Adrien Broner lost his 140-pound world title at the scale one day earlier, but he was in complete command in the ring Friday night as he dismantled Ashley Theophane over nine rounds in Washington, D.C.
Broner vs Theophane highlights: April 1, 2016
Adrien Broner dominated Ashley Theophane throughout the fight, showing superior hand speed and landing his power punches with accuracy before a sold-out crowd of 8,172 at the DC Armory.
From the outset, Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) hammered Theophane (39-7-1, 11 KOs) evenly to the head and body, and hurt him with a flurry of punches in the third round.
Broner staggered and nearly dropped Theophane in the fourth, as the Englishman’s puffy face began to show the effects of the punches being absorbed.
Theophane momentarily righted himself in the sixth and seventh rounds as he took advantage of Broner’s decreased punch output and used his jab to keep the four-division champion at bay.
Broner finally brought things to an end in the ninth when he blasted Theophane with a body shot, followed by several equally vicious punches that were punctuated by a right to the head. Theophane, his hands at his side, stumbled across the ring as referee Luis Pabon waved an end to the fight at 1:10 of the round.
“I always could do better, but I did what I had to do to get the victory," Broner said. "Everybody who fights me comes with their ‘A’ game, and he came with his ‘A’ game, but even that wasn't good enough tonight.”
After demolishing the Englishman, Broner then called out Floyd Mayweather Jr., who promotes Theophane and was seated ringside, and urged the 39-year-old superstar to come out of retirement to fight him.
"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,” said Broner, referring to recent statements Mayweather made about him.
“Floyd has got to see me. I come from nothing—I'm talking about water and cornflakes—and I will never let a man disrespect me. I don't care if we're sparring or if we're fighting, let's get it on.”
Broner was supposed to be defending his 140-pound world title Friday night for the first time after earning it in October with a 12th-round TKO of Khabib Allakhverdiev. However, the 26-year-old Cincinnati native was stripped of his championship Thursday after he weighed in just over the 140-pound division limit, although Theophane could have claimed the vacant title with a victory.
For complete coverage of Broner vs Theophane, visit our fight page.
Adrien Broner used his speed and power to dominate Ashley Theophane and gain a ninth-round TKO on Friday night in Washington, D.C. (Nabeel Ahmad/Premier Boxing Champions)
