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It was clinical. Precise. Brutal. But most of all, patient.
Tim Tszyu had to dig deep — of course he did, he was fighting for a world title against the man ranked second in his division.
But, by beating Brian Mendoza on the Gold Coast on Sunday, the WBO world super welterweight champion Tszyu not only knocked off another target on his hit list in typically ruthless style, but solidified his status as one of the world's most brutal exponents of the sweet science.
"I thought it was a great Tim Tszyu performance," George Rose said at the post-fight press conference.
"Different to what we've seen in the last few fights and something that was super impressive too."
It was different.
There was more defence, more wariness. More respect perhaps?
But then again all week Tszyu was somehow different.
He said he was relaxed, "in control" during the pre-fight build up.
The steeliness normally delivered by Tszyu in fight week was only there in patches — Tszyu was the man to break the gaze during the face-off and smile at Mendoza at the weigh in, for example.
Surely Tszyu, the most focused and driven of Australian athletes was not thinking ahead to future fights?
It was not a ruse. Tszyu really was just in control — just as he eventually was in the ring.
Even when Mendoza unleashed the powerful upper-cuts that bought him two knockout wins in his last two fights, blows that knocked Sebastian Fundora off his perch as WBC interim champion last time out, Tszyu rode the wave.
Those blows were enough to almost silence the raucous 6,000-strong crowd at the Gold Coast Convention Centre but Tszyu, who admitted that he was stung a little by the early shots but, having sparred with super middleweights and light heavyweights, was simply able to ride the wave.
"You could see how dangerous Brian Mendoza was," Rose said.
"We all talked about his power leading up to the fight and every time he threw one of those big punches I think everyone held their breath for a moment.
"And then Tim just shook it off."
Time is right for Tszyu to move into the upper echelon
Boxing, as with most sports, is all about timing.
Even tonight, for the first six rounds Tszyu had to be patient. Cautious even.
"He's slick, he's hard to hit," Tszyu said.
"It was all about being patient and finding the right shots. Not unleashing too many punches.
"I sorta figured him out [but] I couldn't find the distance because he was always moving.
"I was always concerned. This fight, I had to focus 100 per cent."
Focus. Control. Words we use to describe Tszyu in and out of the ring, but patience is not one normally associated with Australian boxing's flag bearer.
After all, Tszyu has fought an impressive three times this year — all against world-ranked fighters — to consolidate his place at the top of the division.
Jermell Charlo had proclaimed Tszyu a paper champion, but by failing to meet him in the ring, it is the American who looks phoney, despite being unified across the other belts in the division.
There is plenty of conjecture about whether Charlo will back up his words by agreeing to meet Tszyu in the ring after what Tszyu claimed was his "little payday" against Saúl Canelo Álvarez at super middleweight last month.
Main Event pundit and former two-time world welterweight champion Shawn Porter doubts whether his fellow American will ever want to meet Tszyu in the ring based on what he's seen.
"I don't blame him [for not wanting to fight me]," Tszyu said, even if Charlo remains his number one target.
I doubt many would blame anyone for wanting to avoid Tszyu. Every time he steps in the ring he steps up in class.
For six rounds against a fiercely competitive fighter ranked second in the division on Sunday he had to solve a puzzle, but when he did the results were devastating, leaving Mendoza with a face like tenderised meat.
His biggest bargaining chip though is his newly earned WBO world title.
"Having this gives you a bit of bargaining power," Tszyu said, pointing at the belt in front of him.
"When you have this, they can come and get it."
Tszyu is in the top 0.1 per cent, but he's not a legend yet
Although preferring to face Charlo, Tszyu is not worried about who he'll fight next.
"I'll fight anyone, man," he said, later holding up his hand when told former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence had moved up to super welter.
And he means it.
"Super middle[weight], middle[weight], super welter[weight]," Tszyu said.
Even Canelo?
"That's the level I'm at," Tszyu said. "The super fight level."
"I don't talk shit out of my arse. I'm actually up there.
"I learned from a young age, my parents taught me, if you say you're someone or you're going to do something, you're going to do it.
"And I believe I'm at that, not at that 1 per cent level, that 0.1 per cent level where it is the super fight level.
"That's where we're heading."
Tszyu admitted a fondness for historical drama movies in the press conference (the latest was Troy — he only lasted an hour into Gladiator) but where all roads once led to Rome, now they lead to Las Vegas, the home of the super fight.
The home, in the coming years, of Tim Tszyu.
"I feel that [this fight and world title is] just the beginning of it all," Rose said at the press conference.
"It's another big one before we head over to the US.
"When you're talking about the Tim Tszyu hit list [which stands at Charlo, Crawford and Canelo], they're hard fights to make in Australia."
They are not hard fights to make in Vegas though, with March — which, coincidentally or not, will be when the NRL takes rugby league Stateside — the key aim.
"To go over there, watch the rugby but finish to finish up on a boxing fight? That's a holiday right there for any boxing fan," South Sydney fan Tszyu said.
Tszyu, as he said in the press conference, has options of where to set his sights in terms of opponents.
He stated that his aim of earning the respect of the boxing world is already there and that, by taking on the three world-level fights this year, he is proud of the person he has become.
But this is just the start.
"I think respect is there," Tszyu said.
But is he approaching boxing immortality?
"No. Not yet. That would be disrespectful to the immortals," he said.
"I'm a realist. By winning a world title, it doesn't compare to nothing to what my dad did.
"He was a three-time world champion for 10 years. No other man has done that.
"Him and Jeff Fenech, are the top two. That's immortality for me.
"There's still a long way to go [for me]. But I'm on the path."
There are few who can doubt that.
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