Adrien Broner stops Ashley Theophane, Easter knocks out Mendez

Adrien Broner left the DC Armory with the win, but was anything but impressive in doing so.

Broner's historical issue with volume seemed destined to bite him once against as journeyman Ashley Theophane went to work with body blows and looping punches upstairs. Broner (32-2, 24 KO), often reliant on landing a fight-changing blow, allowed Theophane (39-7-1, 11 KO) to ostensibly take several rounds by simply doing more.

Going into the ninth round, Bad Left Hook had it 77-75 for Theophane, although it's likely the judges had it far more in Broner's favor. The question wound up being moot, as Broner cracked Theophane with an uppercut and pursued with wild aggression. As Theophane looked to clinch on the ropes, Broner landed a clear low blow and a straight right as they separated. A clearly-lucid Theophane signaled to referee Luis Pabon that he'd been hit low, but Pabon interpreted it as an admission of defeat and stepped in.

It was a crummy end to what was, by and large, a crummy fight. Broner, who lost his WBA title on the scales, called out Floyd Mayweather in the post-fight interview. but it's hard to imagine that fight happening at all.

Worry about the felony warrant, bro.

The rest of the card, thankfully, was much more entertaining. Lightweight prospect and former Olympic alternate Robert Easter Jr. scored the biggest win of his career in the middle bout, a stunning one-punch finish of former super featherweight beltholder Algenis Mendez.

Easter (17-0, 14 KO) and Mendez (23-4-1, 12 KO) put on a trio of entertaining, evenly-matched rounds, trading jabs on the outside and grinding away with effective infighting in the clinch. Mendez found success with long right hands to the body as Easter worked his stiff jab and sneaky uppercut. Easter abruptly seized the momentum in the fourth with a nasty left hook that badly rattled the Dominican veteran.

Mendez clawed his way back into the fight with solid combinations in the next round, only for the lanky Easter to rock his world with a right hand against the ropes. Mendez basically melted to the floor and could not regain his wits to the ref's satisfaction.

This is a terrific win for Easter, an excellent finish of a very tough and very skilled foe with more than three times the number of professional rounds under his belt. He's ready to challenge the lightweight elite.

In the opening feature, TMT super featherweight prospect Gervonta Davis demonstrated his brutal power with a sixth-round finish of Mexico's Guillermo Avila. The southpaw Davis (15-0, 14 KO) quickly went to work with straight lefts to the head and body, while Avila (16-6, 13 KO) looked for body blows and some surprisingly-effective counter rights.

Avila seemed to be turning the tide a bit in the third round before Davis opened a big cut with a left uppercut and tore into him with a combination. The fourth was a one-sided beatdown in Davis' favor, and while he seemed to be taking the fifth round off, he leveled Avila with a 1-2 in the waning seconds. A furious combination, capped off by jackhammer uppercuts, put an end to things twenty-nine seconds into the sixth.

Davis, 21, isn't quite "the next Floyd Mayweather" and tends to leave himself open for counters, but his power and hand speed are for real. He's still plenty young and, with a few tweaks, could be a serious contender in the near-future.

For quick results and round-by-round coverage of the night's proceedings, click here.