Adrian Granados has never won a world title, and apart from one occasion, he’s never gotten his hand raised in what anyone would call a big fight. But the Chicago fighter has always been competitive, and has had no less than seven fights where he didn’t get the win, but he either narrowly lost or was given an always-debatable draw. It’s happened to Granados pretty much his whole career. In his second pro fight in Piedras Negras, Mexico, back in 2008, Granados lost a four-round split decision to Jose Juan Fuentes. In 2011, he subbed in for an injured David Estrada and faced veteran Lanardo Tyner, who came in 24-4-1 compared to Granados low-level 7-1. They went to an eight-round draw. Later that year, he faced Frankie Gomez, a top lightweight prospect at the time, and got off the canvas in round two to push the fight to a majority decision in Gomez’s favor. In 2013, he took on veteran and former titleholder Kermit Cintron, resulting in a split draw over 10 rounds. In 2014, it was a majority decision loss to Felix Diaz, a former Olympic gold medalist, with Granados going down twice late. In 2015, Brad Solomon beat him by split decision. In 2017, Adrien Broner beat him by split decision. Nine months later, Shawn Porter beat him, that one a totally clear decision. Not all of them were robberies. The Diaz fight, for instance, I thought the late knockdowns legitimately won the fight for Felix Diaz. But as usual, Granados was there and made it a fight. You could say he’s been unlucky, but there’s also a certain charmed factor to his career. Many fighters like Granados, who weren’t groomed to be stars but prove to be a pain in the ass against name fighters and those that promoters are trying to build up, stop getting calls. They become high-risk, low-reward. But Granados has gotten the chances. The phone could easily have stopped ringing after the losses to Diaz and Solomon in 2014-15. But then he was signed up to face promoter Don King’s last honest attempt at boxing relevance, the 140-pound prospect Amir Imam, in Nov. 2015. King, once infamous as one of boxing’s main power brokers, has faded into obscurity as the years have worn on, and he was all but out of the game by 2015. But with Imam, who was 18-0 at the time, he appeared to legitimately have something. The native of Albany, New York had skills and power, speed and style. He was already the mandatory challenger for WBC titleholder Viktor Postol. Imam and Granados were matched up for a fight in Quebec City on Showtime, part of the DeGale-Bute undercard. It was meant to be a showcase for Imam. It wasn’t. After a first round that went Imam’s way, Granados was able to bait his opponent into exactly the sort of scrap that the underdog needed it to be: a war of volume, where Granados out-punched Imam and drained his gas tank. By the time the referee stopped the fight in the eighth round, Granados was beating the crap out of Imam. In a just world, Granados would have been right in line for a WBC title shot at 140 pounds. Boxing is anything but a just world, though, and Granados sat on the sidelines until July 2016, when he finally took a stay-busy fight with a 12-15-2 opponent in Phoenix. (Imam, on the other hand, would win three nothing fights before getting a WBC title shot in March 2018, where he lost to Jose Ramirez.) Granados’ next fight, though, was the biggest of his career, a bout in Cincinnati against Adrien Broner in a Showtime main event. Broner won on scores of 93-97, 96-94, and 97-93 in a genuinely close fight. His solid (at worst) showing against Broner got him a fight nine months later with Shawn Porter, who won on 117-111 scores across the board. He moved back down to 140 for another tough assignment in 2018 against Javier Fortuna. That fight ended in a no-decision when Fortuna fell out of the ring and was injured. Granados felt Fortuna was just looking for a way out of the fight. Granados returned in August and September of last year, both fights in Mexico, his first in the country since that loss back in 2008. They were easy matchups for him, and he won both. This weekend, he’s back in the mix at 147, facing former two-division titleholder Danny Garcia in a PBC on FOX (Saturday, 8 pm ET) main event from Dignity Health Sports Park — the former Home Depot Center and StubHub Center — in Carson, California. It’s a venue known for rowdy fights and rowdy fans, and that might suit Granados (20-6-2, 14 KO) just fine. He also believes that Garcia (34-2, 20 KO) will suit him just fine. “Looking back, there were definitely moments against Broner and Porter where I took my foot off the gas,” Granados said this week. “Porter fought a smart fight. He outboxed me at times, and other times used roughhouse tactics. My lack of composure cost me, but I think Garcia’s style is made for me.” 31-year-old Danny “Swift” Garcia’s career has been nothing like Granados’. While Granados started his career with two fights on small shows in Mexico, Garcia’s 2007 pro debut came on a Golden Boy card in Atlantic City, headlined a Joan Guzman-Humberto Soto world title fight, and his second fight was in Las Vegas, opening the Mayweather-Hatton card. A Puerto Rican fighter from Philadelphia, Garcia cruised along for a few years. In 2011, he faced former titleholder Nate Campbell, who had started coming down the other side of his career, and won a wide decision. His next fight was against another former titleholder, Kendall Holt, and Garcia again won comfortably, although it was scored a split decision because judge Wayne Hedgpeth went mad during the bout. Garcia got his first world title shot in March 2012, in the 23rd fight of his career.<doc-sep>Adrian Granados' chin prove as advertised. The problem for him is so did Danny Garcia's power. Garcia (35-2, 21 KOs), a former two-division champion, bounced back from a title defeat to Shawn Porter last September to record a trio of knockdowns en route to a seventh-round TKO on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The victory puts the 31-year-old Garcia back into the driver's seat for a big fight to close 2019 in a crowded and star-studded welterweight division under the Premier Boxing Champions banner, featuring the likes of Porter, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr. Granados (20-7-2, 14 KOs), who is known for both his heart and his hard-luck in coming up on the short end of a gluttonous amount of close decisions, was simply outgunned against a full-fledged welterweight with this kind of power. "I think the statement was I had to come in here and knock him out," Garcia said. "A regular decision wouldn't be enough, I had to be the first man to stop him and I did that tonight." Garcia outlanded Granados 159 to 79, according to CompuBox, and limited his opponent to just 19 percent of his punches landed. He also looked crisp and busy throughout after making significant changes in training camp from the standpoint of nutrition and conditioning. "Like I said, when Danny Garcia is at his best, no one can beat him," Garcia said. "I got a little comfortable in the past and didn't give that extra mile but I put in my 110 percent and this is what you get when you get 110 percent of Danny Garcia, one of the best fighters in the world." Respect box? Subscribe to my podcast -- State of Combat with Brian Campbell -- where we take an in-depth look at the world of boxing each week. While the 29-year-old Granados began the fight with his trademark pressure, his inability to keep his hands up opened early opportunities as Garcia timed a perfect counter left hook to floor him in Round 2. After backing Granados up with power shots later in the round, Garcia added a second knockdown with a counter right cross. Garcia continued to land clean combinations as Granados' corner began to respond to his swelling face by threatening to stop it if he didn't rally for a knockout. Garcia unloaded a three-punch combo in Round 5 along the ropes that ended with a right hand that dropped Granados. In Round 7, Garcia poured it on again as Granados was pinned against the ropes until referee Thomas Taylor jumped in to stop the bout. Told after the fight that Pacquiao was waiting to see the results of Garcia's bout before deciding on his next fight, Garcia welcomed a fight against the Filipino icon. "I hope I didn't scare him away," Garcia said. "Definitely, I would love [that] fight and would definitely love a rematch with Thurman and Porter or Errol Spence."<doc-sep>When comparing the names, resumes and skills of the top welterweight fighters of today with previous eras, it's not hard to summarize that we are entering historic times for the 147-pound division. Former two-division champion Danny Garcia knows that all too well and certainly has his sights set on opportunities against the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr., or in big-money rematches against Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. Garcia also considers himself the division's top dog from a brand standpoint, at the moment, and has both television and attendance ratings holstered up to share with any who disagree. So for Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs), whose only losses have come via razor-thin decision in title bouts against Thurman and Porter, to return to the biggest stage just seven months removed from suffering defeat, he knows an impressive showing on Saturday will be dire when he headlines a Premier Boxing Champions card (Fox, 8 p.m. ET) at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Garcia, 31, certainly expects a hungry challenge when he faces come-forward welterweight Adrian Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs) at the outdoor arena, formerly known as StubHub Center, that has routinely produced one all-action fight after another over the past decade. "You know what I bring to the table, I always bring fireworks, speed, power, entertainment, blood and guts," Garcia said. "So I prepare myself for a classic fight. I train hard for 10 weeks straight and I'm ready to go in there and show the world who's one of the best and why this fight's a fight to watch." Respect box? Subscribe to my podcast -- State of Combat with Brian Campbell -- where we take an in-depth look at the world of boxing each week, including our preview of this weekend's action with Crawford vs. Khan and Garcia vs. Granados. The fuel behind Granados' hard-luck hunger is how often the 29-year-old Chicago native has come up on the wrong side of the decision in close fights. Through six defeats and two draws in 28 pro bouts, one could argue Granados has only been convincingly defeated once, with many of said fights having created disputed (if not controversial) reactions. "I know that I'm known for putting on great fights and just coming up short," Granados said. "Whether it is over a controversial decision or any other controversy. So yeah, I mentioned it to [Mayweather Promotions CEO] Leonard Ellerbe. I'm tired of it. So I'm definitely going out there to put on a dominating performance, and I know I have a hard work ahead of me so definitely I'm ready for the task at hand. "Well, just plain and simple, I got to take it out of the judge's hands. If I get Danny hurt then I'm definitely going to step on the gas and try to get them out and if not, I'll just have to put on a dominating performance." Although Garcia respects Granados' heart, he has been very vocal about the difference in class between him and his opponent entering Saturday. He has also enlisted the help of a new nutritionist to avoid any form of a late fade considering he knows Granados will be aggressively stalking for as long as the fight lasts. "As a fighter, he has to be confident, but in reality, I faced the biggest punchers in the game, I faced the most, the fastest and strongest, some of the best fighters in the game and I've never been down in my career," Garcia said. "That's just to show you how hard I work in the gym." Also on the card, heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr. makes his return to the ring when he squares off against Alexander Dimitrenko. Ruiz Jr. is 31-1 in his pro career with the lone loss coming against former WBO champion Joseph Parker. He hopes to one day be the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent. Plus, it's the return of Brandon Figueroa when he challenges Yonfrez Parejo for the WBA interim super bantamweight title. Figueroa (18-0) has knocked out his last five opponents successively with his last the most impressive in a dismantling of Moises Flores in Round 3 in January. Fight card Favorite Underdog Weightlcass Danny Garcia -1600 Adrian Granados +800 Welterweights Andy Ruiz Jr. -2000 Alexander Dimitrenko +800 Heavyweights Brandon Figueroa -5000 Yonfrez Parejo +1200 WBA interim super bantamweight title Prediction With an elite chin, top-shelf power in his left hook and a sometimes underrated fight IQ as a traditional boxer, there aren't many avenues to defeat Garcia unless you can best him in each of those respected categories. That's why Garcia's only defeats have come against the very elite in the sport. If there is a blueprint, however, on how one might stay close to Garcia, his one weakness has been a lack of elite foot speed, which fighters from Thurman and Porter to Lamont Peterson and Mauricio Herrera in close defeats have done a great job exploiting. Granados is an aggressive fighter with a bit more craft than a typical journeyman brawler. The problem is that he's a bit of a tweener and lacks both elite speed to be more of a slick boxer or fight-altering power to be a threat to knock Garcia out. One thing Garcia should expect is high-paced fight for as long as the fight goes and Granados, who has never been stopped, has built a reputation upon being durable. But he's a bit undersized at 147 pounds and has never fought a puncher the caliber of Garcia, whose left hook has become one of the closest things in boxing to being called a finishing move. If Garcia can time his counter shots to discipline Granados and give him pause on so recklessly coming forward, the tenor of the fight can quickly change in his favor. Defense has never been a huge calling card for Granados and he will likely find himself outgunned should this turn into a toe-to-toe battle.<doc-sep>The Garcia-Granados style matchup means they'll bring out the best in each other—and promises for an action-packed welterweight showdown Saturday night on FOX. Once again, the talented welterweight division takes center stage this Saturday, April 20, when two main stage players with much to prove, much to gain and everything to lose, face off in a “must win” battle. Former two-division world champion Danny Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs) meets hard-charging battler Adrian Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs) for the vacant WBC silver welterweight title, live from Dignity Health and Sports Park in Carson, California, in a 12-round contest on PBC on FOX (8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT). The winner gets himself back in the mix of a thick and lucrative 147-pound class. Most hardcore fight fans know the story of Garcia, who was an elite-level prospect, riding a well-crafted skill set and high-end physical gifts to a spot among the very best fighters in, arguably, the very best division in boxing. The road from prospect to established pro, however, has not been a smooth ride. Coming into Saturday’s fight, the Philadelphia native has dropped two of his last three; a March 2017 close split decision loss to Keith Thurman and then to Shawn Porter in September 2018 via razor-thin unanimous decision. A case could be made for Garcia deserving the win in both of his pro career setbacks, but the losses counted and, whether he likes it or not, they pushed him down a notch or two on the welterweight food chain. Against Granados, Garcia, 31, needs a strong performance to remain in the running for the big, lucrative fights at welterweight. Anything less, win or lose, could represent one more step backward in a division increasingly dominated by names such as Errol Spence Jr., Manny Pacquiao, and Thurman and Porter. “He's not on my level and I got to go out there and beat him,” Garcia said of Granados. "It's very important…I got to go in there and look good. I got to go in there and dominate. I got to go in there and send a message." Granados, meanwhile, is the prototypical boxing tough guy and tough luck contender. Without a big name, prodigious raw talent, and the powerful business connections that facilitate a rise to the top of the sport, the Berwyn, Illinois native has had to battle for every inch of territory advanced, enduring robberies and setbacks on his road towards stardom. In 2017, what many felt should’ve been a breakthrough win against Adrien Broner, turned into a split decision loss in Broner’s hometown of Cincinnati when the judges’ scorecards were read. Nine months later, Granados would drop a unanimous decision to Shawn Porter, but not without having his moments against the past and future world welterweight champion. Coming off a 2018 that saw him go 2-0 against limited opposition and work around an odd no decision to Javier Fortuna (caused by Fortuna’s fourth-round fall from the ring) in a temporary return to junior welterweight, Granados has some career momentum working for him and has established a boatload of goodwill among fight fans who have come to enjoy his honest and earnest all-action ring style. Time, however, is never on a blue-collar boxer’s side and it’s clear that the pressure to beat a “name” opponent is present for a fighter who may not get another opportunity to do so. “This is my last chance to become a star in boxing,” Granados said. “Over the years, he’s mentioned my name in a negative, derogatory way. There’s a chip on my shoulder…I want to keep him on his heels and my pressure may be able to break him.” Stylistically, Garcia-Granados is not a hard fight to map out. Garcia has the edge in all-around skill and athleticism. His left hook is still among the pound-for-pound best offensive weapons in the game. A cool, collected counter-puncher by nature, Garcia can sometimes be too cool, allowing opposition to steal rounds (or moments in rounds) while he looks for openings and analyzes opportunities. Granados, on the other hand, can be an overachieving round-stealer if given half a chance. Although not in possession of an elite skill set or elite athleticism, he’s no slouch in either, and what he lacks in both, he makes up for with grit and determination. Make no mistake about it, Granados will make Garcia work and he’ll make him fight. He could very well bring out the best in the Philly fighter. In return, Garcia will force Granados to be sharper than ever before. The old saying about iron sharpening iron most applies to Garcia-Granados as both fighters’ strengths and weaknesses play into each other’s. The fighter who emerges victories in this important welterweight clash will be well-positioned to take aim at the 147-pound elite. For a closer look at Garcia vs Granados, check out our fight night page.<doc-sep>
Danny Garcia had everything to lose and very little to gain by fighting journeyman challenger Adrian Granados. If he put on a prominent performance, he simply was supposed to. If he lost a step in the ring — or, even worse, the fight — the 31-year-old would have further dropped down the rung of the stacked 147-pound division and lost his A-side appeal. On Saturday, Garcia displayed the dominant performance he had promised throughout training camp by knocking down Granados three times en route to a seventh-round technical knockout at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson in a nationally televised fight on Fox. “It feels great to make a statement. I did what no other fighter could do, and that’s to knock him out,” Garcia told the Los Angeles Times in the dressing room shortly after his fight. “I stopped him, but it didn’t feel easy. It was a challenge. He’s a tough cookie. I knew eventually if I put it on him, they would stop it.” Garcia knocked down Granados twice in Round 2 and once in the fifth round and finished his night with a flurry of punches in the seventh. Referee Thomas Taylor had seen Granados take enough punishment and stopped the fight midway through the round. Garcia landed an average of 23 of 69 punches per round, compared to 11 of 59 for Granados, according to the CompuBox punch-tracking system. He totaled 159 for the fight — 125 of them power punches. Granados connected with 79 total punches. The former two-division champion, who improved to 35-2 (21 knockouts), came into the fight dropping two of his last three bouts in razor-thin decisions. Garcia’s urgency for stopping a losing stretch was as clear as day at the outdoor venue in which he was fighting in. A game Granados (20-7-2, 14 knockouts) attempted to play the spoiler, but his efforts ultimately fell short to a superior counterpart who outmuscled him throughout the fight. “He was very sharp in the exchanges. That’s where he was catching me. I knew that’s what I had to avoid,” Granados said. “I had a plan to go the whole fight and they stopped me on my feet.” Granados previously had dropped close decisions to Shawn Porter and Adrien Broner in a nine-month span in 2017. There was clearly a talent deficiency as the Mexican by way of Chicago tried trading as best as he could but got caught with a Garcia left hook that put him down midway in Round 2. Then, a right hook seated him again toward the end of the round, but the bell saved him. “I’ve said it before, when Danny Garcia is at his best, nobody can beat him,” Garcia said.“I had gotten a little comfortable in the past, but I put my 110% into this fight and when I do, I beat everyone.” Heading into the fight, Garcia said he wanted to put on a convincing performance with a revised blueprint that included throwing more punches. That proved to be the antidote the Puerto Rican who fights out of Philadelphia needed to get back on the winning track. Several of Garcia’s trademark left hooks landed at will throughout the fight. He complemented his onslaught with combinations in Round 3 that drew blood from the nose of Granados, who simply could not get off enough punches. “It felt good landing that big left hook,” Garcia said. “I was proud of my performance. I thought I did a great job tonight.” It wasn’t the hallmark victory of Garcia’s 12-year professional career, but it surely was a win that will soon catapult him as prime contender to face welterweights that include Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence Jr., Mikey Garcia, Broner, and the only two opponents who have beaten him to date — Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman. Any of those fights can be made virtually overnight, as each of those fighters are contractually tied to Al Haymon’s promotional outfit Premier Boxing Champions. Pacquiao said Saturday that if Garcia gave a solid account of himself against Granados, he would consider him — and Thurman — as a possible foe for a July return to the ring. Sign up for our daily sports newsletter » “I hope I didn’t scare Manny Pacquiao away,” said Garcia. “It would be a great fight. It would be a dream come true to end Manny’s career, just like I ended Erik Morales’ career. It would be that same type of feeling.