Adrian Granados expects a ‘fight of the night’ battle with Shawn Porter November 4 at Barclays Center.
Back in February, a dejected Adrian “El Tigre” Granados (18-5-2, 12 KOs) stood alone at the podium inside the media room at Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier University. A 10-round split decision loss to a former sparring partner and the hometown fighter – four-division world champion Adrien Broner.
The event was promoted by About Billions Promotions. The bout was supposed to be fought at 142 pounds. Fight week, Granados casually agreed to a maximum weight of 147 pounds.
Despite Granados’ solid performance against one of boxing’s most popular fighters in Broner, amid all of the circumstances, afterwards the Chicagoan still found it difficult to find an appealing matchup. His name came up as a potential opponent for Super Lightweight kingpin Terence Crawford, who ultimately fought Felix Diaz at Madison Square Garden in May.
Granados eventually received a call for a great opportunity. And now, on Showtime Championship Boxing on November 4 at Barclays Center, he will face former IBF world Welterweight champion Shawn “Showtime” Porter (27-2-1, 17 KOs) in what’s expected to be an action-packed, fiercely-contested fight for the vacant WBC Silver Welterweight title. The winner becomes a mandatory to Keith Thurman.
With just eight days left before fight night, Granados graciously accepted a handful of questions from Round By Round Boxing.
Round By Round Boxing: Being in the building, at Cintas Center, after your bout with Broner, I was able to get the full sense of your level of discouragement with the split decision in favor of Broner. Why Shawn Porter now, and at 147 pounds?
Adrian Granados: Well, just the continued frustration. We were actually planning to come back at 140, obviously Terence Crawford had cleared up that division for us, so I was like let me clean up where he left off but no offers were coming through. And, since I got the fight at 147 my rankings kinda fell off because I wasn’t fighting at 140, they claimed, and really all the offers seemed to be coming through at 147. They seemed like the best opportunity where it was just like an offer I couldn’t pass up on because nothing else was coming through.
Everything else that was possibly being talked about was just a possible, and this one was something that was concrete, so I was tired of wasting my time waiting. And so, I jumped at it and I’m excited and I’m focused and ready to win this fight.
RBRBoxing: Any disappointment in the Broner fight, and the effort you put forward in a hostile environment, that the bigger opportunities didn’t happen?
AG: Uh, yeah, no I was disappointed with myself. I’ve kind of made it know now I wasn’t at 100% for the Adrien Broner fight. It’s no excuse, I should’ve been 100%, however I made two mistakes during camp. I also, you know, was doing too much, pretty much. I was too accessible, I put too much on my plate, and it cost me. However, no excuses, I did feel like I did do enough to win, but now I’m gonna come with a vengeance. I’m gonna come stronger and tougher this fight.
RBRBoxing: Shawn Porter came out boxing more earlier in the fight against Andre Berto. It wasn’t quite his typical pressure that he applies. What are you expecting from him, based on what you think your strengths are?
AG: I’m expecting a very tough, ‘Grade A’ Shawn Porter. I’m gonna be focusing on whatever he brings, I know he can box and I know he loves to brawl, so I’ll be ready for whatever he brings to the table.
RBRBoxing: Will you come out immediately with your pressure, or will you sit back and wait to see what he’s doing? Both of you guys are come forward fighters, so something’s got to give.
AG: Yeah, no, we’ll see what happens that night, I don’t really know and I can’t really give it out but we’ll see what I’m feeling that night. We’ll see, I’m gonna definitely have a couple of tricks up my sleeve though.
RBRBoxing: This isn’t a home field advantage fight for Shawn Porter per se. But, he has fought at Barclays Center in Brooklyn a couple of times and established a relationship with the fight fans around New York, do you feel like a knockout is the only way to secure this win?
AG: A KO or a dominant fight. Definitely, I know he’s more familiar with the Barclays Center than I am, I’ve only been there as a guest, I haven’t fought there. He’s fought there multiple times. So I know, yeah, he’s the A-side, I’m the B-side. I know I have to dominate or knock him out, but I’m excited and ready to win this fight – no matter. I’m not gonna pay attention to what’s going on outside no more, I’m just gonna focus on what’s going [on] inside and what’s gonna make me dominate to beat him.
RBRBoxing: I know you’re fighting for the vacant WBC Silver Welterweight title, but would a win here keep you at 147 or would it be more advantageous to go back to 140 since it may be more wide open?
AG: Either or is fine with me, whichever the best opportunity comes forward. I mean I just want to be a world champion, whether it’s at 140 or 147. Just right now, taking it one fight at a time, and right now it’s the fight ahead of me, against Mr. Porter.
RBRBoxing: The Broke Team has made great strides this year, you guys are hard-working and a great story, so what’s the outlook for TBT in 2018?
AG: Awe man, you know, we’re all going to continue trucking forward, we’re all representing for our little bro Ed Brown who passed away about year ago now. We miss him and we never forget him, his photos are there all over the gym, that was his home gym, and he was the first one there. However, he was a part of this stampede that we’ve got going on, you know we’re just gonna keep trucking forward. Me, myself, who with coach George, Joshua Greer, Nathaniel Gallimore and also Eddie Ramirez. He’s coming off of a loss, but I know it was an early stoppage. I know he’s gonna come back with a vengeance, and yeah, we’re gonna keep trucking forward and we plan on being multiple champions.
[memory of Ed Brown] We miss him and we never forget him, his photos are there all over the gym, that was his home gym, and he was the first one there.
RBRBoxing: You know the state of the game, and how things have to align in boxing, so who would you put your money on in TBT, even if it’s yourself, to bring home the world title first?
AG: Ah, shoot man, it ain’t even a competition bro! We all just want to succeed, and we all want to see each other succeed. So, we’ll just see who comes up first, and we’re just gonna coattail from there.
Former champion “Showtime” Shawn Porter and hard-hitting contender Adrian Granados will look to steal the show when they meet in a 12-round Welterweight world title elimination bout on Saturday, November 4 live on Showtime from Barclays Center, the home of Brooklyn Boxing.
The November 4 event, presented by Premier Boxing Champions, is headlined by WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay Wilder in a rematch against former Heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne. The three-fight Showtime Championship Boxing telecast begins live at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with unbeaten Sergey Lipinets battling Japan’s Akihiro Kondo for the vacant IBF Junior Welterweight World Championship.
All photos by Tom Barnes
