue as the referee brought an end to proceedings. It was a torrid night for the 34-year-old, who suffered only the second defeat of his career.

Joyce was clearly happy with his work on the night, and put the quick-fire victory down to an intense camp.

“The work I did in the gym has obviously paid off tonight and I've got that great rotation and explosion on his head. I hit him with some force and he was down,” he said after the fight.

Joyce first enjoyed recognition after attaining a silver medal as part of Team GB’s medal rush at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Whilst he has done little wrong since then, this is only his third professional fight, and he needs to prove himself against the bigger names in the division to challenge the heavyweight elite.

Joyce destroys Palmer in 38 seconds

Joyce already has progress on his mind, having marked Derek Chisora as his next target.

The protégé has accused Chisora and other established names of purposefully avoiding him. Speaking to Channel 5 after last night's victory Joyce said: “I was quite surprised. A lot of people are ducking me like [Dereck] Chisora but I was quite surprised when I landed that right hand”.

Joyce will be hoping to emulate the success of fellow Olympian and world champion Anthony Joshua.

A bout and victory over Chisora would certainly represent a huge step forward, if Joyce is to challenge the very top end of the heavyweight division.