Photo by Nabeel Ahman/PBC
On Friday, April 1, 2016, Adrien Broner took on Ashley Theophane in a scheduled 12-round Jr. Welterweight bout.
The fight was held in front of a raucous sold-out crowd of 8,172 at the DC Armory in Washington, DC.
With tons of controversy involved in the build up to the fight, fight fans were anxious to see how Broner would respond to the challenge presented by Theophane.
The answer came early on as Broner immediately established control against Theophane with quick combinations to the head and body.
As early as Round 2, Theophane winced in pain whenever Broner fired shots to the body. Behind strong punches and precise accuracy, it seemed like only a matter of time before Broner would finish Theophane off.
Though he was outgunned for most of the bout, Theophane did have success in spots during the middle rounds. But every time the England native landed something of note, Broner came back with his own punch combinations that were just as good or better.
In Round 8, the crowd became restless as Theophane—whose eyes were swelling shut—was not offering much in the form of offense and Broner seemed content to throw very few combinations.
Photo by Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions
But in Round 9, the pro-Broner crowd got exactly what they were looking for as a big overhand right smashed Theophane into the ropes.
As Broner chased a reeling Theophane, referee Luis Pabon stepped in to end the fight at 1:10 of Round 9.
The crowd reaction was mixed, and Theophane himself argued against the stoppage, but as Pabon led the English fighter to his corner he was visibly wobbling.
“I thought the fight was back and forth and I think the next four rounds would have been the same,” said Theophane.
“No way should the fight have gotten stopped. It’s a shame the referee did that. I was telling the referee, ‘I’m okay, I’m okay.’ Then he waived it off. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
After the fight, Broner was full of quotes—as usual.
“When people fight me, they come with their ‘A’ game, and he came with his ‘A’ game. But even his ‘A’ game wasn’t enough tonight,” said Broner.
“As you know, I’ve been going through a lot and for me to come in here and bottle everything up and do what I did, I want to give myself a pat on the back.”
After thanking God and the fight fans who came out to watch the fight, Broner turned his attention to Floyd Mayweather.
@AdrienBroner calls out @FloydMayweather #Boxing #PBConSpike pic.twitter.com/V9xgDBvorN
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) April 2, 2016
“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,” said Broner.
After all of the Mayweather-Broner back-and-forth sparring in interviews, it seemed inevitable that Broner would call Mayweather out (as I wrote earlier in the week).
But whether or not a fight between to the two outspoken fighters happens is another story.
Will Floyd Mayweather be tempted to come out of retirement to face Adrien Broner? If so, who would win?
