Adrian Granados takes fight postponement in stride
Welterweight Adrian “Tigre” Granados (21-8-3, 15 KO) has once again had to swallow a bitter pill in boxing. Normally the scrappy fighter is coming up on the sad and soggy end of a scorecard. Of his eight losses, seven have come by way of decision. On this occasion, his disappointment comes in the form of a fight postponement. Tigre was scheduled to face Conor “The Destroyer” Benn (18-0, 12 KO’s) in the main event of a DAZN telecast on July 31. Unfortunately, having contracted COVID-19, Benn was forced to withdraw several days before the bout.
A GRAIN OF SALT
Perhaps having dealt with so much adversity in his professional past, Granados was able to remain especially levelheaded. Rather than fuming about the matter, as George Kambosos did when Teofimo Lopez pulled out, Tigre remained pretty Zen-like. He laid out his feelings for Behind the Gloves in a recent interview.
“It’s unfortunate, you know it’s just the day and age that we live where it’s this disease, this sickness that’s almost controlling our lives now. So it sucks but I mean what are you going to do? I mean, I guess I get more time to prepare as they say, or more time just to remain prepared.”
Had the fight proceeded, Granados foresaw an entertaining rumble in the making. He understands that his eight losses are rather glaring on his ledger but he is adamant that is no one’s walk in the park. In his estimation, Benn was viewing him as an easy kill and Tigre looked forward to dispelling that belief.
“I was ready to go. You know obviously this fight started getting a lot of buzz. Obviously Conor has been very vocal and his people got him like, ‘this is a stepping stone for me’. This is not [that], I am not a stepping stone. Like, I understand my record and my losses but I am still one of the elite fighters in the world and I plan on making a comeback with Conor Benn!”
WHAT MAY COME
As he stated, it would be terribly beneficial for Granados if he managed to topple The Destroyer. At the moment, Tigre is not even ranked within the top fifteen of any of the major sanctioning bodies. Meanwhile Benn is ranked #9 (WBA), #10 (WBC) and #13 (IBF). So, if Granados was able to collect his scalp, he would have back-to-back wins, a great showing on a big stage and would reasonably hop into one or more of the sanctioning bodies’ top rankings. Yet, just like the rest of us, he will have to wait until the new postponed date before he can re-build his reputation in the division.
By: Bakari Simpson
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