By Sean Jones: Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner’s opponent Ivan Redkach for his February 25th fight posted a cryptic Tweet today, talking about being “done with boxing” and how “mean people” wreck things for boxers.
Redkach (23-6-1, 18 KOs) didn’t say who these people are, but it sounds like someone is preventing him from taking the fight. It’s unclear if it’s a management situation or network issue getting in the way of the 36-year-old Redkach fighting Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs). If it’s a contract problem, that would explain why he might not be able to fight.
If Redkach cannot fight, BLK Prime will need to step on the gas to find a replacement for the former four-division world champion Broner to fight on February 25th at the Gateway Center Arena, College Park, Georgia.
The good news is that it shouldn’t be challenging to find a willing replacement for Redkach because he isn’t a highly-ranked contender or a super-popular guy that is impossible to replace on a month’s notice.
If you’re BLK Prime, the hardest part of finding a replacement is to get someone that isn’t a little too good that they’ll easily defeat the washed-up 33-year-old Broner in his first fight of the lucrative three-fight contract with their company.
The last thing BLK Prime wants is for Broner to be trounced by a mediocre bottom-feeder level contender in his February 25th fight because then they’d have an impossible time trying to sell his next two fights on pay-per-view.
https://twitter.com/ivan_redkach/status/1614813703718961155?s=20&t=qUC-kjIjxkPohMKRpiLopQ
https://twitter.com/ivan_redkach/status/1614828144003018752?s=20&t=qUC-kjIjxkPohMKRpiLopQ
https://twitter.com/ivan_redkach/status/1614850695798329344?s=20&t=qUC-kjIjxkPohMKRpiLopQ
There are plenty of excellent fringe-level contenders at 140 and 147 that would jump at the chance to fight Broner. The only thing is they would need to be given the clearance to fight on BLK Prime if they’re under a contract with a promoter that works with a particular network.
Of course, they can always find a ham & egger level fighter that isn’t under contract with anyone that would readily take thee fight with Broner, but obviously, it would be a tough sell for BLK Prime for them to peddle AB’s February 25th fight against an obscure fighter that the boxing world has never heard of.
It was bad enough that the journeyman Redkach had been selected as Broner’s next opponent because he’s not a contender and hasn’t beaten anyone of note for many years.