Adrien Broner has revealed that he will not be back in the ring this weekend.
The former four-weight world champion had been set to make his return on Saturday.
Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) was meant to fight at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Florida.
But the Cincinnati man has stated that he won’t fight Omar Figueroa Jr. for the vacant WBC Silver super-lightweight title.
‘The Problem’ posted on Instagram, saying:
“Man, I’m going through a lot at this moment in my life,”“but I ain’t [going to] give up.
“I set some more goals and I ain’t stopping until I finish what I started.”
Broner has been inactive since his February 2021 unanimous decision win over Jovanie Santiago at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville.
The fight against Figueroa Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KOs) would have been just Broner’s second since he was outpointed by Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao for the WBA welterweight crown over 12 rounds back in January 2019.
“I’m sorry to say this, but I’m not fighting [on] August 20.”
Broner went into more details within the post comments section, saying:
“Sorry to all my fans but #MentalHealth is real and I’m not about to play inside the ring.“
Everyone at Boxing Social wishes Broner the best and hope to see him back in the ring at some point.
Since Broner’s withdrawal, it has been revealed that Figueroa Jr. will take on Sergey Lipinets in the main event.
Lipinets had been set to meet Paraguay’s Carlos Manuel Portillo (22-4, 17 KOs) in an eight-round bout on the non-televised portion of the card, but he has been bumped up to the top billing.
ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger first reported the main event replacement:
Sergey Lipinets will step in to replace Adrien Broner in the PBC on Showtime main event against Omar Figueroa, sources tell ESPN. Broner cited mental-health issues for his withdrawal from Saturday's fight. Story coming to ESPN
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) August 15, 2022
The chief support sees Alberto Puello, the undefeated Las Vegas-based Dominican, finally get his shot at global honours when he takes on Botirzhon Akhmedov for Josh Taylor’s recently-vacated WBA world super-lightweight crown.
The rest of the card features such fighters as former lightweight contender Ismael Barroso, who was beaten by Manchester’s Anthony Crolla back in May 2016, as well as California super-lightweight Bradun Lee (25-0, 22 KOs).