By Jeff Aranow: Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn “Showtime” Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) pounded out a 12 round unanimous decision over Adrian “Tigre” Granados (18-6-2, 12 KOs) to win the vacant World Boxing Council Silver 147 lb. title on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The judges scored the fight 117-111, 117-111 and 117-111.
(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment)
Porter, 30, gave Granados a methodical beating in the first 10 rounds. It was one-sided during those rounds. However, Porter faded badly in the 11th and 12th, and ended up using movement to preserve his win. Porter obviously realized that he had a wide lead, and he wasn’t going to change it by pressing the issue. One thing that stood out about this fight was the age difference between the two fighters. Granados, 28, was clearly the younger fighter with more than enough energy to deal with Porter’s mauling tactics. Porter isn’t the same fighter that he used to be, and he picked the wrong fighter to try and rough up on the inside. Granados was more than his match in close.
In round 1, Granados fought well in dealing with Porter’s inside pressure. He was able to mostly neutralize what Porter was trying to do on the inside by landing short punches to the head and then pulling away to the outside. Towards the end of the round, Porter landed a big looping right hand that snapped Granados’ head sideways on impact. Moments later, Porter slipped to the canvas. Granados took advantage of Porter being down by nailing him to the head as the round ended. Granados suffered a small nick under his left eye in the round. Porter landed a couple of rabbit punches, but other than that, he mostly fought a clean round. This was a Porter round, but it was close.
In round 2, Porter attempted to maul Granados on the inisde for much of the round. Granados fought Porter at a standstill when the two of them were at close quarters brawling on the inside. Porter used a lot of pushing and shoving his head into the face of Granados. The referee opted not to warn Porter for his use of the head, but Granados dealt it well by landing body shots in close. At one point, Porter attempted to circle away from Granados, and but he was nailed by a right hand to the side of the head while attempting to flee. At the end of the round, Granados connected with a big right hand in close that had the crowd cheering. The punch seemed to bother Porter. Granados fought well enough to deserve this round.
Porter got the better of the action in round 3. He backed Granados up to the ropes and got off a lot of good shots. Granados was still able to connect with flurries, which seemed to bother Porter. After getting hit with several punches from Granados, Porter backed up and went to the center of the round. Granados motioned for Porter to continue fighting in close against the ropes, but he wasn’t interested in doing so. At center ring, Porter attempted to bull rush Granados, but the younger fighter backed up and made him miss with 4 consecutive shots.
Porter was more effective in round 4 on the inside. He could get just enough room to land some nice shots. Granados made Porter miss with most of the shots he threw in close, but he landed enough of them to get the better of the action. Granados landed as well on the inside, but he couldn’t get as much power on his shots because his back was against the ropes.
In round 5, Porter landed 4 big shots in catching Granados on the outside with clean punches. Granados landed a big uppercut on the inside that got Porter’s attention. During much of the round, Granados talked to Porter, taunting him. Granados looked like he had the better conditioning of the two fighters, as he could move and talk to Porter without looking tired. Granados’ youth allowed him to do this.
In the opening seconds of round 6, Granados landed a big right hand to the head of Porter. The shot didn’t hurt Porter, but he had to have felt it. Porter landed some nice shots as well in taking Granados to the ropes and connecting. Porter was catching Granados with hard punches from the outside. Towards the end of the round, Granados ran forward from 5 feet away and landed a badly telegraphed right hand to the head of Porter. Porter saw Granados coming from a mile away and, yet he still couldn’t get out of the way of the shots.
Porter landed 2 big right hands at the end of round 7 that got the crowd into it. In the round, Porter tagged Granados with some big shots on the ropes after pushing him there. When Granados started to connect with some of his combinations, Porter wisely moved back to the center of the ring to avoid getting hit by the younger fighter. Granados then chased Porter around the ring. Porter didn’t want to mix it up with Granados at that point. When the two fighters came together, Porter used his head to stick it in the face of Granados. The referee then stopped the action and gave Porter a warning about his use of the head. It was clear that Porter didn’t like the pressure that Granados was putting on him during the round, because he was trying to force him to fight harder than he was willing or capable of doing.
In round 8, Porter mostly had his way in working on the inside. Granados started the round well in landing two big rights, but Porter came on strong to do the better work in close.
Porter landed a big left hook to the head of Granados in round 9. Porter looked focused on hitting Granados with pot shots in the round. He wasn’t working as much, but instead focusing on landing single shots that didn’t require as much energy. Towards the end of the round, Porter hit Granados with a big left to the head. Granados was very tired looking in the last 30 seconds, rushing forward standing straight up and getting hit.
Porter expended a lot of energy in round 10 trying to maul Granados against the ropes. Porter looked tired after missing with a dozen shots in close. He then went to the center of the ring, and he was chased by the younger fighter. In the seconds of the round, Porter landed some big shots on Granados, but they didn’t have any effect. Granados continued to hit Porter back with his weaker but more numerous shots. As the round ended, Porter looked exhausted with his mouth open. He was clearly feeling the effects of the fast pace. Porter’s right eye was swollen at the end of the round.
In round 11, the referee broke the fighters frequently when they were working on the inside. When Granados would try and get to Porter immediately after the break, the referee shoved Granados to delay his attack. It’s unclear why the referee did this. It seemed strange. Granados looked frustrated at one point towards the end of the round because he was trying to wear Porter down, and the referee was keeping him being able to do this with his breaks and delaying his ability to go back on the attack. Porter didn’t throw many punches at all in the 11th. He looked exhausted and spent.
Porter ran and held the entire 12th round. The crowd booed the lack of effort on Porter’s part. When Granados did trap Porter against the ropes in the final 30 seconds of the round, he nailed a huge amount of head and body shots. Porter was absolutely exhausted at that point in the fight. Porter grabbed Granados and held onto him in the waning seconds of the round. Granados looked at the crowd and shouted, “He won’t let go of me.”
Overall, this fight did not make Porter look good. He was exposed as not having a good engine, and he looked old. This performance doesn’t bode well for Porter if he wants to be able to beat Thurman in the rematch. IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. would have cleaned up Porter if he’d been in there with him.
The victory for Porter keeps him in line to get a rematch with WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman, who is expected to be back inside the ring in early 2018 to defend his titles in a voluntary defense. After that, Thurman will likely face Porter in a rematch if he doesn’t face Danny Garcia.
