Regis Prograis couldn’t help but be impressed by Terence Crawford’s latest performance inside the ring.

The 140-pound WBC champion from New Orleans praised the WBO 147-pound champion from Omaha, Nebraska, after the latter drubbed David Avanesyan in six rounds last month.

Crawford, per usual, put on a methodical showing in the early going, gradually breaking down the durable Russian-born, UK-based contender, and then stopping him with a counter right hook. The shot left Avanesyan flat on his back; he lay motionless for several minutes.

“He’s cerebral, bro,” Prograis, who was ringside for Crawford-Avanesyan, told FightHubTV. “Like I said, he’s a chess player. He’s just setting you up with things and at the same time he got power. That’s kind of hard to beat.

“He change up—he got a lot of different variations. He change up everything he doing. He’ll change it up not just style-wise but he’ll change it up speed-wise, and he’ll change it up power-wise. You just don’t know. People get knocked out with the shots they don’t see coming, with the shots they don’t expect.”

“If you’re hitting somebody and you’re touching them and you touching and then you speed up a little bit and then you touch them again and then you hit ’em with a hard one, it just surprise you and that’s kind of what he doing, that’s kind of his style. He just break you down, not only physically but he break you down mentally.”

Crawford-Avanesyan was not a fight boxing fans were clamoring for to end this year, as most were looking forward to seeing him face WBA, WBC, and IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. But negotiations between the two fell apart, leading Crawford to pursue a fight with Avanesyan. Spence is expected to fight Keith Thurman in the coming months.

Prograis, who resides and trains in Houston, is coming off an 11th-round stoppage of Jose Zepeda to win the WBC 140-pound strap.