By Dan Ambrose: Adrian Granados wasn’t willing to admit that he lost last Saturday night in his 10 round fight against top 15 ranked welterweight contender Conor Benn at Headingly Stadium in Leeds, England.
After the fight, it really annoyed Benn that Granados wouldn’t own his loss, as he wanted him to concede defeat, and he wasn’t having it.
Benn was given a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision by the judges, but Granados said it was “politics” that went into him losing.
After the fight, the two had an awkward exchange during an interview in which Granados (21-9-3, 15 KOs) commented that he felt he’d done enough to warrant the victory.
For the record, the judges scored it:
- 100-90
- 99-91
- 97-93
Whatever chance Granados had of winning, he threw it out the window by choosing to stay on his bike for the full 10 rounds and not throwing enough punches.
With Granados showing no desire to make it a fight, Benn had no choice but to chase him around the ring, walloping him with shots whenever he could.
Benn missed a fair amount of his shots because it was a constantly moving target that he was dealing with. But Granados missed as well with many punches, and he didn’t have nearly as much power on his shots.
Benn – Granados bickering over who won
Granados: “I out-boxed him, I obviously frustrated him,” said Adrian Granados said to iFL TV on why he feels he did enough to win the fight against Benn. “Maybe I should have let my hands go. I think the fans expected. That’s why I tried to throw a curveball at the kid to try and outbox him. I think he landed three good shots. You landed three good shots, but I felt fine the whole time. He’s a warrior and kept coming forward, trucking, trucking. He’s a strong kid. I know what it is. I get the politics, so I knew the only way I had is if I laid him out,” said Granados.
Benn: “There was nothing thrown back at me for him to warrant the win. There was nothing there. There’s only so much hunting down I could do, and he was on his bike the whole time except for a few flick jabs, and that was that,” said Conor.
Granados: “Obviously, we’ve both got to look back at the tapes to see the mistakes that we made. He feels he won. I feel I won. What do they say? ‘The Sweet science is to hit and not get hit.’ I know he was getting frustrated.
“At the end, he blew his top, ‘Come at me,’ and I’m not going nowhere because I know what I’m up against. I feel like I did enough to know. Obviously, it wasn’t what he wanted.
“He wanted a war of blood & guts and an exciting fight. That’s why I frustrated him and got him upset. But hey, he got the belt and got the win. Good for him.
“He’s on his way. I never felt in danger. I was in control of the tempo of the fight and carried the action the way I want, and I know I frustrated him. As I said, I know it wasn’t what he wanted, but that was exactly what I wanted,” said Granados.
Benn: “There’s nothing to say to that. It’s clearly baffling. Let’s watch the fight back later because there’s no way on God’s green earth that you won the fight.”
Granados: “I outboxed you. I made you miss.”
Benn: “Just because you dodged a right hand, it looked good.”
Granados: “I was catching you with body shots too.”
Benn: “I didn’t feel them because you were moving and flicking the jab. It didn’t do nothing. I couldn’t believe how much you were on your bike.”
Granados: “You didn’t expect that.”
Benn: “To the level of [running].”
Granados: “That’s because you were frustrated.”
Benn: “No, the public was frustrated.”
Granados: “That’s okay, I don’t care about the public.”
Benn: “I do.”
Granados: “I understand that. I used to be that, but now its, they don’t care about me, and I don’t care about them. That’s what it is. I keep going up against all these top dogs, all these top boys like I said. It’s almost like they’re using me as a measuring stick.”
