American contender Brandon Figueroa and Dominican champion Carlos Adames have extended their contracts with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) according to the latest reports in a move that lays doubts on news from early this year that suggested the company was going financially insolvent. Both fighters have reportedly signed multi-fight deals.

As PBC’s deal with Amazon Prime is not considered to be a profitable arrangement due to the lack of regular tv programming―which has led to more inactivity for PBC-affiliated fighters, and the alleged refusal by Amazon Prime to help PBC finance their pay-per-view (PPV) shows, the re-signing of former super bantamweight world champion Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KO’s) and current WBA middleweight champion Carlos Adames (23-1, 18 KO’s) has caused a few raised eyebrows given the aforementioned details.

Most of the concerns pertain to whether this move by Figueroa and Adames is a wise decision on the fighters’, or their representatives’ part, given they had the right to explore free agency and at least consider other promotions. Instead, the two boxers appear to have taken no notice of this opportunity, with their re-signing to PBC indicate they are not fully aware of ―or merely indifferent to―their own promotion’s situation.

The lack of inactivity most PBC fighters have to endure is something that has plagued the company and its fighter since before its 2023 deal PPV deal with Amazon Prime; something both Carlos Adames and Brandon Figueroa would likely be highly aware of as they have both suffered from being rather inactive―having fought once a year over the past couple of years.

It is a continued issue with PBC as a whole that has seen renowned fighters such as Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KO’s) leave the company to explore other opportunities, and other young talents such as Richardson Hitchins (18-0, 7 KO’s) and Jalil Hackett (8-0, 7 KO’s) have similarly left the PBC sphere in a bid to be more active―and consequently to become more successful.

Despite the present concerns surrounding possible inactivity, Adames has reacted fiercely to public response that reacted to his re-signing to PBC, maintaining that he made the decision he felt was best for himself.

“I see many negative comments made to PBC and they make me reflect on many things,” Adames stated on Twitter/X yesterday, “For example, three very important things: 1- people talk and speculate without knowing the truth. 2 – People are ungrateful. 3 – People will never be satisfied.

“If what they said was true, reading what (supposed journalism professionals) have to say while talking with so much hate is pitiful, because why would you want to destroy when you can add?

“The 5th of May all of the boxing lovers experienced one of the most important events of the last few years, Canelo-Munguia, but the one on the 30th of March Cruz-Romero was spectacular and now we will experience Davis-Martin on the 15th of June.

“What more do you want? Complete and exciting events? What are y’all looking for? Is it not enough? PBC has given you the best events you could imagine for years with amazing welters and many more… and everyone who is criticizing now sat down to see those events.

“With them [PBC], I became champ. With them I developed. In life we need to be grateful. Don’t forget, stay tuned [to] Amazon Prime [on] June 15th and enjoy the card.“

Adames’ statements show a lack of understanding surrounding the company he’s signed to, with PBC’s influence within the sport far exceeding any show they have produced. Barring the inactivity most PBC fighters are subjected to, the company has also allegedly colluded with other sanctioning bodies to give its fighters an advantage.

Ironically, Carlos Adames himself had been subject to unfair treatment himself with the World Boxing Council (WBC) having kept Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KO’s) as its WBC middleweight champion for more than two years despite Charlo not actually defending his title during that period. While Adames was made WBC interim champion during this time, any opportunities for him to actually become a world champion had been absent for the Dominican fighter for roughly one year and half until the WBC finally decided to strip Charlo of his title.

In fact, Adames had complained about Charlo’s continuing tenure as a champion himself, having argued for Charlo to be stripped due to his inactivity. PBC’s role in this went largely ignored by Adames, however, despite there having been plenty of other instances highlighting PBC’s covert relationship with the WBC that has deprived a multitude of other fighters of well-deserved opportunities, including Adames himself.

A clear example of this pertains to Adames’ own reference towards the May 5th event between Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KO’s) and Jaime Munguia (43-1, 34 KO’s). At the time, while David Benavidez had already been announced to be facing Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KO’s) at light-heavyweight on June 15th, Benavidez―a PBC fighter himself―was denied an opportunity to face Alvarez despite having been appointed a mandatory twice during 2023. While Munguia was considered a legitimate contender, he was

Furthermore, Adames’ assertions of PBC staging exciting events ignores the lack of competitiveness that PBC events are known to avoid. This was recently referenced by Golden Boy Promotions founder and chairman Oscar De La Hoya, who remarked on the PBC’s unwillingness to work with other promotions; which supposedly led to a decrease in competitiveness and resulted in several relationships the PBC held with other networks collapsing.

Only time will tell whether Carlos Adames will have been right in his decision to re-sign with PBC, but in any case the Dominican fighter will require his full concentration and focus on his own slated June 15th bout on the undercard of the June 15th Davis-Martin event where he will be facing American contender Terrell Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KO’s) in the first defense of his WBC middleweight title since being promoted to world champion last month.