Vijender had little trouble outpunching his opponent, who failed to get up after being thrown off balance by his body blows in the third round.
"I don't know what happened to him, I think he was looking to get out by making an excuse. It's a good start to the year for me. I am happy to register another knockout win. I think this is a great start for me looking ahead to my WBO Asia title bout in India (on June 11) this year," Vijender said after the bout.
The 30-year-old Indian, who went into contest on the back of three successive knockout triumphs, continued to be a cut above his rivals, who talk big but deliver little inside the ring.
The 20-year-old Horvath, with an experience of seven pro fights before today, had been dining on snake blood to prepare himself but it seemed the bizarre routine helped little in countering the ferocity of India's first Olympic and World Championships bronze-medallist.
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The Indian took barely a few seconds to get a measure of his rival and once that was done, Vijender landed some telling jabs to unsettle Horvath, whose spat out his gumshield twice in the opening round itself.
Vijender did exceptionally well in commanding the pace of the bout and managed to drain the Hungarian in the second round itself.
Horvath's body language was sluggish while Vijender executed his counter-attacks with the right mix of confidence and power.
The Welsh-born Hope, who emigrated to Australia, was
also a WBC middleweight champion and has moved a division up to super middleweight to take on Vijender.
On fighting for the belt for the first time, the Indian dasher said, "After this I will come in the league, my ranking will be 15 in the world and then it's going to be like going for the world title fight -- slowly, may be next year or after that," he said.
"I will go to the Rio Olympics (to support other Indian boxers), after this fight. I will go and just watch the fight in Rio," said Vijender, who lost in the quarter finals of the last Olympic Games in London and also figured in the Athens Games in 2004.