During the lead up of Terence Crawford’s showdown against David Avanesyan, the 35-year-old pound-for-pound star did his best to posture and praise the fringe contender as a legitimate threat.

Officially, the two would square off on December 10th, in Crawford’s backyard in Omaha, Nebraska. Although the WBO belt holder claimed that Avanesyan was a rough and rugged foe, fans across the globe let out a collective sigh.

Initially, after breaking away from Top Rank, it seemed likely that both Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., the welterweight division’s unified champion, would finally face off. However, despite months of intense negotiations, talks broke off as Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) opted to go in another direction.

All along, Avanesyan, 34, warned the rest of his boxing contemporaries of his in-ring abilities. Nevertheless, with the pugilistic lights shining at their absolute brightest, the Russian native cracked underneath the immense pressure, succumbing in the sixth round via brutal stoppage.

From the moment Avanesyan’s lifeless body bounced off the canvas, Crawford’s supporters rose to their feet in celebration. Jaron Ennis, the switch-hitting star from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the other hand, remained stone-faced throughout.

Originally, after wondering why team Crawford failed to reach out to him to gauge his interest, Ennis (29-0, 27 KOs) was of the belief that Avanesyan (29-4-1, 17 KOs) was nothing more than a tenuous title challenger.

With Crawford barely breaking a sweat, he uncorked a mind-numbing right hand. The force of the blow would rock Avanesyan to sleep, leaving him unresponsive for several minutes. Ennis, currently ranked in the top five of each of the four sanctioning bodies, shrugged his shoulders in the immediate aftermath. Although he credits Crawford for looking terrific on the night, the end result was far from surprising in his view.

“I expected it to go that way," said Ennis to BoxingScene.com. "We all knew he was going to knock him out.”