Adrien Broner, Gervonta Davis Score Knockouts At D.C. Armory

Photos by Nabeel Ahmad for Premier Boxing Champions

WASHINGTON, D.C.–It was an evening of dominant performances on Friday night as all three A-sides on the Premier Boxing Champions card on Spike TV put on impressive displays of power and boxing ability, out-classing their opposition in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,172 inside the sweltering D.C. Armory.

Headliner Adrien “The Problem” Broner put his recent legal woes aside to score a 9th-round stoppage of the Englishman Ashley Theophane in the main event. Broner, who lost his junior welterweight belt before the fight for failing to make the 140-lb limit, surrendered to Cincinnati police on Monday morning on charges of felony assault and aggravated robbery and was released the same day on $100,000 bail.

On Friday night, he called out former mentor Floyd Mayweather Jr. after the fight, escalating the recent war of words between him and the recently retired pound-for-pound champion.

“I’m a man, but at the end of the day, somebody that I look up to, someone that I admire took the chance to do an interview and talk bad about me. I’m a man - Floyd has got to see me,” Broner said.

"I come from nothing. I’m talking about water and Cornflakes. And I would never let a man disrespect me like that. So you gotta see me. I don’t care if we’re sparring or if we’re fighting, let’s get it on.

In the opening bout of the telecast, blue-chip super featherweight prospect Gervonta “Tank” Davis” (15-0, 14 KOs) of Baltimore, Md., pounded the very game Guillermo Avila (16-6, 13 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico throughout the duration of the fight, putting on a show for his hometown DMV fans. Davis, a Stiff Jab favorite and Mayweather protégé, started off the fight by landing some sharp jabs and lefts to the body.

In the second round, Avila took more hard punches but landed some shots of his own, and briefly had Davis bothered with an accidental head butt. Davis’ edge in hand speed and skill started to show in the third round, as he opened up a gash underneath Avila’s left eye with a powerful left cross and had him hurt towards the end of the round before referee Michelle Myers called the doctor up to examine the cut.

Davis carried the momentum into the fourth round, landing bomb after bomb, badly rocking Avila, but the Mexican survived the onslaught. Davis took most of the fifth round off to regain his energy before firing a wicked straight left towards the end of the round that sent Avila to the canvas. The end would come shortly after, as Davis backed Avila into the ropes early in the sixth with two left crosses before unloading four brutal uppercuts that forced the referee to wave it off 29 seconds into the round, making Mayweather Jr., his promoter and mentor very proud.

In the evening’s co-feature, lightweight prospect Robert Easter Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs) of Toledo, Ohio took on his toughest opponent to date in former world champion Algenis Mendez (23-4-1, 12 KOs) of the Dominican Republic, and passed with flying colors. Using his five-inch reach advantage, Easter Jr. did a good job keeping Mendez on the outside by establishing his jab and controlling range with nice footwork in the opening frame. In the second round, both men landed solid combinations on the inside as Mendez was able to get in closer range.

The action was in similar close quarters in the third, as Easter Jr. did some good body work and Mendez landed some big right hands over the top that may have won him the round. Mendez started the fourth strongly, before being hit by some sharp one-twos that started to swing the momentum towards Easter Jr. Mendez was rocked by a right hand and was swarmed by a flurry in the final thirty seconds of the round but managed to stay on his feet.

Mendez surprisingly came out to start the fifth round looking largely recovered from the fourth round assault. He appeared to be winning the round before Easter Jr. landed a thunderous right hand to the temple of Mendez along the ropes who then slumped to the canvas. He managed to beat the count but was in no condition to continue as referee William Johnson stopped the fight at 2:43 of the fifth.

If you did not know beforehand, you would have never been able to guess that Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) had many problems surrounding him leading up to this bout, as he dominated and ultimately stopped Theophane (39-7-1, 11 KOs) of London, England in the ninth round of their scheduled 12-round encounter.

The polarizing Broner, who had two arrest warrants out for him in his hometown of Cincinnati and lost his title on the scale yesterday by missing weight by .4 pounds, but still easily out-boxed the heavy underdog Theopane. Unconcerned with Theophane’s power, Broner walked him down from the opening bell. He flicked a stiff jab in Theophane’s face repeatedly, landed swift right hands and punctuated the round with a big left hook. The speed difference was evident from the start.

Theophane came back nicely in the second with a few good right hands to Broner’s head early on, but Broner stole the round late with punishing body work. A big left hook by Broner in the third hurt Theophane followed by a powerful right and a flurry had Theophane on shaky legs in the corner and along the ropes as the round ended. Broner controlled the early part of the fourth with a snapping jab and sharp combos. He landed a big uppercut that had Theophane reeling the last minute of the round, but Broner was unable to cut off the ring and put him down. At that point Theophane’s face betrayed signs of the punishment he was absorbing.

The fifth round was void of any drama as Broner continued stalking Theophane and landed a few good body blows. To his credit, Theophane was game and landed some shots of his own. Theophane appeared to win his first and only round of the night in the sixth with a sustained offensive attack including a number of solid rights to the head of Broner. In the seventh and eighth rounds, fatigue started setting in as very little action occurred and the DMV crowd let the fighters know with a smattering of boos.

Broner closed the show in somewhat controversial fashion in the ninth. He stunned Theophane with a right uppercut early in the round and followed it up with a big right hand and what appeared to be a low blow that referee Luis Pabon missed as he stepped in to halt the contest at 1:10 of the ninth. After the fight, Broner called out Mayweather, who was standing on the ring apron, challenging him to a fight after Floyd bashed Adrien in an interview earlier in the week. Floyd merely laughed at the challenge thrown his way.