Adrien Broner To Now Face Michael Williams Atop Feb. 25 BLK Prime Pay-Per-View
BY JAKE DONOVAN
Published Tue Jan 24, 2023, 01:40 AM EST
A new opponent has been secured for the next BLK Prime Pay-Per-View extravaganza.
BoxingScene.com has learned that former four-division titlist Adrien Broner will now face Michael Williams Jr. atop the scheduled February 25 show from Gateway Park Arena in the College Park section of Atlanta, Georgia. The development marks the third scheduled opponent for Broner, all coming in a span of just over a week.
Williams becomes the replacement to the previous replacement for the snakebit main event.
The latest change comes just one week after Philadelphia’s Hank Lundy (31-12-1, 14KOs) was named as the new opponent for Broner, replacing Ivan Redkach who was forced to withdraw due to a bitter dispute with promoter Joe DeGuardia.
Lundy was since removed from the mix after being dealt a suspension by the California State Athletic Commission. The veteran spoiler previously pulled out of a scheduled February 4 bout versus Ernesto Mercado (8-0, 8KOs) after having suffered a cut during a sparring session that wouldn’t heal in time for the show. Lundy claimed to have provided paperwork to event promoter RED Boxing International, who instead had the boxer placed on indefinite suspension in what has now become a legal matter.
The show needed to go on in Atlanta, prompting the BLK Prime team to land a new foe for its latest signing.
The search led to Williams (20-1, 13KOs), a 6’1” fringe welterweight contender from Fayetteville, North Carolina, who steps well up in competition even versus a rebounding and inactive Broner. His lone career defeat came in a brutally one-sided fourth-round stoppage loss to John Bauza in a December 2021 battle of unbeaten prospects. Williams was floored six times in their ESPN televised bout from Madison Square Garden in New York City before referee Charlie Fitch mercifully halted the contest.
Williams returned to the ring and the win column with a third-round knockout of Julio Buitrago last April 23 in Gadsden, Alabama.
Cincinnati’s Broner (34-4-1, 24KOs) last fought in February 2021, when he claimed a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Jovanie Santiago in Uncasville, Connecticut. That bout was his first since a loss to Manny Pacquiao in their January 2019 secondary welterweight title fight, which sold roughly 400,000 units atop a Showtime Pay-Per-View telecast.
The upcoming bout—assuming it sticks—mark the first of a lucrative three-fight deal between the 33-year-old Broner and BLK Prime, which was formally announced last October 25.
The originally scheduled fight versus Redkach was previously in the works on both sides of the pandemic, once eyed for 2020 and again sought for last January. Neither date materialized, with Broner instead facing Puerto Rico’s Santiago, whom he outpointed over twelve rounds.
Broner was due to return to the ring versus fellow former titlist Omar Figueroa last August 20 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Training camp appeared to go well for the troubled former champion, only to withdraw from the Showtime-televised event due to what he described as a much-needed mental health reset.
The polarizing figure next surfaced as the star of a virtual press conference to confirm his multi-fight agreement with ‘Uncle Dez’ Desmond Gumbs and the BLK Prime family last October. It came less than two months prior to BLK’s debut showing last December 10, which saw WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (39-0, 30KOs) score a sixth-round knockout of David Avanesyan at CHI Health Center in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Hours prior to the event, Broner’s own BLK Prime debut was formally announced during an on-site press conference. The session also revealed the evening’s co-feature, the oft-rescheduled lightweight clash between former titlists Mickey Bey and Tevin Farmer in a ten-round co-feature.
Bey (23-3-1, 11KOs) has not fought since a ten-round, split decision defeat to then-unbeaten contender George Kambosos Jr. in December 2019 at Madison Square Garden. Kambosos went on to win—and subsequently lose—the lineal and unified WBA/IBF/WBO lightweight championship. Bey—a 39-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio who now lives and trains in Las Vegas—previously held the IBF 135-pound title for ten months before vacating in July 2015.
Farmer (30-5-1, 6KOs) has not fought since losing his IBF junior lightweight to Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz in January 2020. The unanimous decision defeat ended his 17-month title reign which saw the Philadelphia-bred southpaw successfully defend four times all within a hectic eight month stretch.
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