Adrien Broner possibly to return June 15, maybe against Ricky Burns

According to The Ring's website, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has said WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner, widely regarded as the top lightweight in the world, is expected to return on June 15, possibly against fellow lightweight titleholder Ricky Burns.

Broner and Burns have been somewhat close to making a fight with each other before. At one time, it appeared they would lock horns this past February. However, Burns stated he did not have enough time to prepare for such a big fight on relatively short notice. Eventually, he signed to face another lightweight titlist, Miguel Vasquez, on March 16. It is certainly not a guarantee that Burns will come out victorious after fighting such a difficult opponent so this would, of course, seem to be dictated by the result of that unification bout. Not to mention, that fight has also had some problems getting finished with Vasquez claiming his financial share was never completely agreed to.

A fight between Burns and Broner (if Burns does indeed win) is probably the best fight that could be made at 135 pounds. Broner is in serous need of a challenge, and Burns could probably at least make him have to work without getting himself blown out in a few rounds. It isn't as enticing as Broner moving up to 140 pounds, but it's better than just about anything else at lightweight.

But who knows what will happen? Burns didn't come off all that excited about the potential of fighting Broner the previous time, and things have a tendency to fall apart in boxing pretty often. At least this kills any rumor of Broner fighting on the Floyd Mayweather - Robert Guerrero pay-per-view card. That didn't seem very realistic at the time and it simply is not happening.

UPDATE: Dan Rafael is saying Schaefer told him Broner's return on June 15 will also be on HBO in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay.