Adrien Broner withdraws from fight vs. Omar Figueroa citing mental health


Adrien Broner withdraws from fight vs. Omar Figueroa citing mental health

Adrien Broner withdrew from Saturday’s junior welterweight fight vs. Omar Figueroa citing the need to address his mental health, he announced on Instagram.

Sergey Lipinets will replace Broner in the PBC on Showtime main event in Hollywood, Fla., sources told ESPN.

This is the second time a fight between Broner and Figueroa was cancelled. The former champions were set to square off in April 2018 before Figueroa withdrew with a shoulder injury.

“Sorry to all my fans but mental health is real and I’m not about to play inside the ring,” wrote Broner, whose recent losses came against Manny Pacquiao and Mikey Garcia. “I’ve watched a lot of people die playing with [their] boxing career and that is something I won’t do.

“Just pray for me. I love the sport of boxing to [sp] much to not give my all and I feel like I came up short before because my mind wasn’t 100% there and I be dam [sp] if I make that mistake again.”

Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) has scored only one victory in his last four fights, a controversial decision over Jovanie Santiago last February. The 33-year-old from Cincinnati has competed just three times in the past four years. Figueroa, too, has been inactive with also three fights during that time span.

“Not saying you don’t suffer from mental health issues because as we can all tell you do, just don’t use it as an excuse now after you’ve been disciplined and not taking this fight/training camp seriously,” Omar Figueroa, the older brother of former 122-pound champion Brandon Figueroa, wrote on social media.

“You don’t get to undermine mine and countless others’ journey and struggles [with] mental health because of your undisciplined/childish dumb ass.”

Figueroa (28-2-1, 19 KOs) will now look to end a two-fight skid against Lipinets, arguably a tougher opponent than Broner. Figueroa, a 32-year-old Texan, was outpointed by Yordenis Ugas in 2019 before he was stopped in Round 6 by Abel Ramos last year.

Lipinets (16-2-1, 12 KOs) is also winless in his last two fights following a draw with Custio Clayton in 2021 before he suffered a sixth-round KO vs. Jaron Ennis last year.

Saturday’s undercard features two title fights. Alberto Puello fights Batyr Akhmedov for the WBA’s vacant junior welterweight title Taylor on along with a WBA junior lightweight title bout between Roger Gutierrez and Hector Garcia.


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