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The next BLK Prime Pay-Per-View event will feature a new opponent.
Adrien Broner, the former four-division champion, will now face Michael Williams Jr. at Gateway Park Arena in Atlanta's College Park neighborhood on February 25. The announcement marks Broner's third scheduled opponent in less than a week.
Williams takes over for the previous replacement in the snakebit main event. The latest change comes just one week after Philadelphia's Hank Lundy (31-12-1, 14KOs) was announced as Broner's new opponent, replacing Ivan Redkach, who was forced to withdraw due to a conflict with promoter Joe DeGuardia.
Lundy was later removed from the mix after the California State Athletic Commission handed him a suspension. The veteran spoiler previously backed out of a February 4 fight against Ernesto Mercado (8-0, 8KOs) due to a cut sustained during a sparring session that would not heal in time for the show. Lundy claimed to have provided paperwork to event promoter RED Boxing International, who instead suspended the boxer indefinitely in what has now turned into a legal matter.
The show had to go on in Atlanta, so the BLK Prime team had to find a new foe for its newest signing.
The hunt led to Williams (20-1, 13KOs), a 6'1" welterweight contender from Fayetteville, North Carolina, who steps up in competition even against a rebounding and inactive Broner. His lone career loss came in a brutally one-sided fourth-round stoppage loss to John Bauza in a battle of unbeaten prospects in December 2021. Williams was knocked down six times during their ESPN televised fight from Madison Square Garden in New York City before referee Charlie Fitch mercifully stopped the fight.
Williams returned to the ring and the win column last April 23 in Gadsden, Alabama, with a third-round knockout of Julio Buitrago.
Broner (34-4-1, 24KOs) of Cincinnati last fought in February 2021, when he won a twelve-round unanimous decision over Jovanie Santiago in Uncasville, Connecticut. That was his first fight since losing to Manny Pacquiao in their January 2019 secondary welterweight title fight, which sold approximately 400,000 PPV's on Showtime Pay-Per-View.
The upcoming fight, assuming it goes ahead, will be the first of three lucrative fights between the 33-year-old Broner and BLK Prime, which was formally announced last October 25.
Broner was scheduled to return to the ring on August 20 against fellow former titlist Omar Figueroa at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The troubled former champion appeared to be doing well in training camp, only to withdraw from the Showtime-televised event due to what he described as a much-needed mental health reset.