Omar Figueroa, Adrien Broner Examples of Why Mental Health is a Serious Issue

COVID-19, the global pandemic that never seems to go away entirely, doggedly living on as various strains have emerged, has emphasized the need to prioritize mental health during a time when school children and working adults alike have increasingly been traumatized by imposed restrictions that have inexorably altered their daily lives.

As someone who has twice been dealt grievous blows by the effects of such utter despair – an uncle and a cousin so felt that walls were closing in on them that they took their own lives – I cannot make light of the circumstances that have led to Saturday night’s PBC on SHOWTIME revised 12-round main event, in which junior welterweight Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KOs) takes on late replacement Sergey Lipinets (16-2-1, 12 KOs) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Figueroa, a former WBC lightweight champion, has been quite open about the “dark place” from which he has been trying to emerge after making the difficult decision to seek counseling and therapy for a wide range of mental issues including ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder), Bipolar disorder, clinical depression, anxiety, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and a more severe form of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) known as “complex” PTSD.

Lipinets, 33, was already scheduled to appear on Saturday night’s card, in an eight-rounder against Carlos Portillo (22-4, 17 KOs), but the former IBF junior welterweight titlist moved up to the marquee bout when Figueroa’s originally scheduled opponent, four-division ex-champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner (34-4-1, 24 KOs) withdrew Monday because of – and this is not really a shock, given his history of erratic behavior — mental health concerns.

Asked when he realized that his brain was not conjuring only happy images of sunshine and lollipops, the now-32-year-old Figueroa said, “I think, for me, it was when I was 17 or 18 years old. That’s when I got really, really bad. Obviously, this past year I feel like I had a psychotic break because of everything that was going on, then getting hit with news that I really did have all this stuff going on. It’s been a roller-coaster, man. It’s been interesting to say the least.”

It is incredible, given all that he has had to deal with out of the ring, that Figueroa was able to perform at such a high level until the whirling dervishes inhabiting his mind became more of a threat to his career and general well-being than gloved opponents seeking to batter him into submission. His most recent victory, a 10-round unanimous decision over John Molina Jr., was 42 long months ago. He has fought only twice since then, a points loss to Yordenis Ugas on July 20, 2019, and an ineffectual, sixth-round stoppage at the hands of Abel Ramos on May 1, 2021, that made it abundantly clear that something was terribly wrong and needed to be fixed if he was to salvage the one aspect of himself that ever had made him feel special.

“I don’t know,” Figueroa said when asked why the wheels came off the way they did against Ramos. “I wish I knew what the heck happened in that fight. My legs just weren’t there. That’s the most frustrating thing that can happen because we went through a whole camp and whenever I’m in camp I’m 100% and I dedicate myself. I did everything I had to do to be perfect for that fight. In the first round I knew I hurt him and I know I could have finished him, but when I tried to put in that little extra effort to finish him, my legs just weren’t there. I don’t know what happened to my body at that point, but that’s also what started me on my introspective journey. I started looking into mental health and I realized how important that was.”

Once he was certain he had restored enough mental tranquility to return to the travails of his trade, Figueroa felt confident enough to skip any minimally challenging warmup bouts and go directly to Broner, whom he was originally scheduled to face in 2018 until that bout fell through. So assured was Figueroa, a Texan by birth and Mexican by heritage, that he would emerge victorious that he was moved to say “I think we’re both at a point in our careers, especially with our age (Broner is 33) and our trajectories, I wanted to make a challenge to Broner and say, `Whoever loses this fight should retire.’”

In stepping aside on Monday, Broner, who had said earlier that he was “ready for whatever (Figueroa) brings,” might have stamped himself as irreparably damaged goods. He issued his reason for withdrawing via social media, offering that “Man I’m going thru a lot at this moment in my life, but I ain’t (gonna) give up. I set more goals and I ain’t stopping until I finish what I started but sorry to say this but I’m not fighting (Saturday night).”

Broner

It will be interesting to see if Broner commits himself as fully as did Figueroa to repairing his jumbled thought processes. His talent inside the ropes is such — or was — that some observers once dared to list him as a possible addition to the list of legendary Cincinnati boxers headed by Ezzard Charles and Aaron Pryor, but mark me as unconvinced until further notice. In a story I did for The Sweet Science that was posted on Feb. 16, 2017, I wrote that “his decision-making out of the ring has been baffling, his conduct outrageous, his irresponsibility legendary.” Noted trainer and longtime ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas said of the best of Broner that did not always manifest itself once the bell rang that “from a physical standpoint he is extremely skilled. Whoever he gets in with, he just looks faster, smarter and better than all of them.”

In that 2017 story, however, Broner did say that “It’s not about me anymore. It’s about my children and that’s what I’ve based my career on as of now. I’m doing everything for them. I just want to do better and be in better situations. That’s all. When you try to do it your way and it don’t work, then you got to make the right choices and start following the right steps.”

Given that many mental health issues are hereditary, Broner’s once-expressed concern for his children does provide a glimmer of hope that just maybe he is a leopard that can finally change its spots, as Figueroa is in attempting to not only transform himself as a fighter, but as a proper dad and role model for his kids.

All of which stamps Figueroa vs. Lipinets as a far more interesting case study of human behavior borne of the intricacies of the mind than of the standard plot of one fighter having to change course to a different opponent on short notice.

“What are we going to do?” Figueroa asked, rhetorically. “It’s fight week. It’s not like I have time to change stuff in sparring, or training, or anything. I just have to trust myself and the work that we’ve done and move forward as best we can.”

Bernard Fernandez, named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the Observer category with the Class of 2020, was the recipient of numerous awards for writing excellence during his 28-year career as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Daily News. Fernandez’s first book, “Championship Rounds,” a compendium of previously published material, was released in May of last year. The sequel, “Championship Rounds, Round 2,” with a foreword by Jim Lampley, is currently out. The anthology can be ordered through Amazon.com and other book-selling websites and outlets.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE