HESDY GERGES saved the best until last at It's Showtime 49, knocking out Chris Knowles in two ferocious rounds at The Sand in Amsterdam.

The Dutch capital had baked all day in 20-plus degree heat, and Gerges sent the thermometer off the charts with a clinical finish in the closing contest.

Gerges had endured a turbulent training camp for his second fight in a row, but the IT’S SHOWTIME super heavyweight champion ignored his troubles once again as he went gunning for courageous Knowles from the first bell.

Making his It's Showtime debut, the tough Englishman did well to ride out an early storm as Gerges worked him up and down with punches and low kicks, coming back with a hard low kick and solid combination of his own.

Well-known on the UK thai boxing circuit, Knowles dug in to land a decent overhand right and swept Gerges’s legs from under him at the start of the second round.

But Gerges was strictly business and the big Egyptian unleashed a devastating four-shot combination – starting with a right uppercut and finishing with a right cross – which splayed Knowles's legs and sent him crashing on his side.

Gerges finished Knowles a round quicker than Gokhan Saki, who stopped the Londoner with low kicks in a 2008 WFCA World title fight.

Having dusted himself down after suffering his first knockout defeat in 46 fights, Knowles was asked who he thought would win a fight between the two.

The 31-year-old Londoner said Saki kicks harder but was unable to pick a winner. “I don’t know (who would win) but I’d like to see it,” he added.

A fight for a future IT’S SHOWTIME event perhaps.

Mohamed Khamal won the ‘King of Amsterdam’ title with a thrilling defeat of Mosab Amrani at the last Fightclub presents It's Showtime card in December at the same venue.

The Vos Gym-trained Moroccan defended his unofficial crown with a majority 4-1 decision victory in a rematch against Dutch slugger Robin van Roosmalen.

Khamal won by knockout when the pair previously met last year but had to go the long way round this time as Van Roosmalen, with five wins from his previous six, came looking for revenge.

Sharp Khamal shook off a couple of low kicks to the groin to take the first round with his busier workrate and wider range of strikes.

The second was close as both had their moments, with Van Roosmalen doing well in the third and final as he landed hard clipping hooks from both hands.

An extra round looked a possibility but the judges thought otherwise as they went for hometown favourite Khamal, who felt he was a worthy winner of an entertaining fight.

“He is a tough fighter and a good fighter but I was better today,” he said. “In the first two rounds I was stronger and made more points, the third round was 50-50.”

Khamal added that he is now hoping to get a reserve fight on the IT’S SHOWTIME eight-man, 70kg tournament in Brussels in September.

Armenia’s Sahak Parparyan won the vacant IT’S SHOWTIME 85kg Max title on points in a close call against Chakuriki Gym-trained Egyptian Amir Zeyada.

Momentum switched this way and that throughout the five rounds as Parparyan pressed forward throwing body blows and low kicks.

Zeyada countered with fast boxing combinations as he fought gamely off the ropes and there was little to choose between the two at the end of a well-matched contest, with one judge's 50-45 score for Zeyada way off the mark.

Hafid ‘The Hyena’ El Boustati had the last laugh as he outscored prospect Mohamed Medhar in a 70kg clash. El Boustati’s fluid in and out boxing saw him home, with Medhar suffering his second IT’S SHOWTIME defeat in succession after looking to land swinging single right hands.

Peruvian Frank Paredes Vilchez won his It's Showtime 65kg debut, beating Robert van Nimwegen by unanimous decision.

Vilchez generally had the better of the exchanges as he kept Van Nimwegen on the back foot and threw left hooks to the body.

Georgia beat Russia in the opening fight on the main programme as wiry Giga Chikadze floored Evgeniy Kurovskoy with a peach of a right uppercut in the first round on the way to a 70kg points win.

Kurovskoy gave it his best shot after being put on the seat of his shorts, but found it hard to close the distance at times against his much taller opponent.

In 85kg matches on the undercard, Jason Wilnis outpointed brave Laurent Attrifi and Amersfoort’s Geronimo de Groot outscored Luis Tavares.

Omar Hanafy showed a lot of heart to go the distance in a 75kg points loss to Ramin Rezai after taking a count from a first round left hook.

Dangerous middleweight Mo Ben Nasser picked up his second first round stoppage win for It's Showtime in succession after slicing open Nick Beljaards’s eyebrow with a pinpoint knee.