-
Mike CoppingerESPN
Adrien Broner will meet Omar Figueroa in a junior welterweight bout on Aug. 20 in Hollywood, Florida, PBC announced on Monday.
Alberto Puello fights Batyr Akhmedov for the WBA junior welterweight title vacated by Josh Taylor on the Showtime undercard, along with a WBA junior lightweight title bout between Roger Gutierrez and Hector Garcia.
Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) was set to fight Figueroa (28-2-1, 19 KOs) in April 2018 but that fight was cancelled after Figueroa suffered an injury. Broner instead fought Jessie Vargas to a draw and was coming off a lopsided defeat to Mikey Garcia when he entered the bout.
Afterward, Broner was routed by Manny Pacquiao before he scored a controversial decision over Jovanie Santiago in February 2021. That was Broner’s lone victory since a split-decision over Adrian Granados in 2017.
Despite his lack of success since capturing titles in four divisions, Broner remains a recognizable name. The 32-year-old’s fight with Figueroa will take place at 140 pounds, his first at the weight since the loss to Garcia.
“I’m going in there to try to stop Figueroa,” said Broner, a native of Cincinnati. “I’m going to take the fight to him and go ahead and get him out of there. What I expect from him is the same gruesome Figueroa that we always see. He’ll try to make it a rough fight. Every fighter is different, but I don’t think he’ll be hard to hit.”
Broner hasn’t scored a stoppage win since a ninth-round TKO of Ashley Theophane in 2016. Figueroa, likewise, hasn’t found much success recently. He hasn’t won since a decision over John Molina in 2019. The 32-year-old has competed just twice since: a decision defeat to Yordenis Ugas in 2019 followed by a TKO-6 loss to Abel Ramos last year.
“I’m excited to move on to the next phase of my life and career, especially now that my mental health is at the forefront of everything I do,” said Figueroa, whose younger brother, Brandon, is a former champion who scored a sixth-round TKO of Carlos Castro on Saturday. “Having a clear mind has been the best thing to happen to me. Now I’m able to focus 100% on my boxing career.”
Puello (20-0, 10 KOs) will be stepping way up in class for the assignment against Akhmedov (9-1, 8 KOs). The Uzbekistani boxer’s lone defeat is a controversial decision vs. Mario Barrios in 2019.
Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs) scored a major upset with a decision victory over Chris Colbert in February and is now rated No. 8 by ESPN at 130 pounds.
Gutierrez (26-3-1, 20 KOs) floored Rene Alvarado three times en route to a unanimous-decision victory in January 2021 to win the title and successfully defended it in the rematch in August.