A fight between former lightweight champion and Rio Grande Valley native Omar Figueroa of Weslaco and four-division former champ Adrien "The Problem" Broner has been in the making for four years. The long-awaited and highly anticipated bout is now officially off. Broner, a Cincinnati, Ohio native, has cited mental health concerns. Taking to Twitter, the former champ said "Man, I'm going [through] a lot at this moment in my life, but I ain't go give up...I set some more goals and I finish what I started but sorry to say this but I'm not fighting August 20th." Officially killing the fight. On paper, the fight is extremely intriguing due to the contrast in styles. Unfortunately, fans will not go to see it.
The Texan has been an outspoken leader in the battle for mental health and has opened up about his own struggles in the past criticized Broner for pulling out of the August 20th fight. Suggested it's a lack of discipline. “I’m 100-percent sure that it’s lack of discipline and him being him, while not questioning if he has mental health issues, but hiding behind the whole thing now is just a low blow,” and went on to say “So, I don’t understand why he doesn’t man up and come clean that he f—cked up, instead of trying to pull the mental health card, because I feel it undermines what me and a lot of people have gone through and are going through. It’s a constant daily struggle that I have had to deal with throughout this camp."
Figueroa will still headline the four-bout card that will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and will air on Showtime. He will battle with former IBF 140-Pound champ Sergey Lipinets. Lipinets hails from Martuk, Kazakhstan, and sports a 16-2-1 (12). He last fought in April of 2021 and got destroyed by surging welterweight prospect Jaron "Boots" Ennis. Before that, he had a highly entertaining draw with Custio Clayton. His last win was all the way back in 2019 when he stopped Jay Ar Inson in the second round on the undercard of Pacquiao-Thurman.