Adrien Broner vs Richard Abril being negotiated for February 16

As mentioned earlier, Adrien Broner will return to the ring on February 16, headlining on HBO. Now, Carlos Rodriguez of Dream Team Boxing says he's negotiating for his fighter Richard Abril to be the opponent for Broner on that date.

From BoxingScene.com:

"We are negotiating with Broner, and I can say that there's an 80% chance that this fight will take place. The people from Golden Boy seem to be interested in this bout, which will be a great step forward for my fighter."

The original idea, as also mentioned earlier, was for Broner to potentially unify his WBC title with Ricky Burns' WBO belt, but Burns lost his fight date on Saturday, and is now going to return on January 26. Obviously, that makes a February date with Broner a bit tough for Burns.

Recently, Abril (17-3-1, 8 KO) was set to face Sharif Bogere on November 24, but Bogere pulled out of that fight with an Achilles injury. Abril was robbed in the minds of most earlier this year when he fought Brandon Rios in Las Vegas. Despite a good showing in that fight, he hasn't fought since, and if he faces Broner (25-0, 21 KO) in February, that would be a 10-month layoff for him. It's not ideal, but given that Abril is an awkward, difficult, 30-year-old fighter with no real fan base, it's understandable that he'd leap at the opportunity here, with no tune-up bout.