Robert Easter Jr v Adrian Granados
On October 26, Robert “E-Bunny” Easter Jr (21-1-1, 14 KO’s) will meet Adrian “Tigre” Granados (20-7-2, 14 KO’s) in somewhat of crossroads fight. Their significant scrap will air live on SHOWTIME boxing as a part of the Lubin v Gallimore undercard.
EASTER’S PROFESSIONAL HICCUPS
At the beginning of 2018, Robert Easter Jr was riding high. He was undefeated, making a ton of positive noise in the division and was the IBF world lightweight champion. That was until Junior’s fourth title defense against Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KO’s). At the time, Garcia was moving down from super lightweight from his two previous fights.
Going into the prizefight, the match appeared a pretty even affair. There was a slight benefit of the doubt extended to Garcia due to his perceived superiority in technical skills. Although, Easter’s work rate and undeniable toughness could not be underrated or discounted. Once the two men were in the ring however, Garcia was able to separate himself from Easter in a major way.
After 12 fairly one-sided rounds Mikey Garcia was able to nullify the notoriously high-volume attack of Easter. When the cards were read, Garcia walked away with a seriously lopsided unanimous point’s victory. In the immediate wake of the impactful loss, Easter Jr somewhat dropped off the radar.
Roughly nine months later, the Toledo, Ohio native returned to action against the ever-colorful Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (27-1-1, 14 KO’s). What was talked up to be a potentially fun firefight would turn out to be a dull, action-free bore. When the cards were revealed, the judges had fashioned a three way draw. While neither fighter lost, neither fighter managed to drum up any serious interest in their next outing.
GRANADOS FINDING WINS VERY SLIPPERY
At least for Adrian Granados, lack of action has never been his problem. The tenacious Mexican stays in an entertaining prizefight with some measure of memorability. The Tigre’s vexing dilemma is landing too often in the loser’s column. While some of his losses have seemed like tough breaks, this is not the case for all of them.
Currently, in his last six bouts, Granados is (2-3-0, 1 no contest). In his latest, and only bout of 2019, he lost convincingly to former 2-divisional champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (35-2, 21 KO’s). However, there was little that Granados could say about this flag.
Not only was Granados dropped twice in the second and once in the fifth, he was ultimately stopped in the seventh round with a volley of punches along the ropes. Needless to say, Tigre is in desperate straits to secure a victory for fear of falling hopelessly into gatekeeper status.
So, while the ‘back against the wall’ positioning of their career is not ideal for them, it’s ideal for the rabid fans at home! Firmly situated in this do-or-die scenario, it’s very unlikely that Easter or Granados show up to the Santander Arena to play pitty-pat. With so much on the line, both will be there to demonstrate in clear, undeniable fashion that they still have the fire to reign at the upper echelon of the super lightweight talent pool.
By: Bakari Simpson
