Boxing: Haye floors Frenchman with crashing right-hander

David Haye produced another impressive performance to stop Saber Zairi in his second professional fight at Ponds Forge in Sheffield last night.

The former World Amateur Championships silver medallist punished the Frenchman and dropped him at the end of the third round with a crashing straight right.

Zairi, his nose leaking blood from the second round onwards, was finally halted on his feet by the referee Mickey Vann one minute into the fourth round.

The cruiserweight Haye had looked good on his professional debut against the wily Hull veteran Tony Booth in December and on the form he showed against Zairi there is no reason why the Londoner cannot go on to justify all the hype that has come his way. He alternated between body and head shots and would have felled better opponents with the two fine left hooks he landed in the second round.

Haye said: "He gave me exactly what I wanted – a really good work-out. I want to keep fighting at least once a month."

Jason Cook will have to fight better than ever to retain his European lightweight title in front of his hometown fans at the Bridgend Leisure Centre tonight.

A sell-out crowd of 2,000 will include several prison officers from Cook's six-month incarceration two years ago, who plan to show their support, but it is far from certain they will leave happy because the 36-year-old Italian Stefano Zoff is one of the very best boxing imports of recent years.