Olympic super-heavyweight champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy needed only one punch to reach his second successive World Championship final in Milan on Friday.Cammarelle landed a straight left into the face of Belarussian opponent Viktar Zuyeu to force a standing count, but before the referee could restart the fight, the Belarus coach threw in the towel, just 35 seconds into the contest.
After a bout of tentative pawing from both fighters Cammarelle slammed a straight left that clearly stunned his opponent, but it was more of a surprise for the crowd to see Zuyeu's coach give up so quickly.
"I'm not happy with that fight, I wanted to get at least a couple of rounds under my belt," said Cammarelle.
The reigning champion will face Ukraine's Roman Kapitonenko in the final after he defeated Olympic silver medallist Zhang Zhilei of China 5-2.
"I would have preferred to face Zhang, he's more technical," added Cammarelle.
Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko, the only other Olympic champion still in the field, cruised into the featherweight final with comprehensive 12-1 victory over Mexico's Oscar Valdez.
There was no doubt which was the dominant country, though, as Russia qualified six fighters for the finals out of 11 categories.
"We have a kind of pressure and tension to be the better than the others. It's not just about winning but about being great," said Russia coach Nikolay Kromov.
"That's the aim, it's not just about winning medals."
One fighter who did not make it, though, was Albert Selimov who failed in his bid to become a two-weight world champion when he was upset 9-5 by Puerto Rico's Jose Pedraza.
The featherweight champion from Chicago two years ago stepped up to lightweight following his first round defeat to Lomachenko at the Olympics last year but there was to be no repeat worlds success for the Russian as Pedraza controlled the bout from the first bell.
In the final he will face Italy's Domenico Valentino who delighted the home crowd with a 15-2 destruction of Georgia's Koba Pkhakadze.
Valentino will be hoping to go one better in Saturday's final than he did two years ago when he lost to Britain's Frankie Gavin in the gold medal bout in Chicago.
Mongolian Olympic silver medallist Purevdorj Serdamba qualified for the light-flyweight final with an 11-7 victory over China's Li Jiazhao, the successor to Zou Shiming, Serdamba's conqueror in Beijing and the winner at the last two World Championships.
Another Olympic silver medallist, Cuba's Yankiel Leon, did not fare so well as he was shut-out 5-0 by Bulgaria's Detelin Dalakliev at bantamweight.
Cuba also saw Jose Larduet fail to make the final as he was beaten 10-6 by Chicago silver-medallist Artur Beterbiev of Russia at light-heavyweight.
However, there was better news for light-welterweight Roniel Iglesias and heavyweight Osmai Acosta as the two Olympic bronze medallists both reached the final with respective victories against Mongolia's Uranchimeg Munkh and John M'Bumba of France.
Uzbekistan's Abbos Atoev stayed on course for a second successive world title as he defeated India's Vijender Singh 7-3 at middleweight.
Atoev was a surprise winner of the light-heavyweight division in Chicago, beating Beterbiev in the final, but has come down six kilos to fight at middleweight.
Frankie Gomez kept United States interest alive as he narrowly defeated Hungary's Gyula Kate 8-7 to reach the light-welterweight final.