Broner should be able to make 147 for Granados fight

By Boxing News - 02/13/2017 - Comments

Image: Broner should be able to make 147 for Granados fight

By Jeff Aranow: Adrien Broner had the previously agreed upon catch-weight limit of 142 pounds increased 5lbs to 147lbs for his fight this Saturday night on February 18 against Adrian Granados. Broner reportedly is going to be able to make the 147lb limit, which is good news for the boxing fans.

It would have looked really bad if Broner, 27, needed his weight to be increased another 5 pounds to 152 for the fight.

Broner and Granados will be fighting on Showtime at the Cintas Center at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Broner will be fighting in front of his own boxing fans, as he lives in Cincinnati.

In Broner’s last fight, he failed to make the 140lb limit for his title defense of his WBA World light welterweight belt against Ashley Theophane last April. Broner’s WBA title was subsequently stripped from him. Broner barely missed the weight in coming in one-half pound over the 140lb limit, but it didn’t matter. He was still stripped of his WBA title.

Broner-Granados will be starting at 9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Broner wanted the fight against the 27-year-old Granados for some reason. He could have challenged WBA World 140lb champion Ricky Burns if he wanted, but instead he chose the fight against Granados.

It’s a risky fight for Broner, because Granados is the type of fighter that out-hustles his opposition with sheer effort. Broner was outworked in his losses to Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter. Those fighters didn’t necessarily have more talent than Broner. They just put in more effort than him, and wound up getting the victories. Broner has looked a lot better since his defeat at the hands of Porter in 2015. He’s won his last two fights against Theophane and Khabib Allakharverdiev.

Broner has taken his training camp for the Granados fight very seriously, which why it was so surprising when the news was revealed that Broner (32-02, 24 KOs) needed the weight to be increased by five pounds from 142 to 147. Granados agreed to move up five pounds to accommodate Broner, but he kind of was in a tough position. If Granados had said no to the request, then he might not have gotten the fight.

“Training camp has been great, and like I said before, I’m just ready to fight and ready to go out here and put on a great show, not only for the city but for boxing, and we’re going to step it up from here on out,” Broner said. “I’m really not worried about the weight right now. It’s all about staying focused and putting on a great show for boxing.”

Broner needs to make sure that he makes the 147lb limit for the fight with Granados, because that would look really bad if he needs even more weight.

The added weight shouldn’t be a big deal for Granados, as it’s only five pounds. But it is troubling that Broner has missed the 140lb limit in consecutive fights. When a fighter misses the weight once, it’s not a huge deal, but when they miss making weight twice in a row, then that’s a red flag.

Broner obviously wants to stay in the 140lb division for his fights, because he matches up better against the fighters in that weight class than he does at 147. In the light welterweight division, Broner only has one guy in Terence Crawford that would likely beat him. But if Broner moves up in weight to 147 due to him no longer being able to make the 140lb limit, then he’d have at least six fighters in that weight class that could possibly beat him.

Broner would have problems with these welterweights: Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence, Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Jeff Horn, Andre Berto, Jessie Vargas and Tim Bradley.