Why warrant, felony charges won’t stop April 1 Adrien Broner fight
Controversial boxer Adrien Broner had a warrant issued for his arrest on charges of felonious assault and aggravated robbery stemming from allegations that he beat up an associate outside of a Cincinnati bowling alley over money lost in a bet back on Jan. 21.
The WBA junior welterweight titleholder is currently scheduled to face Ashley Theophane on April 1 at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., in the main event of a “PBC on Spike TV” card and was not in the custody of policy as of Sunday evening.
Although there is a warrant out for his arrest, a source at the Cincinnati Police Department told Yahoo Sports that Broner is not actively being pursued outside of the Ohio area, which means he would still be able to fight on April 1.
“The warrants are active and the bond is currently set at $100,000,” the source told Yahoo Sports.
Once Broner does turn himself over to authorities, he would be required to pay 10 percent of the bond. But it doesn’t appear to threaten his status for this weekend.
“The warrant is only local to the Ohio area and there would be no extradition from the Washington D.C. area,” the source said.
According to court documents, there is also a civil lawsuit in play that was filed by the legal team representing the victim in question, Christopher Carson, back on Feb. 5 in Hamilton County, Ohio.
In a report found on Courthouse News, Carson had been an associate of Broner’s for the past two years and “maintained a friendly relationship.” However, in the late hours of Jan. 20, things took a turn for the worse outside of Madison Bowl when Broner attacked Carson after losing $14,000 in a bowling bets made throughout the evening. According to the complaint, Carson and Broner competed against one another. Broner lost a total of $8,000 in cash and another $6,000 in credit. Broner proposed another $6,000 wager on a final bowling match but Carson declined and suggested a smaller bet.
This allegedly caused Broner to storm out of the bowling alley. However, at around 3:00 a.m., Carson ran into Broner and an entourage of eight unnamed individuals as he exited the alley. Broner demanded the $8,000 he lost be returned to him and stated that he had no intention of paying the other $6,000 lost in credit. After Carson refused to pay him back the $8,000, Broner punched him in the face that caused Carson to suffer a cut on his chin and a chipped tooth. The 26-year-old world champion then allegedly brandished a 9mm firearm, demanded the money a second time and knocked Carson unconscious after he refused.
Carson says that he woke up on the ground and without the $8,000 he won from Broner and another $2,000 of his own personal cash. Instead of calling the police, Carson went to the emergency room to have his injuries taken care of before filing his report. A witness has also stepped forward stating that they observed Broner taking money from Carson’s pockets before leaving the scene, which then escalated the incident and an arrest warrant for Broner was prompted.
To this point, neither Broner nor his representatives have made contact with Cincinnati police.
Yahoo Sports also reached out to Spike TV senior vice president of communications David Schwarz to see if the looming legal issues could affect the April 1 main event.
“Spike’s coverage of the PBC will go on as planned next Friday night at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT,” Schwarz stated via email while citing that all programming leading up to the fight will remain intact. Broner is currently scheduled to participate in Tuesday’s open workouts in Washington D.C. and all other pre-fight activities.
Neither Broner nor his team has responded to Yahoo’s request for a statement.
