The Friday mini-notebook

News of the day: Broner returning, Lopez-Kambosos ordered

Friday produced a pair of newsworthy items — the impending return of Adrien Broner after two years out of the ring and the IBF officially ordering the mandatory fight between unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos. Read on for the details.

Sources: Broner returns Feb. 13 on Showtime; Wallin-Breazeale on card

Former four-division world titlist Adrien Broner, who has not boxed since a one-sided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in a January 2019 welterweight title bout, will return to the ring on Feb. 13 to headline a Showtime card at a site to be determined, sources have told me.

Broner (33-4-1, 24 KOs), 31, of Cincinnati, will face Pedro Campa (31-1-1, 21 KOs), 28, of Mexico, in a junior welterweight fight, one of the sources said.

Broner, who has been beset by legal and personal issues in recent years, has made no secret in his social media posts that he needs money to pay off an $830,000 judgment against him after he failed to show up in court to answer a lawsuit filed against him by a woman he sexually assaulted at a Cleveland nightclub in June 2018. Broner previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault and unlawful restraint charge in the criminal case related to the incident.

Broner, who has admitted to having an alcohol problem, has been in Miami in recent weeks training with longtime trainer Mike Stafford alongside fighters such as lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis and former lightweight titlist Robert Easter Jr.

Broner, who won belts at junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight, is 0-2-1 in his last three fights, decision losses to Pacquiao two years ago and Mikey Garcia in 2017 and a majority draw with Jessie Vargas in 2018.

Despite being a pro since 2011 and having 33 fights, Campa has faced very low level opposition and has not fought since October 2019.

According to one source, Showtime will air three bouts on Feb. 13 with the opening fight slated to be a heavyweight match between former world title challengers Otto Wallin and Dominic Breazeale.

Wallin (21-1, 14 KOs), 30, of Sweden, who has a multi-fight deal with Showtime, lost a hard-fought decision to lineal champion Tyson Fury in September 2019 and rebounded with a fifth-round knockout of Travis Kauffman in his Showtime debut this past August.

Breazeale (20-2, 18 KOs), 35, of Eastvale, California, suffered both of his defeats in world title bouts. He got knocked out in the seventh round challenging Anthony Joshua in 2017 and in the first round by Deontay Wilder in his most recent fight in May 2019.

Most of Showtime’s boxing cards during the coronavirus pandemic have taken place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, but Premier Boxing Champions, which is putting on the card, is “evaluating” other potential sites, according to one source.

IBF orders Teofimo Lopez mandatory defense vs. George Kambosos

Although the camps for unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez Jr. and mandatory challenger George Kambosos have been in discussions to put the fight on this spring in Kambosos’ native Australia, the IBF on Friday officially ordered the bout.

The organization sent letters to representatives of the promoters for both fighters – Top Rank for Lopez and DiBella Entertainment for Kambosos -- informing them that “negotiations should commence immediately and be concluded by February 6, 2021.” If the camps do not make a deal within the 30-day timeframe the IBF will order a purse bid.

Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs), 23, of Brooklyn, New York, won the IBF 135-pound world title by second-round knockout of Richard Commey in December 2019 before outpointing Vasiliy Lomachenko in a title unification bout on Oct. 17 in Las Vegas. His first mandatory due is the IBF’s.

Also on Oct. 17, but in London, Kambosos (19-0, 10 KOs), 27, of Sydney, Australia, won a split decision over former featherweight world titlist Lee Selby in a title eliminator to earn the mandatory shot against Lopez.