WBC Lightweight champion Adrien Broner will make the first defense of hos crown when he takes on Welshman Gavin Rees on February 16th in Atlantic City according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
Rees got the fight after WBO champion Ricky Burns priced himself out of the fight.
“Gavin Rees was one of the fighters on the short list of approved opponents by HBO,” Schaefer said. “I guess he wanted the fight more since Ricky Burns outpriced himself. I can understand that a fighter would want a career-high payday when fighting Adrien, but when a fighter asks for three or four times his highest payday and wants payment tax-free, then it is simply a way of saying, ‘No, I don’t want to fight Broner.’
“My respect goes out to Gavin Rees for stepping up to the plate and fighting, in my opinion, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.”
“We have agreed to terms and are proceeding to contract,” Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn, Rees’ promoter, said. “Gavin is a tenacious fighter. I really feel he will give him a great fight. It is a great opportunity for Gavin. He is a former British, European and world champion, and this kind of fight and occasion is what you are in the game for. Of course, he will be a heavy underdog, but he is a tenacious man with nothing to lose. I believe he will give Broner one hell of a fight.”
The co-feature will pit the r
