By Ryan Maquiñana
After Vicente Escobedo’s team told krikya360.com earlier this morning that they were pulling out of tonight’s WBO junior lightweight title fight with Adrien Broner in Cincinnati, they have since been brought back to the negotiating table and come to an agreement.
“Broner weighed in at 148 pounds and they agreed to more than double Vicente’s purse, so the fight is back on,” said Anthony Escobar of Team Escobedo. “Vicente received an apology from [Broner’s advisor] Al Haymon for Broner's unprofessionalism. [Golden Boy CEO] Richard [Schaefer] spoke to him. We’re good to go now, and Vicente just wants to focus on fighting for the world title.”
However, following several last-minute overtures from Team Broner to raise Escobedo’s portion of the purse, there will be a fight after all, which is undoubtedly welcome news for HBO and Golden Boy.
The network and promotional company were scheduled to work together on one high-profile main event fall apart earlier this year in Lamont Peterson-Amir Khan II. However, the card fell apart when Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
At Friday’s original weigh-in, Broner tipped the scales at 133.5 pounds, 3.5 over the junior lightweight limit of 130, which Escobedo made. As a result, Broner was subsequently stripped, and the title would only be on the line for the challenger.
In addition, Broner was forced to pay a $60,000 penalty out of his estimated $300,000 purse, with half going to Escobedo and the other half going to the Ohio commission.
Rolando Arellano, Escobedo’s manager, was livid with Team Broner and stated that if the reigning champion did not meet a 140-pound fight day limit at 9:30 a.m. ET, that they would not go through with the bout.
When Broner came in at 143 earlier this morning, Escobedo, who weighed 140 by that point, held a meeting where he ultimately decided to call the fight off—until a last-ditch effort sufficed.
Editor's Note: A source with knowledge of the details advised krikya360.com that Escobedo may have received as much as $400,000 dollars [an additional $220,000 to his existing purse of $180,000] to move forward. Members of Team Escobedo would not confirm the figure.
Ryan Maquiñana writes a weekly boxing column for CSNBayArea.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Ratings Panel for Ring Magazine. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com , check out his blog at Norcalboxing.net, or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.