Haye, who is aiming to challenge fellow Briton Tyson Fury for the multiple heavyweight titles he won from Wladimir KJlitschko, took the center stage from the opening round and started his confrontation against de Mori with a series of jabs that mostly landed on targets.
In the middle part of the opening round Haye caught de Mori with a series of combinations and a solid right that clearly hurt de Mori and without letup Haye followed up with a series of power shots that brought down de Mori for good at 2:11 of the first round with the referee not even bothering with a count.
Before retiring in 2012, Haye (29-2-0, 27 KOs) scored a TKO win against Dereck Chisora following his loss to Wladimir Klitschko at the Imtech Arena, Hamburg, Germany in 2011.
Haye lost his WBA heavyweight title to Klitschko but he won the WBO International heavyweight title against Chisora in 2012 before retiring.
‘I want to win back my belt and my whole goal is to be the heavyweight champion of the world again,’ he told metro.co.uk in an interview last year.
Haye talked about the injury he suffered before losing to Klitshko, saying his shoulder has already healed and he’s now feeling great.
‘I’ve had some horrendous injuries and some low times, but I feel in great shape now and I’ll fight anyone who stands in my way,” he said.
After the fight, Hay said he is happy with his performance and ready to face Tyson Fury later this year. “I’m in good shape and I’m punching hard,” Haye said.
“He’s (Tyson Fury) is in fantastic shape and he’s young. I’m a little bit older but I think it would make for a great fight towards the end of 2016,” he added.
With the TKO win, Haye improved his record to 29 wins with only two defeats while de Mori dropped to 30-2.
