By Keith Idec

Last we saw Robert Easter Jr., he wrecked Algenis Mendez.

Easter’s perfectly executed right hand left Mendez crumpled against the ropes, unable to continue in the fifth round of a scheduled 12-rounder. That impressive performance April 1 in Washington, D.C., was just what the emerging Easter needed to legitimize himself as a top-10 lightweight.

The 30-year-old Mendez might not be what he once was, but he’s a former IBF super featherweight title-holder who’s still reasonably close to his physical prime. Worst-case scenario, Mendez (23-5-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC) is better than any of the previous 16 opponents Easter defeated after turning pro in November 2012.

“Mendez, he was a B-C guy,” Easter said during a conference call earlier this week. “Fast and could move a lot.”

Despite some of Mendez’s limitations, defeating him so convincingly elevated Easter to a higher level.

To take his promising career to the championship level, the 25-year-old Easter must withstand the power of a mostly unknown threat who has knocked out 92 percent of his professional opponents.

Ghana’s Richard Commey, like many bangers who’ve come to America from Colombia, will arrive in Reading, Pennsylvania, next week with an aura of mystery surrounding him. His record, particularly that knockout ratio, makes you take notice. But like many foreign fighters who’ve been built up against pedestrian opposition, we still don’t know whether he’s an above-average puncher who has feasted mostly on journeymen, or a lightweight Gennady Golovkin.

Easter really doesn’t know, either. What he has seen on film, though, hasn’t overly impressed him.

“What I’m hearing is Commey brings pressure, I guess,” Easter said. “That’s the only thing Mendez didn’t have. He definitely came to fight, though he was a speed guy, a slick guy who moves his hands. Every opponent you step in that ring with you have to respect, but it’s nothing unique I see coming from [Commey]. It’s nothing I haven’t seen or faced. So like I said, this should be a walk in the park for me. I say that with confidence.”

The diverse Easter (17-0, 14 KOs), of Toledo, Ohio, considers Commey one-dimensional, too reliant on the power that has led the Accra native to a shot at the IBF lightweight title Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (25-0, 13 KOs, 1 NC) vacated when he moved up to 140 pounds.

“Seeing the few rounds I did watch, the skills, I wouldn’t say they were that good,” Easter said. “But he – like I said, he’s strong. They say he’s strong. But you’re only strong to somebody you can hit. But when you’ve got a boxer out there like me, and I’m using my length, and plus these [fists], what I’m throwing is coming hard as well, how you gonna be able to get past that?

Commey’s completely fine with Easter’s assessment because he thinks he’ll surprise his American foe with his all-around ability once the bell rings at Santander Arena next Friday night (Spike; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

“What I’ve seen of him,” Commey said, “I know he’s a great boxer, a skilled boxer, and he tries to move a lot. But likewise, I can box. I can come forward. So on the night of the fight, definitely, I know what I’m going to do.”

Easter envisions their scheduled 12-round fight becoming more about what Commey is unable to do.

“The skills, you can see the skills in mine and his,” said Easter, an accomplished amateur who was an alternate on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. “He’s a straight, coming-forward fighter, try that hard punch and all that. But when got boxing and you can punch as well, and you can move, it don’t matter. It speaks for itself.”

Typically, fighters avoid admitting they think a seemingly challenging fight will be easy, though Easter assured reporters that he isn’t overconfident as the biggest fight of his career nears.

“No, not at all,” Easter said. “Not at all. I believe in my skill. And I know what I come to do, just like my last fight and the few fights before that. Once I’ve got my game plan, and I come in the ring, I know how to make the fighter try to adjust to me. Once I get a fighter trying to adjust to me, then the fight is already won.”

The 5-feet-11 Easter’s height usually is a big advantage for him because he is tall for the lightweight division. The 5-9 Commey just doesn’t think that two-inch height disadvantage is anything to worry about.

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“He’s never fought anybody like me as well,” Commey said. “I’m coming in there, regardless of his height, I’m coming in there to give him a helluva fight. And that’s what I’m coming to do. … I’m a tall guy.  And no matter what he does, I keep coming. I’m gonna give him a helluva fight. He’s never fought a tall guy like me and I’m never ready to go easy. If it’s gonna go 15 rounds, I’m ready to go. I’m strong. And I can take punches all day, and I can punch as well. It’s gonna be great. I can box as well. I can do all things. If Robert can’t kill me in the ring, then …”

Commey considers his will, instilled as he literally fought out of abject poverty in Ghana, the trait that’ll separate him from Easter.

Easter, backed by powerful adviser Al Haymon as part of the Premier Boxing Champions series, recognizes that this fight presents an opportunity to begin becoming a star in a lightweight division devoid of fighters even hardcore boxing fans get excited about watching. First, of course, he has to pass what figures to be the stiffest test of his brief career on the Daniel Jacobs-Sergio Mora undercard.

“[Commey’s] skills are not much there,” Easter said. “But I don’t expect to get hit that much. I won’t get hit that much. So I’m gonna take all that away from him, whatever he’s bringing, and have him adjust to me. So once I get him in my game plan, the fight is gonna go my way the whole few rounds it’s gonna last.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.