By Eric Baldwin: Former four division world champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) will be taking a potentially difficult fight against #3 WBA, #5 WBC light welterweight contender Adrian Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs) on February 11 on Showtime Boxing.
This is potentially a very difficult fight for the 27-year-old Broner if his manager Al Haymon doesn’t choose to steer the troubled fighter in another direction towards a softer target.
Broner can’t afford to lose this fight to Granados, because he’s got a title shot in the works against World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Ricky Burns. I Broner loses to Granados, then he can forget about the big payday fight against Burns. That would be a big blow to Broner’s career if he were to lose to Granados or even to Burns.
Granados is no easy out for anyone in the 140lb division, especially for a fighter who may not be fully dedicated to boxing the way he needs to be. Granados recently defeated previously unbeaten Amir Imam (19-1, 16 KOs) by an 8th round knockout on Showtime last November. Imam losing to Granados was a surprise to a lot of boxing fan, because the 25-year-old Imam had been knocking everybody out and big things were expected form him. Granados took the fight to the much taller 5’10 1/2” Imam and eventually wore him down with big power shots.
Granados was beaten by Brad Solomon by a 10 round split decision last year in May of 2015. That was a fight that could have gone either way. Solomon got the benefit of the doubt on two of the judges’ scorecards in winning by a 96-94 x 2 while the third judge scored it 96-94 for Granados. In Granados’ loss before that, he was beaten by 2008 Olympic gold medalist Felix Diaz by a 10 round majority decision in November 2014. Granados was dropped by Diaz in the 9th and 10th rounds of the contest. It was a case of Granados taking too big of a step forward against a welterweight with more size and power than him.
Broner, 27, has won his last two fights since losing a 12 round unanimous to welterweight contender Shawn Porter last June in Las Vegas, Nevada. Broner has since won his last two fights against Ashley Theophane and Khabib Allakhverdiev.
Broner’s losses to Porter and Marcos Maidana have been disappointing setbacks for his career. Broner had been talking about taking over for Floyd Mayweather Jr.as the top star in the sport.