Adrien Broner vs. Omar Figueroa Jr. Fight Set for Aug. 20 in Florida
July 11, 2022
Adrien Broner's return to the ring is set.
The former multi-division champion will fight Omar Figueroa Jr. on Aug. 20 in Florida. The bout has been in the works for months; Broner had said June 2 that it would take place July 23 in Chicago.
Showtime will handle the broadcast for Broner's return to the ring. He has not fought since a controversial unanimous decision over Jovanie Santiago in February 2021, which was Broner's first fight in over two years.
Once considered one of the most promising young boxers in the sport, Broner's star has fallen off in recent years. He lost via unanimous decision to Mikey Garcia in 2017 and Manny Pacquiao in 2019, with a draw against Jessie Vargas stuffed in between in 2018.
The win over Santiago was far from his best performance. He went the entire first round without landing a punch but still won on two of the three scorecards. It was a largely timid, slow performance against a fighter who the public saw as outmatched.
Broner has also dealt with legal issues outside the boxing ring. In 2019, a court ordered him to pay a woman nearly $830,000 for sexually assaulting her in a Cleveland nightclub in 2018. In October, Broner was jailed for violating the terms of his probation stemming from that assault.
Figueroa has had his own encounters with law enforcement with a 2018 DUI charge and a 2019 arrest for racing his car on a highway. The DUI charge came less than three months before a scheduled fight against Broner. Figueroa dropped out of the bout after suffering an injury in training.
"Honestly, these past five years of my life is just a blur," Figueroa told FightHype.com on Saturday. "There was so much going on, and there was so much I was dealing with. But like I said, I'm a lot more clear-headed now. I'm in a lot better place. So that's why I'm excited to see how I perform being that I don't have as much baggage to carry anymore."
He added: "I feel like it's a great opportunity for both of us. Like you said, it's a crossroads fight for each of us."
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