World ranked Billy Dib won the WBO Asia Pacific interim featherweight boxing title in controversial circumstances, in a result which sparked ugly scenes at Luna Park on Thursday night.
Dib won a stoppage late in the first round, but the manner of the result over Japan's Kenichi Yamaguchi provoked unseemly scenes inside the ring.
The stoppage infuriated the Japanese fighter, who pushed referee Les Fear, while Dib got involved in a shoving match as other people entered the ring.
Down inside the first 80 seconds, Dib recovered to knock his opponent down in the closing seconds of the round.
The Australian then appeared to hit Yamaguchi with a left hand punch after he had gone down.
"The shot was in the moment, things like that happen," Dib said in his post-fight interview.
Yamaguchi appeared wobbly after he got to his feet and Fear stopped the bout.
Coming out to the ring to the song 'Beat It' by the recently deceased Michael Jackson, Dib slipped to the canvas twice in the brief bout, but was also floored by a legitimate blow.
He rallied to impose pressure on the foreign fighter and put him down.
Australian cruiserweight champion Daniel Ammann was unable to gain revenge over Jamie Withers for a previous defeat, after he couldn't continue beyond the first round.
The bout was declared a technical draw after Ammann suffered an eye injury caused by an accidental elbow from his opponent.
In a bout between two other nationally ranked cruiserweights, Dominic Vea stopped Anthony McCracken in the seventh round of a gruelling contest.
Referee Garry Dean stopped the fight after Vea dropped McCracken with body shots three times in the seventh.
AAP