Broner is too small for 147 says Granados

boxingnews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: Light welterweight contender Adrian Granados (18-5-2, 12 KOs) was unimpressed with what he saw from Adrien Broner (33-2, 24 KOs) in their fight last Saturday night at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The fight took place in the welterweight division at the weight of 147 lbs. Broner won the match by a 10 round split decision, but it could have gone either way. Granados said repeatedly after the fight that he felt that he won, and a lot of boxing fans agree with him.

Broner made a lot of changes in the run up to the Granados fight by having the weight moved from 142 to 147, changing the date of the fight, and also changing the fight from a 12 round fight to a 10 round fight. You can argue that Broner was trying to gain advantages over Granados. With the way two of the judges scored the fight, I don’t think it mattered. Broner would have likely won the fight even if it were a 12 rounder.

Hopefully, Broner doesn’t continue to mess with the weights for his future fights. We saw the weight issues with Broner’s fight against Shawn Porter. If Broner challenges WBA World light welterweight champion Ricky Burns for his title, then he’s going to need to be able to fight him at the 140 lb. weight if he wants to win the title. In other words, Broner probably won’t be able to get Burns to move up to 147 in the last week of the fight like he did with Granados.

Broner has got to be able to make the 140lb limit if he wants to fight in the light welterweight division. Right now, it doesn’t look like Broner is capable of making the weight any longer. That’s too bad because I don’t think he’s big enough to fight at 147. Granados doesn’t think so after fighting Broner last night. If fighters from the 140 lb. division are going to need to move up to welterweight in order to accommodate Broner, it looks bad. When you get a fighter that can no longer make the weight like Broner, it’s sad when they chose to pull fighters up from the division that they can no longer make instead of just fighting guys from that division.

Granados shook his head when asked if Broner should stay at 147. “He was complaining about his left hand,” said Granados about Broner. “He hit me pretty good with his right hand, but I didn’t feel the weight. I think he should go back down. He’s too small. I thought I was fighting a 12-rounder. I didn’t find out until a day before the fight that it’s a 10-rounder. Everything was against me; the scale BS, the weight BS, and the change of date. Cane somebody please give me a fair shake? I didn’t stop him, so I already knew I wasn’t going to win. I know I won. I was expecting a draw. I knew I made him uncomfortable,” said Granados.

Broner seemed to have the same problems against Granados that he did in his loss to Marcos Maidana in 2013. Like Maidana, Granados outworked Broner, and constantly him with shots. The only difference is that Maidana’s punches were more powerful and they were hurting Broner. It did not look that Broner was getting worked badly by a fighter that he was supposed to beat in Granados. It opens up a lot of questions about whether Broner has slipped as a fighter due to him not being focused on boxing the way he should have been the last four years. Broner’s career has not looked the same since his loss to Maidana in 2013, and he’s fancied himself as a rap star and not focused on his craft the way other fighters do.

Broner won the fight by these scores: 96-94, 97-93 for Broner, and 97-93 for Granados. There were a lot of rounds that you can argue should have gone to Granados. A win for Broner is not altogether surprising because the fight took place in his home city of Cincinnati, Ohio. What’s less important than the questionable outcome of the fight was the reality that Broner looked really bad in the fight. He said after the fight that he had a left hand injury, but that excuse doesn’t explain why he looked bad even in the 1st round before the injury.

Broner wasn’t able to fight hard for more than perhaps one minute of every round. Granados was the one that was working hard the full three minutes, whereas Broner just looked lazy.

“I tried to make it uncomfortable for him, and I know I did,” said Granados after the fight about Broner. “I wore him down. I broke him down and threw more shots. He maybe landed more show shots, but it’s funny because a lot of them were missing. When they were missing, they [the boxing fans at ringside] were like, ‘Oh, Oh.’ Great, why don’t you guys give me credit for my defense? I know I was outworking him. I was focusing on the body.” said Granados.

Granados definitely gave Broner a lot of problems with his pressure, high work rate and his boxing skills. Granados was the better fighter in a lot of areas. He was more mobile, he threw more punches, and he was the better fighter on the inside. What Broner had going for him was the crowd. This was a home fight for him, so he had the boxing fans cheering for him throughout the contest. The fans were cheering even when Broner was missing with his punches. The judges might have unconsciously responded to the crowd noise by giving Broner rounds that should have gone to Granados.

A rematch between Broner and Granados would be a good idea. Broner needs to show the boxing world that he’s the better fighter than Granados. He didn’t do that last night. Broner won the fight, but he failed to establish that he was the better fighter. I don’t think it would be fair to Granados if he fought Broner a second time and once again had to move up to welterweight in order to accommodate his inability to make 140. Granados is not a welterweight, and he shouldn’t have to be fighting in that division.

I hate to say it but Broner needs to move up to 147 officially and not drag his opponents up in weight from the 140lb division. I don’t think Broner has the talent to compete with the best at 147, but that’s how things go. If you can no longer make weight at 140, then you’ve got to move up in weight to 147 to fight guys at your natural weight. Broner’s natural weight nowadays is 147.