Last night Adrien “The Problem” Broner, 33-2, 24 KO’s was showcased against Chicago’s, Adrian Granados, 18-5-2, 12 KO’s by Premiere Boxing Champions. This was the main event of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader from Xavier University’s Cintas Center in Broner’s hometown of Cincinnati Ohio.
The fight’s contract weight was 142 pounds and Granados was training hard to make the weight, but he received a call around 3 weeks before the fight in which he was told that Broner now wanted the fight to take place at 147 pounds. Granados was basically given a choice to fight at 147 or else all of his training to date would have been for nothing and he would lose the payday, so he agreed.
Broner talks the talk, but has shown consistently over the course of years that he has a hard time backing it up. He lost his 140-pound title on the scales when he came in overweight for his last fight against Ashley Theophane last April. Back in 2012, Broner came in very overweight for his junior lightweight title defense against mandatory challenger Vicente Escobedo and was stripped of that title. He also did the same thing in 2010 and was stripped of minor title that he had won.
At least this time, Broner let Granados (a friend he has trained with often in the past) know a few weeks ahead of time that he didn’t plan on making weight this time. Broner wanted a 10-round fight, his opponent Adrian Granados, wanted 12, of course the fight was scheduled for 10, and ultimately this also appeared to help Broner as he appeared to be running out of gas late in the 10-round fight.
It is clear in pretty much all of Adrian Broner’s fights, wins or losses, that he is the fighter who is usually the more athletic, talented and experienced fighter. He seems to have a talent for winning rounds in which he just doesn’t do much, and that may be his best skill. With his flashy loud punches, good power and overall body language and movement he must really mesmerize judges, commentators and the people tabulating punch stats. He never seems to lose a close round or a close fight even though when he is in a close fight he is always outworked. He could easily have double or triple of the 2 losses he has on his record, but he seems to get endless breaks and gifts. His team should seriously consider getting him the biggest payday they can at this point. He again tried to talk the talk after the fight last evening, but if he doesn’t walk the walk, which it’s obvious he hasn’t it is very unfortunate because he came up as someone with obvious elite level talent but if he doesn’t make some serious changes he may just be wasted talent at 27 years old.
On the other end of the spectrum, Chicago’s Adrian Granados, 18-5-2, easily could have his losses cut in half or more. He is a fighter and a man who really needs and deserves some of the breaks, gifts and chances that Broner has received in his career. Granados isn’t flashy, he’s not a huge puncher, and unlike Broner, it appears that any close rounds or fights he is involved in seem to go against him. He does have skills, heart, a decent chin and he appeared to do enough to beat Adrien Broner last night.
The home town split decision that Granados lost to Broner was his 5th loss. However, his record is very deceptive. Of his 5 losses, 3 came by split decision and 2 were by majority decisions, besides Broner and an opponent with 1 loss in his second fight, Granados other 3 losses came to undefeated fighters. He also has 2 split draws on his record.
Why are these details significant? They are because it means that in every fight Granados has fought, he has gone the distance and in 23 of 25 fights at least 1 judge has had him winning the fight, in the other 2 (the majority decisions) at least 1 judge had the fight even. It is possible this can happen to a guy who lacks some of Broner’s flash, power, and ring generalship, but usually more often you see this kind of record on a guy who fights as the so called “B” side against hometown fighters, undefeated fighters, etc…. You see this type of record on a guy who probably deserved wins in more of his losses and draws then losses. In boxing, it is unfortunate how much less recognition, money and opportunities are given to a fighter with an 18-5-2 record even though with a few breaks like Broner has had he could have been 25-0 or close.
Last night Granados took the fight to Broner from beginning to end, he dictated the pace and made the action. When he used it, his jab worked well, but he outworked Broner to the point where he should have won this fight. Broner did land some of the sharper, harder looking punches, but neither fighter was ever in trouble and Granados seemed to have an answer for just about everything Broner had to offer. This is not to say it was a blatant robbery because as everyone knows, the 3 judges view the fight from 3 different vantage points and the television viewers get a different look. There were many close/swing rounds and all three judges had reasonable scores under the circumstances.
The BrickCityBoxing scorecard had the same result as judge Phil Rogers, 97-93 for Adrian Granados, but Broner squeaked out the win and avoided a draw when judge Robert Pope gave Broner the 10th round which gave him a 96- 94 victory on his card. The 3rd judge, who is undoubtedly one of the best in the business, Steve Weisfeld had Adrian Broner winning by a 97-93 margin.
Afterwards, Broner, who looked like he was trying very hard to not look like he knew he lost said, “This was an easy one for me,” “Adrian Granados is a world class fighter. I hurt my left hand in the 1st round. From there my left hand wasn’t no good. That’s why I had to stay on the inside.”‘ Unfortunately, Broner often appears to try too hard with his jokes, he probably should try harder in camp to make weight and make better use of his God given talent or he won’t be having the opportunity to fight and speak on Showtime for much longer. He really should give Granados a rematch, but unfortunately, it is not likely to happen for obvious reasons.