Adrien Broner, Omar Figueroa hope to take step in right direction
Adrien Broner and Omar Figueroa will be fighting for their boxing lives on Aug. 20 in Hollywood, Florida (Showtime).
Broner and Figueroa are both once-elite fighters who have fallen on hard times in their early 30s, as neither has won a meaningful fight in years. They desperately need a good outcome to begin the rebuilding process.
Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) was once a leading figure in the sport, winning titles in four divisions by the age of 25. However, “The Problem” had a problem: He became less and less formidable as he moved up in weight.
He’s only 7-4-1 in his last 12 fights. He’s coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Jovanie Santiago in February of last year, a year and a half ago.
The 32-year-old from Cincinnati wants to make a statement on Aug. 20.
“I’m going in there to try to stop Figueroa,” he said. “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. So I’ll see ya’ll on August 20.’’
Figueroa (28-2-1, 19 KOs) held a version of the lightweight title in 2014 before moving up in weight. The product of Weslaco, Texas, never again fought for a major belt and has fought infrequently in recent years because of physical and emotional issues. He has only three bouts since 2017.
Plus, the older brother of Brandon Figueroa suffered one-sided losses in his last two fights, a wide decision against Yordenis Ugas in July 2019 and a sixth-round stoppage against Abel Ramos in May of last year.
Those were welterweight fights. He and Broner will do battle at junior welterweight.
“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, also 32. “Having a clear mind has been the best thing to happen to me.
“Now I’m able to focus 100% on my boxing career and I can’t wait to be back in the ring on August 20.”
Also on the card, Roger Gutierrez (26-3-1, 20 KOs) will defend his WBA junior featherweight title against Hector Garcia (15-0, 10 KOs). And Alberto Puello (20-0, 10 KOs) and Batyr Akhmedov (9-1, 8 KOs) will fight for the WBA junior welterweight title recently vacated by Josh Taylor.
